backfire vs ping

backfire

verb
  • To experience a premature ignition of fuel or an ignition of exhaust gases, making a popping sound. 

  • To fail in a manner that brings down further misfortune. 

  • To fire in the opposite direction, for example due to an obstruction in the barrel. 

noun
  • An explosion in other equipment. 

  • An explosion in the exhaust passages of an internal combustion engine. 

  • A premature explosion in the cylinder of a gas or oil engine during the exhaust or the compression stroke, tending to drive the piston in the wrong direction. 

ping

verb
  • To cause something to bounce. 

  • To send an email or other message to someone in hopes of eliciting a response. 

  • To make a high-pitched, short and somewhat sharp sound. 

  • To flick. 

  • To bounce. 

  • To emit a signal and then listen for its echo in order to detect objects. 

  • To call out audibly. 

  • To penalize. 

  • To send a packet in order to determine whether a host is present, particularly by use of the ping utility. 

noun
  • A high-pitched, short and somewhat sharp sound. 

  • An email or other message sent requesting acknowledgement. 

  • Latency. 

  • A pulse of high-pitched or ultrasonic sound whose echoes provide information about nearby objects and vessels. 

  • A notification. 

  • A packet which a remote host is expected to echo, thus indicating its presence. 

  • A means of highlighting a feature on the game map so that allied players can see it. 

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