beagle vs operative

beagle

noun
  • A person who snoops on others; a detective. 

  • A bailiff. 

  • A small kind of shark. 

  • A small short-legged smooth-coated scenthound, often tricolored and sometimes used for hunting hares. Its friendly disposition makes it suitable as a family pet. 

verb
  • To search. 

  • To hunt with beagles. 

operative

noun
  • A spy, secret agent, or detective. 

  • An employee or other worker with some particular function or skill. 

  • A participant in an operation. 

adj
  • Functional, in working order. 

  • Effectual or important. 

  • Having the power of acting; hence, exerting force, physical or moral; active in the production of effects. 

  • Producing the appropriate or designed effect; efficacious. 

  • Based upon, or consisting of, a surgical operation or operations. 

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