elongate vs shorten

elongate

verb
  • To make long or longer by pulling and stretching; to make elongated. 

  • To become long or longer by being pulled or stretched; to become elongated. 

adj
  • Lengthened, extended, elongated; relatively long and slender. 

shorten

verb
  • To make shorter; to abbreviate. 

  • To reduce or diminish in amount, quantity, or extent; to lessen. 

  • To take in the slack of (a rope). 

  • To reduce (sail) by taking it in. 

  • To become shorter. 

  • To make short or friable, as pastry, with butter, lard, etc. 

  • To make deficient (as to); to deprive (of). 

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