seal vs shoehorn

seal

verb
  • To fasten (something) so that it cannot be opened without visible damage. 

  • To place a seal on (a document). 

  • To confirm or set apart as a second or additional wife. 

  • To guarantee. 

  • To close securely to prevent leakage. 

  • To place in a sealed container. 

  • To prevent people or vehicles from crossing (something). 

  • To tie up animals (especially cattle) in their stalls. 

  • To mark with a stamp, as an evidence of standard exactness, legal size, or merchantable quality. 

  • To form a sacred commitment. 

  • To hunt seals. 

  • To place a notation of one's next move in a sealed envelope to be opened after an adjournment. 

  • To fix, as a piece of iron in a wall, with cement or plaster, etc. 

  • To close by means of a seal. 

  • To fry (meat) at a high temperature to retain the juices. 

noun
  • An impression of such stamp on wax, paper or other material used for sealing. 

  • A bearing representing a creature something like a walrus. 

  • Anything that secures or authenticates. 

  • A tight closure, secure against leakage. 

  • Something which will be visibly damaged if a covering or container is opened, and which may or may not bear an official design. 

  • A chakra. 

  • A design or insignia usually associated with an organization or an official role. 

  • Confirmation or approval, or an indication of this. 

  • A stamp used to impress a design on a soft substance such as wax. 

  • Something designed to prevent liquids or gases from leaking through a joint. 

  • A pinniped (Pinnipedia), particularly an earless seal (true seal) or eared seal. 

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