counter vs hostage

counter

noun
  • A proactive defensive hold or move in reaction to a hold or move by one's opponent. 

  • A reckoner; someone who collects data by counting; an enumerator. 

  • The overhanging stern of a vessel above the waterline, below and somewhat forward of the stern proper. 

  • In a bathroom, a surface, often built into the wall and above a cabinet, which holds the washbasin. 

  • The enclosed or partly closed negative space of a glyph. 

  • Any stone lying closer to the center than any of the opponent's stones. 

  • A shop tabletop on which goods are examined, weighed or measured. 

  • The breast of a horse; that part of a horse between the shoulders and under the neck. 

  • The piece of a shoe or a boot around the heel of the foot (above the heel of the shoe/boot). 

  • In a kitchen, a surface, often built into the wall and above a cabinet, designed to be used for food preparation. 

  • An object (now especially a small disc) used in counting or keeping count, or as a marker in games, etc. 

  • A table or board on which money is counted and over which business is transacted 

  • Something opposite or contrary to something else. 

  • The prison attached to a city court; a compter. 

  • A variable, memory location, etc. whose contents are incremented to keep a count. 

  • A class of word used along with numbers to count objects and events, typically mass nouns. Although rare and optional in English (e.g. "20 head of cattle"), they are numerous and required in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. 

  • A telltale; a contrivance attached to an engine, printing press, or other machine, for the purpose of counting the revolutions or the pulsations. 

  • A hit counter. 

  • One who counts. 

adj
  • Contrary or opposing 

verb
  • To contradict, oppose. 

  • To take action in response to; to respond. 

  • To return a blow while receiving one, as in boxing. 

adv
  • Contrary, in opposition; in an opposite direction. 

  • In the wrong way; contrary to the right course. 

hostage

noun
  • The condition of being held as security or to compel someone else to act or not act in a particular way. 

  • Something that constrains one's actions because it is at risk. 

  • A person seized in order to compel another party to act (or refrain from acting) in a certain way, because of the threat of harm to the hostage. 

  • A person given as a pledge or security for the performance of the conditions of a treaty or similar agreement, such as to ensure the status of a vassal. 

  • One who is compelled by something, especially something that poses a threat; one who is not free to choose their own course of action. 

verb
  • To hold (someone or something) hostage, especially in a way that constrains or controls the person or thing held, or in order to exchange for something else. 

  • To give (someone or something) as a hostage to (someone or something else). 

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