abandon vs discard

abandon

verb
  • To give up or relinquish control of, to surrender or to give oneself over, or to yield to one's emotions. 

  • To no longer exercise a right, title, or interest, especially with no interest of reclaiming it again; to yield; to relinquish. 

  • To desist in doing, practicing, following, holding, or adhering to; to turn away from; to permit to lapse; to renounce; to discontinue. 

  • To leave behind; to desert, as in a ship, a position, or a person, typically in response to overwhelming odds or impending dangers; to forsake, in spite of a duty or responsibility. 

  • To surrender to the insurer (an insured item), so as to claim a total loss. 

noun
  • A yielding to natural impulses or inhibitions; freedom from artificial constraint, with loss of appreciation of consequences. 

discard

verb
  • To throw away, to reject. 

  • To make a discard; to throw out a card. 

  • To dismiss from employment, confidence, or favour; to discharge. 

noun
  • A temporary variable used to receive a value of no importance and unable to be read later. 

  • Anything discarded. 

  • A discarded playing card in a card game. 

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