dark vs taper

dark

noun
  • A complete or (more often) partial absence of light. 

  • Ignorance. 

  • Nightfall. 

  • A dark shade or dark passage in a painting, engraving, etc. 

verb
  • To remain in the dark, lurk, lie hidden or concealed. 

  • To make dark, darken; to obscure. 

  • To grow or become dark, darken. 

adj
  • Off the air; not transmitting. 

  • Ambiguously or unclearly expressed: enigmatic, esoteric, mysterious, obscure, undefined. 

  • Without moral or spiritual light; sinister, malign. 

  • With emphasis placed on the unpleasant aspects of life; said of a work of fiction, a work of nonfiction presented in narrative form, or a portion of either. 

  • Deprived of sight; blind. 

  • Transmitting, reflecting, or receiving inadequate light to render timely discernment or comprehension: caliginous, darkling, dim, gloomy, lightless, sombre. 

  • Having racing capability not widely known. 

  • Marked by or conducted with secrecy: hidden, secret; clandestine, surreptitious. 

  • Conducive to hopelessness; depressing or bleak. 

  • Lacking progress in science or the arts. 

  • Extinguished. 

  • Dull or deeper in hue; not bright or light. 

  • Having an absolute or (more often) relative lack of light. 

  • Extremely sad, depressing, or somber, typically due to, or marked by, a tragic or undesirable event. 

taper

noun
  • A small light. 

  • A cone-shaped item for stretching the hole for an ear gauge (piercing). 

  • Someone who works with tape or tapes. 

  • A thin stick used for lighting candles, either a wax-coated wick or a slow-burning wooden rod. 

  • One who operates a tape machine. 

  • A slender wax candle. 

  • A tapering form; gradual diminution of thickness and/or cross section in an elongated object. 

verb
  • To diminish gradually. 

  • To become thinner or narrower at one end. 

  • To make thinner or narrower at one end. 

  • (of a central bank) To tighten monetary policy. 

adj
  • Tapered; narrowing to a point. 

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