dust vs fail

dust

noun
  • Something worthless. 

  • The act of cleaning by dusting. 

  • Submicron particles in outer space, largely silicates and carbon compounds, that contribute greatly to extinction at visible wavelengths. 

  • The earthy remains of bodies once alive; the remains of the human body. 

  • A disturbance or uproar. 

  • A low or mean condition. 

  • Fine, dry particles of matter found in the air and covering the surface of objects, typically consisting of soil lifted up by the wind, pollen, hair, etc. 

  • The earth, as the resting place of the dead. 

  • A totally disconnected set of points with a fractal structure. 

verb
  • To remove dust; to clean by removing dust. 

  • To spray or cover something with fine powder or liquid. 

  • To leave; to rush off. 

  • To kill. 

  • Of a bird, to cover itself in sand or dry, dusty earth. 

  • To reduce to a fine powder; to levigate. 

  • To remove dust from. 

fail

noun
  • A failure (something incapable of success). 

  • 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 piece of turf cut from grassland. 

adj
  • Unsuccessful; inadequate; unacceptable in some way. 

verb
  • 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 neglect. 

  • To be unsuccessful. 

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

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