flail vs pluck

flail

verb
  • To wave or swing vigorously 

  • To beat using a flail or similar implement. 

  • To thresh. 

  • To move like a flail. 

noun
  • A weapon which has the (usually spherical) striking part attached to the handle with a flexible joint such as a chain. 

  • A tool used for threshing, consisting of a long handle with a shorter stick attached with a short piece of chain, thong or similar material. 

pluck

verb
  • To pull or twitch sharply. 

  • To take or remove (someone) quickly from a particular place or situation. 

  • To pull something sharply; to pull something out 

  • To remove feathers from a bird. 

  • To play a string instrument pizzicato. 

  • To gently play a single string, e.g. on a guitar, violin etc. 

  • Of a glacier: to transport individual pieces of bedrock by means of gradual erosion through freezing and thawing. 

noun
  • Guts, nerve, fortitude or persistence. 

  • The lungs, heart with trachea and often oesophagus removed from slaughtered animals. 

  • An instance of plucking or pulling sharply. 

  • Cheap wine. 

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