lift vs shoehorn

lift

noun
  • A layer of leather in the heel of a shoe. 

  • A rise; a degree of elevation. 

  • A thief. 

  • The amount or weight to be lifted. 

  • The sky; the heavens; firmament; atmosphere. 

  • An act of lifting or raising. 

  • One of the steps of a cone pulley. 

  • Air. 

  • Mechanical device for vertically transporting goods or people between floors in a building. 

  • That portion of the vibration of a balance during which the impulse is given. 

  • An upward force, such as the force that keeps aircraft aloft. 

  • An improvement in mood. 

  • The difference in elevation between the upper pool and lower pool of a waterway, separated by lock. 

  • The act of transporting someone in a vehicle; a ride; a trip. 

  • Permanent construction with a built-in platform that is lifted vertically. 

  • A rope leading from the masthead to the extremity of a yard below, and used for raising or supporting the end of the yard. 

  • The space or distance through which anything is lifted. 

  • The lifting of a dance partner into the air. 

  • A liftgate. 

verb
  • To buy a security or other asset previously offered for sale. 

  • To take (hounds) off the existing scent and move them to another spot. 

  • To try to raise something; to exert the strength for raising or bearing. 

  • To arrest (a person). 

  • To steal. 

  • to cause to move upwards. 

  • To elevate or improve in rank, condition, etc.; often with up. 

  • To lift weights; to weight-lift. 

  • To remove (a ban, restriction, etc.). 

  • To collect, as moneys due; to raise. 

  • To alleviate, to lighten (pressure, tension, stress, etc.) 

  • To source directly without acknowledgement; to plagiarise. 

  • To raise or rise. 

  • To transform (a function) into a corresponding function in a different context. 

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