allay vs step up

allay

verb
  • To alleviate; to abate; to mitigate. 

  • To make quiet or put at rest; to pacify or appease; to quell; to calm. 

noun
  • Alleviation; abatement; check. 

step up

verb
  • To assume or take responsibility. 

  • To increase, augment, or advance, especially by one or more steps. 

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