choke vs shoehorn

choke

verb
  • To obstruct (a passage, etc.) by filling it up or clogging it. 

  • To prevent (someone) from breathing or talking by strangling or filling the windpipe. 

  • To be checked or stopped, as if by choking 

  • To perform badly at a crucial stage of a competition, especially when one appears to be clearly winning. 

  • To hold the club or bat lower on the shaft in order to shorten one's swing. 

  • To use the choke valve of (a vehicle) to adjust the air/fuel mixture in the engine. 

  • To be unable to breathe because of obstruction of the windpipe (for instance food or other objects that go down the wrong way, or fumes or particles in the air that cause the throat to constrict). 

  • To have a feeling of strangulation in one's throat as a result of passion or strong emotion. 

  • To move one's fingers very close to the tip of a pencil, brush or other art tool. 

  • To reach a condition of maximum flowrate, due to the flow at the narrowest point of the duct becoming sonic (Ma = 1). 

  • To make or install a choke, as in a cartridge, or in the bore of the barrel of a shotgun. 

  • To check or stop (an utterance or voice) as if by choking. 

  • To hinder or check, as growth, expansion, progress, etc.; to kill (a plant by robbing it of nutrients); to extinguish (fire by robbing it of oxygen). 

  • To give (someone) a feeling of strangulation as a result of passion or strong emotion. 

  • To say (something) with one’s throat constricted (due to emotion, for example). 

noun
  • A constriction at the muzzle end of a shotgun barrel which affects the spread of the shot. 

  • A control on a carburetor to adjust the air/fuel mixture when the engine is cold. 

  • The mass of immature florets in the centre of the bud of an artichoke. 

  • A choking coil. 

  • In wrestling, karate (etc.), a type of hold that can result in strangulation. 

  • A partial or complete blockage (of boulders, mud, etc.) in a cave passage. 

  • A major mistake at a crucial stage of a competition because one is nervous, especially when one is winning. 

shoehorn

verb
  • 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 use a shoehorn. 

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

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. 

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