belt-tightening vs lowering

belt-tightening

adj
  • Causing or involving a reduction in expenditure. 

noun
  • A reduction in expenditure, often as a result of financial restrictions. 

lowering

adj
  • That lowers or frowns. 

  • Dark and menacing. 

  • Lurking, skulking, menacing. 

noun
  • The act of something being lowered. 

How often have the words belt-tightening and lowering occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )