pick at vs take it out on

pick at

verb
  • To pick on or repeatedly criticize (someone). 

  • To touch, grab, handle, or pull tentatively or gingerly, using a utensil or one's fingers. 

take it out on

verb
  • To unleash one's anger on (a person or thing other than the one that caused it) 

How often have the words pick at and take it out on occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )