fritter vs retreat

fritter

noun
  • A fragment; a shred; a small piece. 

  • A dish made by deep-frying food coated in batter. 

verb
  • To break into small pieces or fragments. 

  • To cut (meat etc.) into small pieces for frying. 

  • To sinter. 

  • To squander or waste time, money, or other resources; e.g. occupy oneself idly or without clear purpose, to tinker with an unimportant part of a project, to dally, sometimes as a form of procrastination. 

retreat

noun
  • The move of a piece from a threatened position. 

  • A peaceful, quiet place affording privacy or security. 

  • The act of reversing direction and receding from a forward position. 

  • A bugle call or drumbeat signaling the lowering of the flag at sunset, as on a military base. 

  • A military ceremony to lower the flag. 

  • A period of retirement, seclusion, or solitude. 

  • A period of meditation, prayer or study. 

  • The act of pulling back or withdrawing, as from something dangerous, or unpleasant. 

  • A signal for a military withdrawal. 

  • Withdrawal by military force from a dangerous position or from enemy attack. 

verb
  • To slope back. 

  • To withdraw military forces 

  • To shrink back due to generally warmer temperatures. 

  • To withdraw from a position, go back. 

  • a retreating forehead 

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