quicken vs retard

quicken

verb
  • To make (something) quicker or faster; to hasten, speed up. 

  • To stimulate or assist the fermentation of (an alcoholic beverage, dough, etc.). 

  • To inspire or stimulate (an action, a feeling, etc.). 

  • To grow bright; to brighten. 

  • To take on a state of activity or vigour comparable to life; to be excited or roused. 

  • To put (someone or something) in a state of activity or vigour comparable to life; to excite, to rouse. 

  • Of a pregnant woman: to first feel the movements of the foetus, or reach the stage of pregnancy at which this takes place; of a foetus: to begin to move. 

  • To give life; to make alive. 

  • To inspire or stimulate. 

  • To apply quicksilver (mercury) to (something); to combine (something) with quicksilver; to quicksilver. 

  • To come back to life, to receive life. 

  • To become quicker or faster. 

  • Of an alcoholic beverage, dough, etc.: to ferment. 

  • To give life to (someone or something never alive or once dead); to animate, to resurrect, to revive. 

noun
  • In full quicken tree: the European rowan, rowan, or mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia). 

  • Synonym of couch grass (“a species of grass, Elymus repens”); also (chiefly in the plural), the underground rhizomes of this, and sometimes other grasses. 

retard

verb
  • To decelerate; to slow down. 

  • To put off; to postpone. 

  • To keep delaying; to continue to hinder; to prevent from progressing. 

noun
  • Retardation; delay. 

  • A slowing down of the tempo; a ritardando. 

  • A person or being who is extremely stupid or slow to learn. 

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