pricking vs probing

pricking

noun
  • The act of tracing a hare by its footmarks. 

  • The act of piercing or puncturing with a sharp point. 

  • The driving of a nail into a horse's foot so as to produce lameness. 

  • A sensation that pricks. 

  • A nicking. 

  • The mark or trace left by a hare's foot; a prick. 

probing

noun
  • The action of investigating or exploring. 

adj
  • That investigates or explores deeply; that attempts to elicit information that is concealed. 

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