faint vs fray

faint

verb
  • To lose courage or spirit; to become depressed or despondent. 

  • To decay; to disappear; to vanish. 

  • To lose consciousness through a lack of oxygen or nutrients to the brain, usually as a result of suddenly reduced blood flow (may be caused by emotional trauma, loss of blood or various medical conditions). 

noun
  • The act of fainting, syncope. 

  • The state of one who has fainted; a swoon. 

adj
  • Lacking strength; weak; languid; inclined to lose consciousness 

  • Performed, done, or acted, weakly; not exhibiting vigor, strength, or energy 

  • Slight; minimal. 

  • Barely perceptible; not bright, or loud, or sharp 

  • Lacking courage, spirit, or energy; cowardly; dejected 

fray

verb
  • Of a person's mental strength, nerves, temper, etc.: to become exhausted or worn out. 

  • To force or make (a path, way, etc.) through. 

  • To rub. 

  • Often followed by away, off, or out: to frighten or scare (someone or something) away. 

  • To assail or attack (someone or something); to drive (someone or something) away by attacking. 

  • To become unravelled or worn; to unravel. 

  • To be afraid or frightened; to fear. 

  • Of a deer: to rub (its antlers or head) against a tree, etc., to remove the velvet from antlers or to mark territory; also, to rub its antlers against (a tree, etc.) for that purpose. 

  • Of a deer: to rub its antlers against a tree, etc., to remove the velvet or to mark territory. 

  • To alarm or frighten (someone or something). 

  • To chase (someone or something) away; to disperse. 

  • To rub or wear away (something); to cause (something made of strands twisted or woven together, such as cloth or rope) to unravel through friction; also, to irritate (something) through chafing or rubbing; to chafe. 

  • To make an assault or attack; also, to create a disturbance; to brawl, to fight. 

noun
  • A heated argument; a war of words. 

  • A noisy commotion, especially resulting from fighting; a brawl, a fight; also, a loud quarrel. 

  • A consequence of rubbing, unravelling, or wearing away; a fraying; also, a place where fraying has occurred. 

  • Conflict, disagreement. 

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