clew vs smother

clew

verb
  • to roll into a ball 

  • (transitive and intransitive) to raise the lower corner(s) of (a sail) 

noun
  • Yarn or thread as used to guide one's way through a maze or labyrinth; a guide, a clue. 

  • The cords suspending a hammock. 

  • The sheets so attached to a sail. 

  • The lower corner(s) of a sail to which a sheet is attached for trimming the sail (adjusting its position relative to the wind); the metal loop or cringle in the corner of the sail, to which the sheet is attached. (on a triangular sail) The trailing corner relative to the wind direction. 

smother

verb
  • To get in the way of a kick of the ball. 

  • to burn very slowly for want of air; smolder. 

  • To suffocate; stifle; obstruct, more or less completely, the respiration of something or someone. 

  • To reduce to a low degree of vigor or activity; suppress or do away with; extinguish 

  • To cook in a close dish. 

  • To extinguish or deaden, as fire, by covering, overlaying, or otherwise excluding the air. 

  • To get in the way of a kick of the ball, preventing it going very far. When a player is kicking the ball, an opponent who is close enough will reach out with his hands and arms to get over the top of it, so the ball hits his hands after leaving the kicker's boot, dribbling away. 

  • To be suffocated. 

  • to perish, grow feeble, or decline, by suppression or concealment; be stifled; be suppressed or concealed. 

  • To breathe with great difficulty by reason of smoke, dust, close covering or wrapping, or the like. 

  • To prevent the development of an opponent's attack by one's arm positioning. 

  • To daub or smear. 

noun
  • Cookware used in such cooking. 

  • Smoldering; slow combustion. 

  • The act of smothering a kick (see verb section). 

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