scatter vs spur

scatter

verb
  • To frustrate, disappoint, and overthrow. 

  • To (cause to) separate and go in different directions; to disperse. 

  • Of a pitcher: to keep down the number of hits or walks. 

  • To deflect (radiation or particles). 

  • To occur or fall at widely spaced intervals. 

  • To distribute loosely as by sprinkling. 

  • To be dispersed upon. 

noun
  • The act of scattering or dispersing. 

  • A collection of dispersed objects. 

spur

verb
  • To urge or encourage to action, or to a more vigorous pursuit of an object 

  • To press forward; to travel in great haste. 

  • To prod (especially a horse) on the side or flank, with the intent to urge motion or haste, to gig. 

  • To form a spur (senses 17-18 of the noun) 

  • To put spurs on. 

noun
  • A curved piece of timber serving as a half to support the deck where a whole beam cannot be placed. 

  • Ergotized rye or other grain. 

  • A tern. 

  • A branch of a vein. 

  • A piece of timber fixed on the bilgeways before launching, having the upper ends bolted to the vessel's side. 

  • Any protruding part connected at one end, for instance a highway that extends from another highway into a city. 

  • A jab given with the spurs. 

  • Roots, tree roots. 

  • A very short branch line of a railway line. 

  • The track of an animal, such as an otter; a spoor. 

  • A projection from the round base of a column, occupying the angle of a square plinth upon which the base rests, or bringing the bottom bed of the base to a nearly square form. It is generally carved in leafage. 

  • A wall in a fortification that crosses a part of a rampart and joins to an inner wall. 

  • A mountain that shoots from another mountain or range and extends some distance in a lateral direction, or at right angles. 

  • A rigid implement, often roughly y-shaped, that is fixed to one's heel for the purpose of prodding a horse. Often worn by, and emblematic of, the cowboy or the knight. 

  • Anything that inspires or motivates, as a spur does a horse. 

  • A spiked iron worn by seamen upon the bottom of the boot, to enable them to stand upon the carcass of a whale to strip off the blubber. 

  • An appendage or spike pointing rearward, near the foot, for instance that of a rooster. 

  • A brace strengthening a post and some connected part, such as a rafter or crossbeam; a strut. 

  • A short branch road of a motorway, freeway or major road. 

  • The short wooden buttress of a post. 

  • A spurious tone, one that interferes with a signal in a circuit and is often masked underneath that signal. 

  • A short thin side shoot from a branch, especially one that bears fruit or, in conifers, the shoots that bear the leaves. 

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