flank vs margin

flank

noun
  • The outermost strip of a road. 

  • The flesh between the last rib and the hip; the side. 

  • The sides of a bastion perpendicular to the wall from which the bastion projects. 

  • The wing, one side of the pitch. 

  • That part of the acting surface of a gear wheel tooth that lies within the pitch line. 

  • A cut of meat from the flank of an animal. 

  • The side of something, in general senses. 

  • The extreme left or right edge of a military formation, army etc. 

adj
  • Maximum. Historically faster than full speed (the most a vessel can sustain without excessive engine wear or risk of damage), now frequently used interchangeably. Typically used in an emergency or during an attack. 

verb
  • To be placed to the side(s) of something (usually in terms of two objects, one on each side). 

  • To defend the flank(s) of. 

  • To attack the flank(s) of. 

  • To place to the side(s) of. 

margin

noun
  • The edge or border of any flat surface. 

  • A permissible difference; allowing some freedom to move within limits. 

  • The yield or profit; the selling price minus the cost of production. 

  • margin of victory 

  • That which is ancillary; periphery. 

  • The edge defining inclusion in or exclusion from a set or group. 

  • The edge of the paper, typically left blank when printing but sometimes used for annotations etc. 

  • A difference or ratio between results, characteristics, scores. 

  • Collateral security deposited with a broker, to compensate the broker in the event of loss in the speculative buying and selling of stocks, commodities, etc. 

verb
  • To enter (notes etc.) into the margin. 

  • To trade (securities etc.) on margin (collateral). 

  • To add a margin to. 

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