run vs stagger

run

verb
  • To tend, as to an effect or consequence; to incline. 

  • To carry (a football) down the field, as opposed to passing or kicking. 

  • Of an object, to have a liquid flowing from it. 

  • To print or broadcast in the media. 

  • To pursue in thought; to carry in contemplation. 

  • To put at hazard; to venture; to risk. 

  • To be a candidate in an election. 

  • To fuse; to shape; to mould; to cast. 

  • To control or manage, be in charge of. 

  • To smuggle (illegal goods). 

  • To go at a fast pace; to move quickly. 

  • To extend in space or through a range (often with a measure phrase). 

  • To execute or carry out a plan, procedure, or program. 

  • To make run in a race. 

  • To transit a length of a river, as in whitewater rafting. 

  • To control or have precedence in a card game. 

  • To move forward quickly upon two feet by alternately making a short jump off either foot. (Compare walk.) 

  • To leak or spread in an undesirable fashion; to bleed (especially used of dye or paint). 

  • To sail before the wind, in distinction from reaching or sailing close-hauled. 

  • To exert continuous activity; to proceed. 

  • To sew (a seam) by passing the needle through material in a continuous line, generally taking a series of stitches on the needle at the same time. 

  • To become different in a way mentioned (usually to become worse). 

  • To cause to move quickly or lightly. 

  • To cause to enter; to thrust. 

  • To speedrun. 

  • To be in form thus, as a combination of words. 

  • To juggle a pattern continuously, as opposed to starting and stopping quickly. 

  • To move or spread quickly. 

  • To sort through a large volume of produce in quality control. 

  • To extend in time, to last, to continue (usually with a measure phrase). 

  • To make a machine operate. 

  • To become liquid; to melt. 

  • To make something extend in space. 

  • Of a machine, including computer programs, to be operating or working normally. 

  • To achieve or perform by running or as if by running. 

  • To pass (without stopping), typically a stop signal, stop sign, or duty to yield the right of way. 

  • To transport someone or something, notionally at a brisk pace. 

  • To be presented in the media. 

  • Of a means of transportation: to travel (a route). 

  • To cost a large amount of money. 

  • Of stitches or stitched clothing, to unravel. 

  • To encounter or suffer (a particular, usually bad, fate or misfortune). 

  • Of a liquid, to flow. 

  • To compete in a race. 

  • Of fish, to migrate for spawning. 

  • To make run in an election. 

  • To drive or force; to cause, or permit, to be driven. 

  • To have growth or development. 

  • To have a legal course; to be attached; to continue in force, effect, or operation; to follow; to go in company. 

  • To cause to be drawn; to mark out; to indicate; to determine. 

  • To flee from a danger or towards help. 

  • To pass or go quickly in thought or conversation. 

  • To encounter or incur (a danger or risk). 

  • To tease with sarcasms and ridicule. 

  • To make a liquid flow; to make liquid flow from or into an object. 

  • To strike (the ball) in such a way as to cause it to run along the ground, as when approaching a hole. 

stagger

verb
  • In standing or walking, to sway from one side to the other as if about to fall; to stand or walk unsteadily; to reel or totter. 

  • To cease to stand firm; to begin to give way; to fail. 

  • To begin to doubt and waver in purposes; to become less confident or determined; to hesitate. 

  • To arrange (a series of parts) on each side of a median line alternately, as the spokes of a wheel or the rivets of a boiler seam. 

  • To cause to doubt and waver; to make to hesitate; to make less steady or confident; to shock. 

  • To arrange similar objects such that each is ahead or above and to one side of the next. 

  • To schedule in intervals or at different times. 

  • To cause to reel or totter. 

noun
  • An unsteady movement of the body in walking or standing as if one were about to fall; a reeling motion. 

  • The spacing out of various actions over time. 

  • One who attends a stag night. 

  • The horizontal positioning of a biplane, triplane, or multiplane's wings in relation to one another. 

  • Bewilderment; perplexity. 

  • The difference in circumference between the left and right tires on a racing vehicle. It is used on oval tracks to make the car turn better in the corners. 

  • A disease of horses and other animals, attended by reeling, unsteady gait or sudden falling. 

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