decorticate vs peel

decorticate

verb
  • To peel or remove the bark, husk, or outer layer from something. 

  • To surgically remove the surface layer, membrane, or fibrous cover of an organ etc. 

adj
  • Having had the cortex removed 

peel

verb
  • To remove something from the outer or top layer of. 

  • To remove one's clothing. 

  • To move, separate (off or away). 

  • To play a peel shot. 

  • To send through a hoop (of a ball other than one's own). 

  • To remove the skin or outer covering of. 

  • To become detached, come away, especially in flakes or strips; to shed skin in such a way. 

noun
  • A takeout which removes a stone from play as well as the delivered stone. 

  • A shovel or similar instrument, now especially a pole with a flat disc at the end used for removing pizza or loaves of bread from a baker's oven. 

  • A T-shaped implement used by printers and bookbinders for hanging wet sheets of paper on lines or poles to dry. 

  • The action of peeling away from a formation. 

  • A cosmetic preparation designed to remove dead skin or to exfoliate. 

  • An equal or match; a draw. 

  • The skin or outer layer of a fruit, vegetable, etc. 

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