huddle vs shoehorn

huddle

verb
  • To do, make, or put, in haste or roughly; hence, to do imperfectly; usually with a following preposition or adverb (huddle on, huddle up, huddle together). 

  • To form a huddle. 

  • To get together and discuss a topic. 

  • To crowd (things) together; to mingle confusedly; to assemble without order or system. 

  • To curl one's legs up to the chest and keep one's arms close to the torso; to crouch; to assume a position similar to that of an embryo in the womb. 

  • To crowd together. 

  • To hesitate during play while thinking about one's next move. 

adj
  • Huddled, confused, congested. 

noun
  • A brief meeting of all the players from one team that are on the field with the purpose of planning the following play. 

  • A hesitation during play to think about one's next move. 

  • A dense and disorderly crowd. 

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