rough-and-tumble vs take on

rough-and-tumble

verb
  • Engage in rough-and-tumble activity 

noun
  • An environment of rough activity 

  • Rough activity; fighting or brawling; a fight. 

  • A person who characteristically engages in such activity 

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

  • highly competitive 

take on

verb
  • To attempt to fight, compete with, or engage with. 

  • To assume or take responsibility for. 

  • To (attempt to) dribble round (an opposition player). 

  • To catch on, do well; to become popular. 

  • To obtain the services of (a person) in exchange for remuneration; to give someone a job. 

  • To begin to have or exhibit. 

  • To acquire, bring in, or introduce. 

  • To grieve or be concerned (about something or someone). 

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