grip vs tongs

grip

noun
  • A device for grasping or holding fast to something. 

  • A person responsible for handling equipment on the set. 

  • An apparatus attached to a car for clutching a traction cable. 

  • A lot of something. 

  • A small travelling-bag or gripsack. 

  • A helpful, interesting, admirable, or inspiring person. 

  • Control, power or mastery over someone or something; a tenacious grasp; a holding fast. 

  • A channel cut through a grass verge (especially for the purpose of draining water away from the highway). 

  • A hold or way of holding, particularly with the hand. 

  • A long time. 

  • As much as one can hold in a hand; a handful. 

  • A small ditch or trench; a channel to carry off water or other liquid; a drain. 

  • A handle or other place to grip. 

  • Assistance; help or encouragement. 

  • A visual component on a window etc. enabling it to be resized and/or moved. 

verb
  • Of an emotion or situation: to have a strong effect upon. 

  • To firmly hold the attention of. 

  • To take hold of, particularly with the hand. 

  • To trench; to drain. 

tongs

noun
  • An instrument or tool used for picking things up without touching them with the hands or fingers, consisting of two slats or grips hinged at the end or in the middle, and sometimes including a spring to open the grips. 

  • A large scissors-like two-piece center-hinged forged-iron implement with oval-loop handles and with pointed tips turned inward (in the same plane as and perpendicular to the handles) to facilitate lifting and carrying a block of ice. Often called ice tongs. 

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