maneuver vs operate

maneuver

verb
  • To guide, steer, manage purposefully 

  • To move (something, or oneself) carefully, and often with difficulty, into a certain position. 

  • To intrigue, manipulate, plot, scheme 

noun
  • A controlled (especially skillful) movement taken while steering a vehicle. 

  • The planned movement of troops, vehicles etc.; a strategic repositioning; (later also) a large training field-exercise of fighting units. 

  • A specific medical or surgical movement, often eponymous, done with the doctor's hands or surgical instruments. 

  • A movement of the body, or with an implement, instrument etc., especially one performed with skill or dexterity. 

  • Any strategic or cunning action; a stratagem. 

operate

verb
  • To put into, or to continue in, operation or activity; to work. 

  • To deal in stocks or any commodity with a view to speculative profits. 

  • To perform some manual act upon a human body in a methodical manner, and usually with instruments, with a view to restore soundness or health, as in amputation, lithotomy, etc. 

  • To act or produce effect on the mind; to exert moral power or influence. 

  • To perform a work or labour; to exert power or strength, physical or mechanical; to act. 

  • To produce, as an effect; to cause. 

  • To produce an appropriate physical effect; to issue in the result designed by nature; especially (medicine) to take appropriate effect on the human system. 

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