bust vs hold to ransom

bust

verb
  • To arrest (someone) for a crime. 

  • For a headline to exceed the amount of space reserved for it. 

  • To catch (someone) in the act of doing something wrong, socially and morally inappropriate, or illegal, especially when being done in a sneaky or secretive state. 

  • To undo a trade, generally an error trade, that has already been executed. 

  • To break in (a woman or girl), To deflower 

  • To break. 

  • To exceed a score of 21. 

  • To break in (an animal). 

  • An emphatic synonym of do or get. 

  • To ejaculate; to eject semen. 

  • To refute an established opening. 

  • To lose all of one's chips. 

  • To reduce in rank. 

noun
  • A police raid or takedown of a criminal enterprise. 

  • The act of arresting someone for a crime, or raiding a suspected criminal operation. 

  • A refutation of an opening, or of a previously published analysis. 

  • A player who fails to meet expectations. 

  • A failed enterprise; a bomb. 

  • A sculptural portrayal of a person's head and shoulders. 

  • The downward portion of a boom and bust cycle; a recession. 

  • A disappointment. 

  • The breasts and upper thorax of a woman. 

adj
  • Without any money, broke, bankrupt. 

hold to ransom

verb
  • To hold (someone) hostage until a ransom is paid. 

How often have the words bust and hold to ransom occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )