fiddle vs pluck

fiddle

verb
  • To play the fiddle or violin, particularly in a folk or country style. 

  • To cheat or swindle; to commit fraud. 

  • Synonym of tinker, to make small adjustments or improvements. 

  • To fidget or play; to idly amuse oneself, to act aimlessly, idly, or frivolously, particularly out of nervousness or restlessness. 

noun
  • Synonym of workaround, a quick and less than perfect solution for some flaw or problem. 

  • A rack for drying pottery after glazing. 

  • A dock (Rumex pulcher) with leaves supposed to resemble the musical instrument. 

  • Synonym of clown: an unserious person entertaining a group. 

  • Any rail or device that prevents items from sliding off a table, stove, etc. in rough water. 

  • Synonym of violin, a small unfretted stringed instrument with four strings tuned (lowest to highest) G-D-A-E, usually held against the chin and played with a bow; the position of a violinist in a band; (usually proscribed) any of various bowed stringed instruments, particularly those of the violin family when played non-classically. 

  • A long pole pulled by a draft animal to drag loose straw, hay, etc. 

pluck

verb
  • To gently play a single string, e.g. on a guitar, violin etc. 

  • To take or remove (someone) quickly from a particular place or situation. 

  • To pull something sharply; to pull something out 

  • To pull or twitch sharply. 

  • To remove feathers from a bird. 

  • To play a string instrument pizzicato. 

  • Of a glacier: to transport individual pieces of bedrock by means of gradual erosion through freezing and thawing. 

noun
  • Guts, nerve, fortitude or persistence. 

  • The lungs, heart with trachea and often oesophagus removed from slaughtered animals. 

  • An instance of plucking or pulling sharply. 

  • Cheap wine. 

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