chock vs shim

chock

noun
  • Any object used as a wedge or filler, especially when placed behind a wheel to prevent it from rolling. 

  • Any fitting or fixture used to restrict movement, especially movement of a line; traditionally was a fixture near a bulwark with two horns pointing towards each other, with a gap between where the line can be inserted. 

adv
  • Entirely; quite. 

verb
  • To make a dull sound. 

  • To stop or fasten, as with a wedge, or block; to scotch. 

  • To insert a line in a chock. 

shim

noun
  • A thin piece of material, sometimes tapered, used for alignment or support. 

  • A small library that transparently intercepts and modifies calls to an API, usually for compatibility purposes. 

  • A kind of shallow plow used in tillage to break the ground and clear it of weeds. 

  • A small metal device used to pick open a lock. 

  • A person characterised by both male and female traits, or by ambiguous male-female traits; a hermaphrodite. 

  • A wedge. 

  • A transsexual person, especially a trans woman; (loosely) a drag queen or transvestite. 

verb
  • To fit one or more shims to a piece of machinery. 

  • To adjust the homogeneity of a magnetic field, after the mechanical devices once used for the purpose. 

  • To adjust something by using shims. 

  • To intercept and modify calls to (an API), usually for compatibility purposes. 

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