fell vs wreck

fell

verb
  • To strike down, kill, destroy. 

  • To stitch down a protruding flap of fabric, as a seam allowance, or pleat. 

  • simple past tense of fall 

  • To make something fall; especially to chop down a tree. 

adj
  • Very large; huge. 

  • Strong and fiery; biting; keen; sharp; pungent 

  • Of a strong and cruel nature; eager and unsparing; grim; fierce; ruthless; savage. 

noun
  • Human skin (now only as a metaphorical use of previous sense). 

  • The stitching down of a fold of cloth; specifically, the portion of a kilt, from the waist to the seat, where the pleats are stitched down. 

  • An animal skin, hide, pelt. 

  • A rocky ridge or chain of mountains. 

  • A wild field or upland moor. 

  • A cutting-down of timber. 

  • The end of a web, formed by the last thread of the weft. 

  • The finer portions of ore, which go through the meshes when the ore is sorted by sifting. 

adv
  • Sharply; fiercely. 

wreck

verb
  • To destroy violently; to cause severe damage to something, to a point where it no longer works, or is useless. 

  • To involve in a wreck; hence, to cause to suffer ruin; to balk of success, and bring disaster on. 

  • To dismantle wrecked vehicles or other objects, to reclaim any useful parts. 

  • To be involved in a wreck; to be damaged or destroyed. 

  • To ruin or dilapidate. 

noun
  • A large number of birds that have been brought to the ground, injured or dead, by extremely adverse weather. 

  • Something or someone that has been ruined. 

  • The remains of something that has been severely damaged or worn down. 

  • A shipwreck: an event in which a ship is heavily damaged or destroyed. 

  • Goods, etc. cast ashore by the sea after a shipwreck. 

  • An event in which something is damaged through collision. 

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