characterize vs lay an egg

characterize

verb
  • To depict someone or something a particular way (often negative). 

  • To be typical of. 

  • To determine the characteristics of. 

lay an egg

verb
  • To produce a failure or flop; to do something which is unsuccessful. 

  • To produce an egg. 

How often have the words characterize and lay an egg occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )