guillotine vs smother

guillotine

verb
  • To cut or trim (a body part, a stack of paper, etc.) with a guillotine. 

  • To end (a legislative debate) by invoking cloture. 

  • To end discussion (about a parliamentary bill or part of one) by invoking a guillotine procedure. 

  • To execute (someone) with a guillotine. 

noun
  • A device used for cutting the pages of books, stacks of paper, etc., to straight edges, usually by means of a hinged or sliding blade attached to a flat platform. 

  • A legislative motion that debate be ended and a vote taken; a cloture. 

  • A parliamentary procedure for fixing the dates when various stages of discussion of a bill must end, to ensure that the enactment of the bill proceeds expeditiously. 

  • An instrument with a sliding blade for cutting the tonsils, uvula, or other body parts. 

  • A machine used for the application of capital punishment by decapitation, consisting of a tall upright frame from which is suspended a heavy diagonal-edged blade which is dropped onto the neck of the person to be executed; also, execution using this machine. 

smother

verb
  • To be suffocated. 

  • to burn very slowly for want of air; smolder. 

  • To suffocate; stifle; obstruct, more or less completely, the respiration of something or someone. 

  • To reduce to a low degree of vigor or activity; suppress or do away with; extinguish 

  • To cook in a close dish. 

  • To extinguish or deaden, as fire, by covering, overlaying, or otherwise excluding the air. 

  • To get in the way of a kick of the ball, preventing it going very far. When a player is kicking the ball, an opponent who is close enough will reach out with his hands and arms to get over the top of it, so the ball hits his hands after leaving the kicker's boot, dribbling away. 

  • to perish, grow feeble, or decline, by suppression or concealment; be stifled; be suppressed or concealed. 

  • To get in the way of a kick of the ball. 

  • To breathe with great difficulty by reason of smoke, dust, close covering or wrapping, or the like. 

  • To prevent the development of an opponent's attack by one's arm positioning. 

  • To daub or smear. 

noun
  • Cookware used in such cooking. 

  • Smoldering; slow combustion. 

  • The act of smothering a kick (see verb section). 

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