18-wheeler vs bobtail

18-wheeler

noun
  • A big rig truck: a semi-trailer plus the truck or tractor pulling it. 

bobtail

noun
  • The tractor unit of a semi-truck without a trailer 

  • A short, or deliberately shortened tail. 

  • A tractor which performs without its trailer. 

  • A tractor-trailer that is relatively short in length. 

  • An animal that has a bobtail, such as certain canines or nags. 

  • An open-ended straight or four flush. 

verb
  • To drive a tractor without its trailer. 

  • To drive a truck or other vehicle without its trailer. 

How often have the words 18-wheeler and bobtail occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )