curb vs traverse

curb

noun
  • Something that checks or restrains; a restraint. 

  • A swelling on the back part of the hind leg of a horse, just behind the lowest part of the hock joint, generally causing lameness. 

  • A concrete margin along the edge of a road; a kerb (UK, Australia, New Zealand) 

  • A riding or driving bit for a horse that has rein action which amplifies the pressure in the mouth by leverage advantage placing pressure on the poll via the crown piece of the bridle and chin groove via a curb chain. 

  • A sidewalk, covered or partially enclosed, bordering the airport terminal road system with adjacent paved areas to permit vehicles to off-load or load passengers. 

  • A raised margin along the edge of something, such as a well or the eye of a dome, as a strengthening. 

verb
  • To rein in. 

  • To bend or curve. 

  • To furnish with a curb, as a well; to restrain by a curb, as a bank of earth. 

  • To crouch; to cringe. 

  • To damage vehicle wheels or tires by running into or over a pavement curb. 

  • To check, restrain or control. 

  • To bring to a stop beside a curb. 

traverse

noun
  • Something that thwarts or obstructs. 

  • In trench warfare, a defensive trench built to prevent enfilade. 

  • A formal denial of some matter of fact alleged by the opposite party in any stage of the pleadings. The technical words introducing a traverse are absque hoc ("without this", i.e. without what follows). 

  • The zigzag course or courses made by a ship in passing from one place to another; a compound course. 

  • A gallery or loft of communication from side to side of a church or other large building. 

  • A route used in mountaineering, specifically rock climbing, in which the descent occurs by a different route than the ascent. 

  • A series of points, with angles and distances measured between, traveled around a subject, usually for use as "control" i.e. angular reference system for later surveying work. 

  • A line lying across a figure or other lines; a transversal. 

  • A traverse board. 

verb
  • To use the motions of opposition or counteraction. 

  • To travel across, often under difficult conditions. 

  • To lay in a cross direction; to cross. 

  • To (make a cutting, an incline) across the gradients of a sloped face at safe rate. 

  • To plane in a direction across the grain of the wood. 

  • To deny formally. 

  • To visit all parts of; to explore thoroughly. 

  • To climb or descend a steep hill at a wide angle (relative to the slope). 

  • To rotate a gun around a vertical axis to bear upon a military target. 

  • To act against; to thwart or obstruct. 

  • To pass over and view; to survey carefully. 

adv
  • athwart; across; crosswise 

adj
  • Lying across; being in a direction across something else. 

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