captain vs steer

captain

verb
  • To exercise command of a ship, aircraft or sports team. 

  • To act as captain 

noun
  • An honorific title given to a prominent person. See colonel. 

  • The head boy of a school. 

  • A maître d', a headwaiter. 

  • A chief or leader. 

  • An army officer with a rank between the most senior grade of lieutenant and major. 

  • A naval officer with a rank between commander and commodore. 

  • The person lawfully in command of a ship or other vessel. 

  • One of the athletes on a sports team who is designated to make decisions, and is allowed to speak for his team with a referee or official. 

  • A commissioned officer in the United States Navy, Coast Guard, NOAA Corps, or PHS Corps of a grade superior to a commander and junior to a rear admiral (lower half). A captain is equal in grade or rank to a United States Army, Marine Corps, or Air Force colonel. 

  • The leader of a group of workers. 

steer

verb
  • To guide the course of a vessel, vehicle, aircraft etc. (by means of a device such as a rudder, paddle, or steering wheel). 

  • To conduct oneself; to take or pursue a course of action. 

  • To be directed and governed; to take a direction, or course; to obey the helm. 

  • To direct a group of animals. 

  • To direct a conversation. 

  • To castrate (a male calf). 

  • To direct or send an object into a specific place 

  • To maneuver or manipulate a person or group into a place or course of action. 

noun
  • A suggestion about a course of action. 

  • The castrated male of cattle, especially one raised for beef production. 

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