surge vs swell

surge

verb
  • To accelerate forwards, particularly suddenly. 

  • To slack off a line. 

  • To experience a momentary reversal of airflow through the compressor section due to disruption of intake airflow. 

  • To rush, flood, or increase suddenly. 

noun
  • A deployment in large numbers at short notice. 

  • The maximum amplitude of a vehicle's forward/backward oscillation. 

  • The tapered part of a windlass barrel or a capstan, upon which the cable surges, or slips. 

  • A sudden transient rush, flood or increase. 

  • A momentary reversal of the airflow through the compressor section of a jet engine due to disruption of the airflow entering the engine's air intake, accompanied by loud banging noises, emission of flame, and temporary loss of thrust. 

  • A sudden electrical spike or increase of voltage and current. 

  • The swell or heave of the sea (FM 55-501). 

swell

verb
  • To grow gradually in force or loudness. 

  • To be elated; to rise arrogantly. 

  • To be turgid, bombastic, or extravagant. 

  • To protuberate; to bulge out. 

  • To cause to grow gradually in force or loudness. 

  • To be raised to arrogance. 

  • To raise to arrogance; to puff up; to inflate. 

  • To become bigger, especially due to being engorged. 

  • To cause to become bigger. 

adv
  • Very well. 

noun
  • A hillock or similar raised area of terrain. 

  • The act of swelling; increase in size. 

  • The front brow of a saddle bow, connected in the tree by the two saddle bars to the cantle on the other end. 

  • An upward protrusion of strata from whose central region the beds dip quaquaversally at a low angle. 

  • A division in a pipe organ, usually the largest enclosed division. 

  • A person of high social standing; an important person. 

  • Increase of power in style, or of rhetorical force. 

  • A device for controlling the volume of a pipe organ. 

  • A bulge or protuberance. 

  • A long series of ocean waves, generally produced by wind, and lasting after the wind has ceased. 

  • A gradual crescendo followed by diminuendo. 

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