carry on vs ply

carry on

verb
  • To continue or proceed as before. 

  • To act or behave; especially to misbehave so as to attract attention. 

  • To talk continuously about, often in an excessively excited way 

  • To continue, maintain or pursue (:an activity or enterprise) 

  • To have an illicit sexual or flirtatious relationship. 

  • To take baggage or luggage onto an airplane, rather than check it. 

ply

verb
  • To press upon; to urge persistently. 

  • To work at (something) diligently. 

  • To persist in offering something to, especially for the purpose of inducement or persuasion. 

  • To travel over (a route) regularly. 

  • To bend, to flex; to be bent by something, to give way or yield (to a force, etc.). 

  • To wield or use (a tool, a weapon, etc.) steadily or vigorously. 

noun
  • In two-player sequential games, a "half-turn" or a move made by one of the players. 

  • A layer of material. 

  • A bent; a direction. 

  • A strand that, twisted together with other strands, makes up rope or yarn. 

  • A condition, a state. 

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