empower vs lay off

empower

verb
  • To give permission, power, or the legal right to do something. 

  • To give someone more confidence and/or strength to do something, often by enabling them to increase their control over their own life or situation. 

lay off

verb
  • In painting, to apply gentle strokes to smooth a wet coat of paint so as to remove visible roller- or brush-marks, commonly using a dry brush; a similar technique, but using a loaded laying-off brush, may produce a smooth coat of paint when using a roller or the usual brush techniques would leave marks. 

  • To place all or part of a bet with another bookmaker in order to reduce risk. 

  • To plan out (a navigational course) using a chart. 

  • To cease, quit, stop (doing something). 

  • (of an employer) To dismiss (workers) from employment, e.g. at a time of low business volume or through no fault of the worker, often with a severance package. 

  • To stop bothering, teasing, or pestering someone; to leave (someone) alone. 

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