axe vs diminish

axe

verb
  • To lay off, terminate or drastically reduce, especially in a rough or ruthless manner; to cancel. 

  • To furnish with an axle. 

  • To fell or chop with an axe. 

noun
  • A position, interest, or reason in buying and selling stock, often with ulterior motives. 

  • An ancient weapon consisting of a head that has one or two blades and a long handle. 

  • A dismissal or rejection. 

  • A tool for felling trees or chopping wood etc. consisting of a heavy head flattened to a blade on one side, and a handle attached to it. 

  • A drastic reduction or cutback. 

  • A gigging musician's particular instrument, especially a guitar in rock music or a saxophone in jazz. 

diminish

verb
  • To lessen the authority or dignity of; to put down; to degrade; to abase; to weaken; to nerf (in gaming). 

  • To taper. 

  • To disappear gradually. 

  • To take away; to subtract. 

  • To make smaller. 

  • To become less or smaller. 

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