skirmish vs surrender

skirmish

verb
  • To engage in a minor battle or dispute 

noun
  • A brief battle between small groups, usually part of a longer or larger battle or war. 

  • Any minor dispute. 

  • A type of outdoor military style game using paintball or similar weapons. 

surrender

verb
  • To give oneself up into the power of another, especially as a prisoner; to submit or give in. 

  • To yield (a town, a fortification, etc.) to an enemy. 

  • To give up into the power, control, or possession of another. 

  • To give up possession of; to yield; to resign. 

  • To yield (oneself) to an influence, emotion, passion, etc. 

  • For a policyholder, to voluntarily terminate an insurance contract before the end of its term, usually with the expectation of receiving a surrender value. 

  • To abandon (one's hand of cards) and recover half of the initial bet. 

noun
  • An act of surrendering, submission into the possession of another; abandonment, resignation. 

  • The yielding or delivery of a possession in response to a demand. 

  • The yielding of the leasehold estate by the lessee to the landlord, so that the tenancy for years merges in the reversion and no longer exists. 

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