rough-and-tumble vs stir

rough-and-tumble

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

  • An environment of rough activity 

  • A person who characteristically engages in such activity 

verb
  • Engage in rough-and-tumble activity 

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

  • highly competitive 

stir

noun
  • agitation; tumult; bustle; noise or various movements. 

  • The act or result of stirring (moving around the particles of a liquid etc.) 

  • Public disturbance or commotion; tumultuous disorder; seditious uproar. 

  • Jail; prison. 

  • Agitation of thoughts; conflicting passions. 

verb
  • To incite to action. 

  • Of a feeling or emotion: to rise, begin to be felt. 

  • To disturb the relative position of the particles of (a liquid or similar) by passing an object through it. 

  • To begin to move, especially gently, from a still or unmoving position. 

  • To be in motion; to be active or bustling; to exert or busy oneself. 

  • To bring into debate; to agitate. 

  • To rise from sleep or unconsciousness. 

  • To disturb the content of (a container) by passing an object through it. 

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