dismiss vs lay off

dismiss

verb
  • To send or put away, to discard with disregard, contempt or disdain. (sometimes followed by as). 

  • To get a batsman out. 

  • To give someone a red card; to send off. 

  • To reject; to refuse to accept. 

  • To order to leave. 

  • To invalidate; to treat as unworthy of serious consideration. 

  • To discharge; to end the employment or service of. 

  • To dispel; to rid one’s mind of. 

lay off

verb
  • To stop bothering, teasing, or pestering someone; to leave (someone) alone. 

  • In painting, to apply gentle strokes to smooth a wet coat of paint so as to remove visible roller- or brush-marks, commonly using a dry brush; a similar technique, but using a loaded laying-off brush, may produce a smooth coat of paint when using a roller or the usual brush techniques would leave marks. 

  • To place all or part of a bet with another bookmaker in order to reduce risk. 

  • To plan out (a navigational course) using a chart. 

  • To cease, quit, stop (doing something). 

  • (of an employer) To dismiss (workers) from employment, e.g. at a time of low business volume or through no fault of the worker, often with a severance package. 

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