buck vs sign

buck

verb
  • To move or operate in a sharp, jerking, or uneven manner. 

  • To wash (clothes) in lye or suds, or, in later usage, by beating them on stones in running water. 

  • To overcome or shed (e.g., an impediment or expectation), in pursuit of a goal; to force a way through despite (an obstacle); to resist or proceed against. 

  • To copulate, as bucks and does. 

  • To output a voltage that is lower than the input voltage. 

  • To resist obstinately; oppose or object strongly. 

  • To break up or pulverize, as ores. 

  • To subject to a mode of punishment which consists of tying the wrists together, passing the arms over the bent knees, and putting a stick across the arms and in the angle formed by the knees. 

  • To press a reinforcing device (bucking bar) against (the force of a rivet) in order to absorb vibration and increase expansion. 

  • To fuck. 

  • To throw (a rider or pack) by bucking. 

  • To bend; buckle. 

  • To saw a felled tree into shorter lengths, as for firewood. 

  • To swell out. 

  • To soak, steep or boil in lye or suds, as part of the bleaching process. 

  • To leap upward arching its back, coming down with head low and forelegs stiff, forcefully kicking its hind legs upward, often in an attempt to dislodge or throw a rider or pack. 

noun
  • The cloth or clothes soaked or washed. 

  • A wood or metal frame used by automotive customizers and restorers to assist in the shaping of sheet metal bodywork. 

  • An uncastrated sheep, a ram. 

  • A rand (currency unit). 

  • A frame on which firewood is sawed; a sawhorse; a sawbuck. 

  • Size. 

  • A male deer, antelope, sheep, goat, rabbit, hare, and sometimes the male of other animals such as the hamster, ferret and shad. 

  • A euro. 

  • Synonym of mule (“type of cocktail with ginger ale etc.”) 

  • One hundred. 

  • The body of a post mill, particularly in East Anglia. See Wikipedia:Windmill machinery. 

  • A leather-covered frame used for gymnastic vaulting. 

  • The beech tree. 

  • Lye or suds in which cloth is soaked in the operation of bleaching, or in which clothes are washed. 

  • One million dollars. 

  • The body of a cart or waggon, especially the front part. 

  • Belly, breast, chest. 

  • A young buck; an adventurous, impetuous, dashing, or high-spirited young man. 

  • Money. 

  • A dollar (one hundred cents). 

sign

verb
  • To communicate using gestures to (someone). 

  • To write (one's name) as a signature. 

  • To validate or ratify (a document) by writing one's signature on it. 

  • To bless (someone or something) with the sign of the cross; to mark with the sign of the cross. 

  • To engage (a sports player, musician etc.) in a contract. 

  • To determine the sign of 

  • To cross oneself. 

  • To furnish (a road etc.) with signs. 

  • More generally, to write one's signature on (something) as a means of identification etc. 

  • To write one's signature. 

  • To finalise a contractual agreement to work for a given sports team, record label etc. 

  • To use sign language. 

  • To communicate or make known (a meaning, intention, etc.) by a sign. 

  • To calculate or derive whether a quantity has a positive or negative sign. 

  • To mark, to put or leave a mark on. 

  • To communicate using a gesture or signal. 

noun
  • An astrological sign. 

  • A specific gesture or motion used to communicate by those with speaking or hearing difficulties; now specifically, a linguistic unit in sign language equivalent to word in spoken languages. 

  • Sign language in general. 

  • A wonder; miracle; prodigy. 

  • A perceptible (e.g. visible) indication. 

  • A property of the body that indicates a disease and, unlike a symptom, can be detected objectively by someone other than the patient. 

  • A military emblem carried on a banner or standard. 

  • Physical evidence left by an animal. 

  • A clearly visible object, generally flat, bearing a short message in words or pictures. 

  • A semantic unit, something that conveys meaning or information (e.g. a word of written language); (linguistics, semiotics) a unit consisting of a signifier and a signified concept. (See sign (semiotics).) 

  • An omen. 

  • Positive or negative polarity, as denoted by the + or - sign. 

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