stage vs stretch

stage

verb
  • To demonstrate in a deceptive manner. 

  • To produce on a stage, to perform a play. 

  • To orchestrate; to carry out. 

  • To place in position to prepare for use. 

  • To determine what stage (a disease, etc.) has progressed to 

  • To jettison a spent stage of a multistage rocket or other launch vehicle and light the engine(s) of the stage above it. 

noun
  • A platform; a surface, generally elevated, upon which show performances or other public events are given. 

  • One of the portions of a device (such as a rocket or thermonuclear weapon) which are used or activated in a particular order, one after another. 

  • A floor or storey of a house. 

  • The number of an electronic circuit’s block, such as a filter, an amplifier, etc. 

  • A stagecoach, an enclosed horsedrawn carriage used to carry passengers. 

  • A place where anything is publicly exhibited, or a remarkable affair occurs; the scene. 

  • The succession of rock strata laid down in a single age on the geologic time scale. 

  • A phase. 

  • The place on a microscope where the slide is located for viewing. 

  • An internship. 

  • A platform, often floating, serving as a kind of wharf. 

  • A level; one of the sequential areas making up the game. 

  • A floor elevated for the convenience of mechanical work, etc.; scaffolding; staging. 

stretch

verb
  • To make inaccurate by exaggeration. 

  • To get more use than expected from a limited resource. 

  • To make great demands on the capacity or resources of something. 

  • To lengthen when pulled. 

  • To lengthen by pulling. 

  • To pull tight. 

  • To extend one’s limbs or another part of the body in order to improve the elasticity of one's muscles 

  • To extend to a limit point 

  • To sail by the wind under press of canvas. 

  • To increase. 

  • To extend physically, especially from limit point to limit point. 

noun
  • The ability to lengthen when pulled. 

  • An act of stretching. 

  • A jail or prison term. 

  • Term of address for a tall person. 

  • A segment of a journey or route. 

  • A length of time. 

  • Extended daylight hours, especially said of the evening in springtime when compared to the shorter winter days. 

  • The period of the season between the trade deadline and the beginning of the playoffs. 

  • A stretch limousine. 

  • The homestretch, the final straight section of the track leading to the finish. 

  • A jail or prison term of one year's duration. 

  • A course of thought which diverts from straightforward logic, or requires extraordinary belief or exaggeration. 

  • A segment or length of material. 

  • A long reach in the direction of the ball with a foot remaining on the base by a first baseman in order to catch the ball sooner. 

  • A single uninterrupted sitting; a turn. 

  • A quick pitching delivery used when runners are on base where the pitcher slides his leg instead of lifting it. 

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