rough-and-tumble vs spurn

rough-and-tumble

noun
  • Rough activity; fighting or brawling; a fight. 

  • An environment of rough activity 

  • A person who characteristically engages in such activity 

adj
  • active, vigorous and rough, with the possibility of harm 

  • highly competitive 

verb
  • Engage in rough-and-tumble activity 

spurn

noun
  • A kick; a blow with the foot. 

  • An act of spurning; a scornful rejection. 

  • A body of coal left to sustain an overhanging mass. 

verb
  • To waste; fail to make the most of (an opportunity) 

  • To reject disdainfully; contemn; scorn. 

  • To reject something by pushing it away with the foot. 

How often have the words rough-and-tumble and spurn occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )