boot vs shoehorn

boot

noun
  • A heavy shoe that covers part of the leg. 

  • A tyre. 

  • A torture device used on the feet or legs, such as a Spanish boot. 

  • The act or process of removing or firing someone (dismissing them from a job or other post). 

  • The inflated flag leaf sheath of a wheat plant. 

  • A crust end-piece of a loaf of bread. 

  • A parking enforcement device used to immobilize a car until it can be towed or a fine is paid; a wheel clamp. 

  • The act or process of bootstrapping; the starting or re-starting of a computing device. 

  • That which is given to make an exchange equal, or to make up for the deficiency of value in one of the things exchanged; compensation; recompense. 

  • An unattractive person, ugly woman. 

  • The luggage storage compartment of a sedan or saloon car. 

  • Profit, plunder. 

  • A hard plastic case for a long firearm, typically moulded to the shape of the gun and intended for use in a vehicle. 

  • A recently arrived recruit; a rookie. 

  • A linear amplifier used with CB radio. 

  • A bootleg recording. 

  • A bobbled ball. 

  • A blow with the foot; a kick. 

  • A flexible cover of rubber or plastic, which may be preformed to a particular shape and used to protect a shaft, lever, switch, or opening from dust, dirt, moisture, etc. 

  • A rubber bladder on the leading edge of an aircraft’s wing, which is inflated periodically to remove ice buildup; a deicing boot. 

  • A kind of sports shoe worn by players of certain games such as cricket and football. 

  • A black person. 

verb
  • To disconnect forcibly; to eject from an online service, conversation, etc. 

  • To bootstrap; to start a system, e.g. a computer, by invoking its boot process or bootstrap. 

  • To apply corporal punishment (compare slippering). 

  • To vomit. 

  • To eject; kick out. 

  • To kick. 

  • To shoot, to kill by gunfire. 

  • To start or restart a computer or other electronic system; to bootstrap. 

  • To put boots on, especially for riding. 

  • To step on the accelerator of a vehicle for faster acceleration than usual or to drive faster than usual. 

shoehorn

noun
  • A smooth tool that assists in putting the foot into a shoe, by sliding the heel in after the toe is in place. This reduces discomfort and damage to the back of the shoe. By slipping it into the back of the shoe behind the heel, the user prevents the heel from squashing down the back of the shoe and causing difficulty; instead the heel slides down the smooth shoehorn, which then comes out easily once the foot is in place. 

  • Anything by which a transaction is facilitated; a medium. 

verb
  • To use a shoehorn. 

  • To force (something) into (a tight space); to squeeze (something) into (a schedule, etc); to exert great effort to insert or include (something); to include (something) despite potent reasons not to. 

  • To force some current event into alignment with some (usually unconnected) agenda, especially when it is fallacious. 

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