shock vs stagger

shock

verb
  • To cause to be emotionally shocked; to cause (someone) to feel surprised and upset. 

  • To give an electric shock to. 

  • To subject to a shock wave or violent impact. 

  • To add a chemical to (a swimming pool) to moderate the chlorine levels. 

  • To collect, or make up, into a shock or shocks; to stook. 

adj
  • Causing intense surprise, horror, etc.; unexpected and shocking. 

noun
  • A state of distress following a mental or emotional disturbance. 

  • Electric shock, a sudden burst of electrical energy hitting a person or animal. 

  • Circulatory shock, a medical emergency characterized by the inability of the circulatory system to supply enough oxygen to meet tissue requirements. 

  • A shock absorber (typically in the suspension of a vehicle). 

  • A chemical added to a swimming pool to moderate the chlorine levels. 

  • An arrangement of sheaves for drying; a stook. 

  • A sudden or violent mental or emotional disturbance. 

  • A sudden, heavy impact. 

  • A tuft or bunch of something, such as hair or grass. 

  • Something so surprising that it is stunning. 

  • A discontinuity arising in the solution of a partial differential equation. 

  • A shock wave. 

stagger

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

  • 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. 

  • 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 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 shock and stagger occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )