discharge vs release

discharge

verb
  • To expel or let go. 

  • 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 set aside; to annul; to dismiss. 

  • 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 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. 

release

verb
  • To let go (of); to cease to hold or contain. 

  • To set free a chemical substance. 

  • To make available to the public. 

  • To loosen; to relax; to remove the obligation of. 

  • To set up; to provide with a goal-scoring opportunity 

  • To free or liberate; to set free. 

  • (of a call) To hang up. 

  • To let go, as a legal claim; to discharge or relinquish a right to, as lands or tenements, by conveying to another who has some right or estate in possession, as when the person in remainder releases his right to the tenant in possession; to quit. 

  • to come out; be out. 

  • To discharge. 

  • To lease again; to grant a new lease of; to let back. 

noun
  • The act or manner of ending a sound. 

  • In the block system, a printed card conveying information and instructions to be used at intermediate sidings without telegraphic stations. 

  • The giving up of a claim, especially a debt. 

  • Anything recently released or made available (as for sale). 

  • A catch on a motor-starting rheostat, which automatically releases the rheostat arm and so stops the motor in case of a break in the field circuit. 

  • The catch on an electromagnetic circuit breaker for a motor, triggered in the event of an overload. 

  • The lever or button on a camera that opens the shutter to allow a photograph to be taken 

  • Orgasm. 

  • A kind of bridge used in jazz music. 

  • The distribution of an initial or new and upgraded version of a computer software product; the distribution can be either public or private. 

  • The process by which a chemical substance is set free. 

  • The event of setting (someone or something) free (e.g. hostages, slaves, prisoners, caged animals, hooked or stuck mechanisms). 

  • That which is released, untied or let go. 

  • Liberation from pain or suffering. 

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