hang fire vs wait

hang fire

verb
  • To wait or hold back. 

  • To fail to fire immediately when the trigger is pulled. 

noun
  • The situation when a gun does not immediately fire when the trigger is pulled, but may fire shortly after. 

wait

verb
  • To delay movement or action until some event or time; to remain neglected or in readiness. 

  • To remain faithful to one’s partner or betrothed during a prolonged period of absence. 

  • To wait tables; to serve customers in a restaurant or other eating establishment. 

noun
  • A delay. 

  • An ambush. 

  • Musicians who sing or play at night or in the early morning, especially at Christmas time; serenaders; musical watchmen. 

intj
  • Tells the other speaker to stop talking, typing etc. for a moment. 

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