duel vs take the field

duel

verb
  • To engage in a battle. 

noun
  • Arranged, regular combat between two private persons, often over a matter of honor. 

  • Historically, the wager of battle (judicial combat). 

  • Any battle or struggle between two contending persons, forces, groups, or ideas. 

take the field

verb
  • To begin military operations. 

  • To go out onto the playing field. 

  • To stake one's money against the favourite, taking the chances of the field against the chance of one horse. 

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