engage vs refuse

engage

verb
  • To enter into conflict with (an enemy). 

  • To come into gear with. 

  • To enter into (an activity), to participate (construed with in). 

  • To draw into conversation. 

  • To mesh or interlock (of machinery, especially a clutch). 

  • To attract, to please; (archaic) to fascinate or win over (someone). 

  • To guarantee or promise (to do something). 

  • To engross or hold the attention of; to keep busy or occupied. 

  • To arrange to employ or use (a worker, a space, etc.). 

  • To bind through legal or moral obligation (to do something, especially to marry) (usually in passive). 

  • To enter into battle. 

refuse

verb
  • 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. 

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

  • To melt again. 

  • To decline (a request or demand). 

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

adj
  • Discarded, rejected. 

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