cast off vs strip away

cast off

verb
  • To discard or reject something. 

  • To let go (a cable or rope securing a vessel to a buoy, wharf, etc.) so that the vessel may make way. 

  • To finish the last row of knitted stitches and remove them securely from the needle. 

  • To estimate the amount of space required by the type used for the given copy. 

strip away

verb
  • To discard or disregard; to ignore (a factor that obscures the reality). 

  • To remove, whether bit by bit or suddenly. 

How often have the words cast off and strip away occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )