abridge vs downbear

abridge

verb
  • To curtail. 

  • Cut short; truncate. 

  • To make shorter; to shorten in duration or extent. 

  • To shorten or contract by using fewer words, yet retaining the sense; to epitomize; to condense. 

downbear

verb
  • To lessen; reduce. 

  • To bear or press down (on); press upon; depress; subdue. 

  • To bear, bring or carry down. 

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