ply vs stagger

ply

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

  • To work at (something) diligently. 

  • To press upon; to urge persistently. 

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

  • To travel over (a route) regularly. 

  • 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. 

stagger

verb
  • In standing or walking, to sway from one side to the other as if about to fall; to stand or walk unsteadily; to reel or totter. 

  • To cease to stand firm; to begin to give way; to fail. 

  • To begin to doubt and waver in purposes; to become less confident or determined; to hesitate. 

  • To arrange (a series of parts) on each side of a median line alternately, as the spokes of a wheel or the rivets of a boiler seam. 

  • To cause to doubt and waver; to make to hesitate; to make less steady or confident; to shock. 

  • To arrange similar objects such that each is ahead or above and to one side of the next. 

  • To schedule in intervals or at different times. 

  • To cause to reel or totter. 

noun
  • An unsteady movement of the body in walking or standing as if one were about to fall; a reeling motion. 

  • The spacing out of various actions over time. 

  • One who attends a stag night. 

  • The horizontal positioning of a biplane, triplane, or multiplane's wings in relation to one another. 

  • Bewilderment; perplexity. 

  • The difference in circumference between the left and right tires on a racing vehicle. It is used on oval tracks to make the car turn better in the corners. 

  • A disease of horses and other animals, attended by reeling, unsteady gait or sudden falling. 

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