shoehorn vs step

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. 

step

noun
  • The part of a spade, digging stick or similar tool that a digger's foot rests against and presses on when digging; an ear, a foot-rest. 

  • The space passed over by one movement of the foot in walking or running. 

  • The interval between two contiguous degrees of the scale. 

  • A running board where passengers step to get on and off the bus. 

  • A rest, or one of a set of rests, for the foot in ascending or descending, as a stair, or a rung of a ladder. 

  • A print of the foot; a footstep; a footprint; track. 

  • Proceeding; measure; action; act. 

  • One of a series of offsets, or parts, resembling the steps of stairs, as one of the series of parts of a cone pulley on which the belt runs. 

  • A small space or distance. 

  • A portable framework of stairs, much used indoors in reaching to a high position. 

  • A framing in wood or iron which is intended to receive an upright shaft; specifically, a block of wood, or a solid platform upon the keelson, supporting the heel of the mast. 

  • A gait; manner of walking. 

  • An advance or movement made from one foot to the other; a pace. 

  • A bearing in which the lower extremity of a spindle or a vertical shaft revolves. 

  • A change of position effected by a motion of translation. 

  • A walk; passage. 

  • A distinct part of a process; stage; phase. 

  • A stepchild. 

  • A stepsibling. 

  • A constant difference between consecutive values in a series. 

verb
  • To dance. 

  • To walk slowly, gravely, or resolutely. 

  • To move mentally; to go in imagination. 

  • To walk; to go on foot; especially, to walk a little distance. 

  • To move the foot in walking; to advance or recede by raising and moving one of the feet to another resting place, or by moving both feet in succession. 

  • To fix the foot of (a mast) in its step; to erect. 

  • To set, as the foot. 

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