rake vs striker

rake

noun
  • A fissure or mineral vein of ore traversing the strata vertically, or nearly so. 

  • A series, a succession; specifically (rail transport) a set of coupled rail vehicles, normally coaches or wagons. 

  • The sloped edge of a roof at or adjacent to the first or last rafter. 

  • In full, angle of rake or rake angle: the angle between the edge or face of a tool (especially a cutting tool) and a plane (usually one perpendicular to the object that the tool is being applied to). 

  • A lot, plenty. 

  • A tool with a straight edge at the end used by a croupier to move chips or money across a gaming table. 

  • A divergence from the horizontal or perpendicular; a slant, a slope. 

  • A slant that causes the bow or stern of a watercraft to extend beyond the keel; also, the upper part of the bow or stern that extends beyond the keel. 

  • A garden tool with a row of pointed teeth fixed to a long handle, used for collecting debris, grass, etc., for flattening the ground, or for loosening soil; also, a similar wheel-mounted tool drawn by a horse or a tractor. 

  • A similarly shaped tool used for other purposes. 

  • A person (usually a man) who is stylish but habituated to hedonistic and immoral conduct. 

  • A share of profits, takings, etc., especially if obtained illegally; specifically (gambling) the scaled commission fee taken by a cardroom operating a poker game. 

  • The direction of slip during the movement of a fault, measured within the fault plane. 

  • The act of raking. 

  • In cellular automata: a puffer that emits a stream of spaceships rather than a trail of debris. 

  • A course, a path, especially a narrow and steep path or route up a hillside. 

  • Rate of progress; pace, speed. 

  • A slant of some other part of a watercraft (such as a funnel or mast) away from the perpendicular, usually towards the stern. 

verb
  • Followed by up: to bring up or uncover (something), as embarrassing information, past misdeeds, etc. 

  • To move swiftly; to proceed rapidly. 

  • Of a bird of prey: to fly after a quarry; also, to fly away from the falconer, to go wide of the quarry being pursued. 

  • To move (a beam of light, a glance with the eyes, etc.) across (something) with a long side-to-side motion; specifically (often military) to use a weapon to fire at (something) with a side-to-side motion; to spray with gunfire. 

  • To search through (thoroughly). 

  • To cover (something) by or as if by raking things over it. 

  • To act upon with a rake, or as if with a rake. 

  • To incline (something) from a perpendicular direction. 

  • To provide (the bow or stern of a watercraft) with a rake (“a slant that causes it to extend beyond the keel”). 

  • Of a watercraft: to have a rake at its bow or stern. 

  • To fire upon an enemy vessel from a position in line with its bow or stern, causing one's fire to travel through the length of the enemy vessel for maximum damage. 

  • Often followed by in: to gather (things which are apart) together, especially quickly. 

  • To claw at; to scrape, to scratch; followed by away: to erase, to obliterate. 

  • Often followed by an adverb or preposition such as away, off, out, etc.: to drag or pull in a certain direction. 

striker

noun
  • A piece of metal struck against a flint or quartz-rock to produce sparks; a steel. 

  • A mechanism of a firearm acting upon the firing pin. 

  • An individual who is on strike. 

  • An officer's servant or orderly. 

  • A piece of metal used to attract a magnet, or as a keeper for a magnet. 

  • A blacksmith's assistant who wields the sledgehammer. 

  • A piece used to push other pieces toward the pockets in the Asian game of carom. 

  • The batsman who is currently facing the bowler and defending his wicket. 

  • The batter. 

  • One of the players on a team in football (soccer) in the row nearest to the opposing team's goal, who are therefore principally responsible for scoring goals. 

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