barber vs shorten

barber

verb
  • To cut the hair or beard of (a person). 

  • To chatter, talk. 

noun
  • A barber surgeon, a foot soldier specializing in treating battlefield injuries. 

  • A storm accompanied by driving ice spicules formed from sea water, especially one occurring on the Gulf of St. Lawrence; so named from the cutting ice spicules. 

  • A person whose profession is cutting (usually male) customers' hair and beards. 

shorten

verb
  • To take in the slack of (a rope). 

  • To reduce or diminish in amount, quantity, or extent; to lessen. 

  • To reduce (sail) by taking it in. 

  • To become shorter. 

  • To make shorter; to abbreviate. 

  • To make short or friable, as pastry, with butter, lard, etc. 

  • To make deficient (as to); to deprive (of). 

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