leverage vs pawl

leverage

noun
  • A force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot; see torque. 

  • The debt-to-equity ratio. 

  • The ability to earn very high returns when operating at high-capacity utilization of a facility. 

  • The use of borrowed funds with a contractually determined return to increase the ability to invest and earn an expected higher return, but usually at high risk. 

  • Any influence which is compounded or used to gain an advantage. 

verb
  • To use; to exploit; to manipulate in order to take full advantage (of something). 

pawl

noun
  • A pivoted catch designed to fall into a notch on a ratchet wheel so as to allow movement in only one direction (e.g. on a windlass or in a clock mechanism), or alternatively to move the wheel in one direction. 

  • A similar device to prevent motion in other mechanisms besides ratchets. 

verb
  • To stop with a pawl. 

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