flitch vs shearing

flitch

noun
  • A piece or strip cut off of something else, generally a piece of wood (timber). 

  • The flank or side of an animal, now almost exclusively a pig when cured and salted; a side of bacon. 

verb
  • To cut into, or off in, flitches or strips. 

shearing

noun
  • The material cut off in this way. 

  • Deformation by forces acting in opposite directions. 

  • The process of making a vertical side cutting in working into a face of coal. 

  • The act or operation of reaping. 

  • The act or operation of clipping with shears or a shearing machine, as the wool from sheep, or the nap from cloth. 

  • The process of preparing shear steel; tilting. 

  • The act or operation of dividing with shears. 

adj
  • Tending to cut or tear. 

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