fray vs shoehorn

fray

verb
  • To force or make (a path, way, etc.) through. 

  • To rub. 

  • Often followed by away, off, or out: to frighten or scare (someone or something) away. 

  • Of a person's mental strength, nerves, temper, etc.: to become exhausted or worn out. 

  • To assail or attack (someone or something); to drive (someone or something) away by attacking. 

  • To become unravelled or worn; to unravel. 

  • To be afraid or frightened; to fear. 

  • Of a deer: to rub (its antlers or head) against a tree, etc., to remove the velvet from antlers or to mark territory; also, to rub its antlers against (a tree, etc.) for that purpose. 

  • Of a deer: to rub its antlers against a tree, etc., to remove the velvet or to mark territory. 

  • To alarm or frighten (someone or something). 

  • To chase (someone or something) away; to disperse. 

  • To rub or wear away (something); to cause (something made of strands twisted or woven together, such as cloth or rope) to unravel through friction; also, to irritate (something) through chafing or rubbing; to chafe. 

  • To make an assault or attack; also, to create a disturbance; to brawl, to fight. 

noun
  • A heated argument; a war of words. 

  • A noisy commotion, especially resulting from fighting; a brawl, a fight; also, a loud quarrel. 

  • A consequence of rubbing, unravelling, or wearing away; a fraying; also, a place where fraying has occurred. 

  • Conflict, disagreement. 

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 fray and shoehorn occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )