release vs stifle

release

verb
  • To let go (of); to cease to hold or contain. 

  • To set free a chemical substance. 

  • To make available to the public. 

  • To loosen; to relax; to remove the obligation of. 

  • To set up; to provide with a goal-scoring opportunity 

  • To free or liberate; to set free. 

  • (of a call) To hang up. 

  • To let go, as a legal claim; to discharge or relinquish a right to, as lands or tenements, by conveying to another who has some right or estate in possession, as when the person in remainder releases his right to the tenant in possession; to quit. 

  • to come out; be out. 

  • To discharge. 

  • To lease again; to grant a new lease of; to let back. 

noun
  • The act or manner of ending a sound. 

  • In the block system, a printed card conveying information and instructions to be used at intermediate sidings without telegraphic stations. 

  • The giving up of a claim, especially a debt. 

  • Anything recently released or made available (as for sale). 

  • A catch on a motor-starting rheostat, which automatically releases the rheostat arm and so stops the motor in case of a break in the field circuit. 

  • The catch on an electromagnetic circuit breaker for a motor, triggered in the event of an overload. 

  • The lever or button on a camera that opens the shutter to allow a photograph to be taken 

  • Orgasm. 

  • A kind of bridge used in jazz music. 

  • The distribution of an initial or new and upgraded version of a computer software product; the distribution can be either public or private. 

  • The process by which a chemical substance is set free. 

  • The event of setting (someone or something) free (e.g. hostages, slaves, prisoners, caged animals, hooked or stuck mechanisms). 

  • That which is released, untied or let go. 

  • Liberation from pain or suffering. 

stifle

verb
  • To keep in, hold back, or repress (something). 

  • To prevent (a breath, cough, or cry, or the voice, etc.) from being released from the throat. 

  • To make (something) unable to be heard by blocking it with some medium. 

  • To prevent (something) from being revealed; to conceal, to hide, to suppress. 

  • To cause (someone) difficulty in breathing, or a choking or gagging feeling. 

  • To feel smothered; to find it difficult to breathe. 

  • To cause (a dog, horse, or other four-legged mammal) to dislocate or sprain its stifle joint. 

  • To die of suffocation. 

  • To make (an animal or person) unconscious or cause (an animal or person) death by preventing breathing; to smother, to suffocate. 

  • To treat (a silkworm cocoon) with steam as part of the process of silk production. 

noun
  • An act or state of being stifled. 

  • A bone disease of this region. 

  • The joint between the femur and tibia in the hind leg of various four-legged mammals, especially horses, corresponding to the knee in humans. 

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