merry-go-round vs stir

merry-go-round

noun
  • A meaningless cycle; a bustle of activity that gets nowhere 

  • A piece of playground equipment consisting of a circular platform that is made to revolve by pushing while users stand on it. 

  • A series of singles and doubles that allow the batting team to score while still having runners on base who can be driven in by the next batter. 

  • A carousel; a pleasure ride, typically found at fairs and amusement parks, consisting of a slowly revolving circular platform on which various seats are fixed, frequently shaped like horses or other animals. 

  • A freight train of hopper wagons which loads and unloads its cargo while moving, a balloon loop being provided at power stations. 

  • A cooperative scheme in which members regularly contribute money to a pool, and the collected money is then paid out to one of the members, repeating so that every member has eventually received the collected money. 

stir

noun
  • agitation; tumult; bustle; noise or various movements. 

  • The act or result of stirring (moving around the particles of a liquid etc.) 

  • Public disturbance or commotion; tumultuous disorder; seditious uproar. 

  • Jail; prison. 

  • Agitation of thoughts; conflicting passions. 

verb
  • To incite to action. 

  • Of a feeling or emotion: to rise, begin to be felt. 

  • To disturb the relative position of the particles of (a liquid or similar) by passing an object through it. 

  • To begin to move, especially gently, from a still or unmoving position. 

  • To be in motion; to be active or bustling; to exert or busy oneself. 

  • To bring into debate; to agitate. 

  • To rise from sleep or unconsciousness. 

  • To disturb the content of (a container) by passing an object through it. 

How often have the words merry-go-round and stir occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )