fell vs gripe

fell

noun
  • A cutting-down of timber. 

  • 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. 

  • 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. 

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

  • simple past tense of fall 

  • To strike down, kill, destroy. 

  • 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. 

adv
  • Sharply; fiercely. 

gripe

noun
  • The piece of timber that terminates the keel at the fore end; the forefoot. 

  • A wire rope, often used on davits and other life raft launching systems. 

  • A complaint, often a petty or trivial one. 

  • The compass or sharpness of a ship's stern under the water, having a tendency to make her keep a good wind. 

  • Pinching and spasmodic pain in the intestines. 

  • An assemblage of ropes, dead-eyes, and hocks, fastened to ringbolts in the deck, to secure the boats when hoisted. 

verb
  • To suffer griping pains. 

  • To tend to come up into the wind, as a ship which, when sailing close-hauled, requires constant labour at the helm. 

  • To annoy or bother. 

  • To complain; to whine. 

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