shearing vs shortening

shearing

noun
  • Deformation by forces acting in opposite directions. 

  • The process of making a vertical side cutting in working into a face of coal. 

  • The act or operation of reaping. 

  • The act or operation of clipping with shears or a shearing machine, as the wool from sheep, or the nap from cloth. 

  • The material cut off in this way. 

  • The process of preparing shear steel; tilting. 

  • The act or operation of dividing with shears. 

adj
  • Tending to cut or tear. 

shortening

noun
  • Fat that is solid at room temperature, such as margarine or lard (not usually used of butter), used to make shortcrust pastry. 

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