calve vs pierce

calve

verb
  • to break off 

  • to shed (a large piece, e.g. an iceberg); to set loose (a mass of ice), e.g. a block of ice (coming off an iceberg) 

  • to give birth to (a calf) 

  • to assist in a cow's giving birth to a calf 

  • to shed a large piece, e.g. an iceberg or a smaller block of ice (coming off an iceberg) 

  • to give birth to a calf 

pierce

verb
  • to break or interrupt abruptly 

  • To penetrate; to affect deeply. 

  • To get to the heart or crux of (a matter). 

  • To create a hole in the skin for the purpose of inserting jewelry. 

  • To puncture; to break through. 

noun
  • A pierced earring. 

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