pierce vs tear at

pierce

verb
  • To penetrate; to affect deeply. 

  • To get to the heart or crux of (a matter). 

  • To create a hole in the skin for the purpose of inserting jewelry. 

  • to break or interrupt abruptly 

  • To puncture; to break through. 

noun
  • A pierced earring. 

tear at

verb
  • To pull at violently. 

  • To afflict or aggrieve. 

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