aught vs should

aught

verb
  • to owe, be obliged or obligated to 

  • to own, possess 

adj
  • possessed of 

noun
  • whit, the smallest part, iota 

  • The digit zero 

  • Estimation. 

  • Of importance or consequence (in the phrase "of aught"). 

  • Duty; place; office 

  • Property; possession 

should

verb
  • Used to issue an instruction (traditionally seen as carrying less force of authority than alternatives such as 'shall' or 'must'). 

  • Will be likely to (become or do something); indicates a degree of possibility or probability that the stated thing will happen or be true in the future. 

  • Indicates that something is expected to have happened or to be the case now. 

  • Used to express a conditional outcome. 

  • With verbs such as 'see' or 'hear', usually in the second person, used to point out something remarkable in either a good or bad way. 

  • To make a statement of what ought to be true, as opposed to reality. 

  • Used to impart a tentative, conjectural or polite nuance. 

  • Used to express what the speaker would do in another person's situation, as a means of giving a suggestion or recommendation. 

  • Simple past tense of shall. 

  • In questions, asks what is correct, proper, desirable, etc. 

  • Used to give advice or opinion that an action is, or would have been, beneficial or desirable. 

  • Used to form a variant of the present subjunctive, expressing a state or action that is hypothetical, potential, mandated, etc. 

noun
  • Something that ought to be the case as opposed to already being the case. 

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