scarify vs sliver

scarify

verb
  • To make scratches or cuts on. 

  • To harrow the feelings. 

  • To remove thatch (build-up of organic matter on the soil) from a lawn, to dethatch. 

  • To break up, loosen, or roughen the surface of a field or road or a hard surface. 

  • To scratch, etch, burn, or cut designs into one's skin as a form of body modification. 

  • To damage the testa (seed coat) of a seed by cutting, scraping, chemicals, hot water, or fire to allow permeation of water and faster germination. 

sliver

verb
  • To cut or divide into long, thin pieces, or into very small pieces; to cut or rend lengthwise; to slit. 

noun
  • A narrow high-rise apartment building. 

  • A strand, or slender roll, of cotton or other fiber in a loose, untwisted state, produced by a carding machine and ready for the roving or slubbing which precedes spinning. 

  • Specifically, a splinter caught under the skin. 

  • A long piece cut or rent off; a sharp, slender fragment; a splinter. 

  • Bait made of pieces of small fish. Compare kibblings. 

  • A small amount of something; a drop in the bucket; a shred. 

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