fan vs strewing

fan

noun
  • A hand-held device consisting of concertinaed material, or slats of material, gathered together at one end, that may be opened out into the shape of a sector of a circle and waved back and forth in order to move air towards oneself and cool oneself. 

  • A small vane or sail, used to keep the large sails of a smock mill always in the direction of the wind. 

  • An electrical or mechanical device for moving air, used for cooling people, machinery, etc. 

  • Anything resembling a hand-held fan in shape, e.g., a peacock’s tail. 

  • A person who is fond of something or someone, especially an admirer of a performer or aficionado of a sport. 

  • An instrument for winnowing grain, by moving which the grain is tossed and agitated, and the chaff is separated and blown away. 

  • The action of fanning; agitation of the air. 

  • A section of a tree having a finite number of branches 

verb
  • To dispel by waving a hand-held fan. 

  • To strike out. 

  • To move or spread in multiple directions from one point, in the shape of a hand-held fan. 

  • To perform a maneuver that involves flicking the top rear of an old-style gun. 

  • To slap (a behind, especially). 

  • To invigorate, like flames when fanned. 

  • To blow air on (something) by means of a fan (hand-held, mechanical or electrical) or otherwise. 

  • To apply (the air brake) many times in rapid succession. 

  • To strike out (a batter). 

  • To winnow grain. 

strewing

noun
  • Material that is strewn. 

  • The act of scattering or spreading. 

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