deny vs refuse

deny

verb
  • To disallow or reject. 

  • To assert that something is not true. 

  • To disclaim connection with, responsibility for, etc.; to refuse to acknowledge; to disown; to abjure; to disavow. 

  • To refuse to give or grant something to someone. 

  • To take something away from someone; to deprive of. 

  • To prevent from scoring. 

refuse

verb
  • To decline a request or demand, forbear; to withhold permission. 

  • To melt again. 

  • To decline (a request or demand). 

  • To throw back, or cause to keep back (as the centre, a wing, or a flank), out of the regular alignment when troops are about to engage the enemy. 

noun
  • Collectively, items or material that have been discarded; rubbish, garbage. 

adj
  • Discarded, rejected. 

How often have the words deny and refuse occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )