before vs following

before

prep
  • Earlier than (in time). 

  • In front of, according to a formal system of ordering items. 

  • In store for, in the future of (someone). 

  • At a higher or greater position than, in a ranking. 

  • Under consideration, judgment, authority of (someone). 

  • In the presence of. 

  • In front of in space. 

adv
  • At an earlier time. 

  • In advance. 

  • At the front end. 

conj
  • Rather or sooner than. 

  • In advance of the time when. 

following

prep
  • After, subsequent to. 

adj
  • About to be specified. 

  • Blowing in the direction of travel. 

  • Coming next, either in sequence or in time. 

noun
  • A thing or things to be mentioned immediately after. 

  • A group of followers, attendants or admirers; an entourage. 

  • Vocation; business; profession. 

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