discharge vs fail

discharge

verb
  • To set aside; to annul; to dismiss. 

  • To operate (any weapon that fires a projectile, such as a shotgun or sling). 

  • To send away (a creditor) satisfied by payment; to pay one's debt or obligation to. 

  • To relieve of an office or employment; to send away from service; to dismiss. 

  • To release (an accumulated charge). 

  • To release legally from confinement; to set at liberty. 

  • To let fly, as a missile; to shoot. 

  • To free of a debt, claim, obligation, responsibility, accusation, etc.; to absolve; to acquit; to forgive; to clear. 

  • To release (an auxiliary assumption) from the list of assumptions used in arguments, and return to the main argument. 

  • To unload a ship or another means of transport. 

  • To give forth; to emit or send out. 

  • To release (an inpatient) from hospital. 

  • To put forth, or remove, as a charge or burden; to take out, as that with which anything is loaded or filled. 

  • To bleach out or to remove or efface, as by a chemical process. 

  • To release (a member of the armed forces) from service. 

  • To accomplish or complete, as an obligation. 

  • To expel or let go. 

  • To let fly; to give expression to; to utter. 

noun
  • The volume of water transported by a river in a certain amount of time, usually in units of m³/s (cubic meters per second). 

  • The process of flowing out. 

  • The act of firing a projectile, especially from a firearm. 

  • Pus or exudate (other than blood) from a wound or orifice, usually due to infection or pathology. 

  • The act of accomplishing (an obligation) or repaying a debt etc.; performance. 

  • The act of expelling or letting go. 

  • The act of releasing an inpatient from hospital. 

  • The act of releasing an accumulated charge. 

  • The act of releasing a member of the armed forces from service. 

  • The process of unloading something. 

fail

verb
  • To neglect. 

  • Not to achieve a particular stated goal. (Usage note: The direct object of this word is usually an infinitive.) 

  • To become unable to meet one's engagements; especially, to be unable to pay one's debts or discharge one's business obligation; to become bankrupt or insolvent. 

  • To receive one or more non-passing grades in academic pursuits. 

  • To give a student a non-passing grade in an academic endeavour. 

  • To be wanting to, to be insufficient for, to disappoint, to desert; to disappoint one's expectations. 

  • To be wanting; to fall short; to be or become deficient in any measure or degree up to total absence. 

  • To be unsuccessful. 

  • Of a machine, etc.: to cease to operate correctly. 

adj
  • Unsuccessful; inadequate; unacceptable in some way. 

noun
  • A failure, especially of a financial transaction (a termination of an action). 

  • A failure (condition of being unsuccessful). 

  • A failing grade in an academic examination. 

  • Poor quality; substandard workmanship. 

  • A failure (something incapable of success). 

  • A piece of turf cut from grassland. 

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