mute vs play up

mute

verb
  • To cast off; to moult. 

  • To silence, to make quiet. 

  • To turn off the sound of. 

noun
  • An electronic switch or control that mutes the sound. 

  • A person who does not have the power of speech. 

  • A hired mourner at a funeral; an undertaker's assistant. 

  • A mute swan. 

  • The faeces of a hawk or falcon. 

  • An object for dulling the sound of an instrument, especially a brass instrument, or damper for pianoforte; a sordine. 

adj
  • Not giving a ringing sound when struck; said of a metal. 

  • Not uttered; unpronounced; silent; also, produced by complete closure of the mouth organs which interrupt the passage of breath; said of certain letters. 

  • Not having the power of speech; dumb. 

  • Silent; not making a sound. 

play up

verb
  • To misbehave. 

  • To make or attempt to make something appear more important, likely, or obvious; to showcase or highlight. 

  • To play more vigorously. 

  • To be unfaithful to a lover; to cheat; used with on. 

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