honor vs pay tribute to

honor

noun
  • a privilege 

  • recognition of importance or value; respect; veneration (of someone, usually for being morally upright or successful) 

  • a token of praise or respect; something that represents praiseworthiness or respect, such as a prize or award given by the state to a citizen 

  • the center point of the upper half of an armorial escutcheon (compare honour point) 

  • the state of being morally upright, honest, noble, virtuous, and magnanimous; excellence of character; the perception of such a state; favourable reputation; dignity 

  • (courses for) an honours degree: a university qualification of the highest rank 

  • a cause of respect and fame; a glory; an excellency; an ornament. 

  • a seigniory or lordship held of the king, on which other lordships and manors depended 

  • the privilege of going first 

  • In bridge, an ace, king, queen, jack, or ten especially of the trump suit. In some other games, an ace, king, queen or jack. 

  • the right to play one's ball before one's opponent. 

verb
  • to think of highly, to respect highly; to show respect for; to recognise the importance or spiritual value of 

  • to confer (bestow) an honour or privilege upon (someone) 

  • to make payment in respect of (a cheque, banker's draft, etc.) 

  • to conform to, abide by, act in accordance with (an agreement, treaty, promise, request, or the like) 

pay tribute to

How often have the words honor and pay tribute to occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )