firing line vs task

firing line

noun
  • The vanguard of an activity. 

  • A situation in which someone or something is targeted. 

  • A row of shooters. 

  • The line from which soldiers fire their weapons at a target; especially the front line of troops in a battle. 

task

noun
  • An objective. 

  • Any piece of work done. 

  • A difficult or tedious undertaking. 

  • A process or execution of a program. 

  • A piece of work done as part of one’s duties. 

verb
  • To charge, as with a fault. 

  • To assign a task to, or impose a task on. 

  • To oppress with severe or excessive burdens; to tax 

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