goad vs halt

goad

verb
  • To incite or provoke. 

  • To encourage or stimulate. 

  • To prod with a goad. 

noun
  • That which goads or incites; a stimulus. 

  • A long, pointed stick used to prod animals. 

halt

verb
  • To stop either temporarily or permanently. 

  • To be lame, faulty, or defective, as in connection with ideas, or in measure, or in versification. 

  • To bring to a stop. 

  • To limp; move with a limping gait. 

  • To stand in doubt whether to proceed, or what to do; hesitate; be uncertain; linger; delay; mammer. 

  • To falter. 

  • To stop marching. 

  • To cause to discontinue. 

  • To waver. 

noun
  • A minor railway station (usually unstaffed) in the United Kingdom. 

  • A cessation, either temporary or permanent. 

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