shift vs tack

shift

noun
  • An act of shifting; a slight movement or change. 

  • In violin-playing, any position of the left hand except that nearest the nut. 

  • A change of workers, now specifically a set group of workers or period of working time. 

  • An instance of the use of such a code or character. 

  • The act of kissing passionately. 

  • A type of women's undergarment of dress length worn under dresses or skirts, a slip or chemise. 

  • A bit shift. 

  • The extent, or arrangement, of the overlapping of plank, brick, stones, etc., that are placed in courses so as to break joints. 

  • A breaking off and dislocation of a seam; a fault. 

  • A mutation in which the DNA or RNA from two different sources (such as viruses or bacteria) combine. 

  • The gear mechanism in a motor vehicle. 

  • A period of time in which one's consciousness resides in another reality, usually achieved through meditation or other means. 

  • A control code or character used to change between different character sets. 

  • An infield shift. 

  • A simple straight-hanging, loose-fitting dress. 

verb
  • To change position. 

  • To manipulate a binary number by moving all of its digits left or right; compare rotate. 

  • To move the keys of a typewriter over in order to type capital letters and special characters. 

  • In violin-playing, to move the left hand from its original position next to the nut. 

  • To dispose of. 

  • To practice indirect or evasive methods. 

  • To remove the first value from an array. 

  • To change gears (in a car). 

  • To hurry; to move quickly. 

  • To change the reality one's consciousness resides in through meditation or other means. 

  • To move from one place to another; to redistribute. 

  • To change in form or character; switch. 

  • To change residence; to leave and live elsewhere. 

  • To switch to a character entry mode for capital letters and special characters. 

  • To engage in sexual petting. 

tack

noun
  • A direction or course of action, especially a new one. 

  • The distance a sailing vessel runs between these maneuvers when working to windward; a board. 

  • A rope used to hold in place the foremost lower corners of the courses when the vessel is close-hauled; also, a rope employed to pull the lower corner of a studding sail to the boom. 

  • Any of the various equipment and accessories worn by horses in the course of their use as domesticated animals. 

  • The maneuver by which a sailing vessel turns its bow through the wind so that the wind changes from one side to the other. 

  • A contract by which the use of a thing is set, or let, for hire; a lease. 

  • The stickiness of a compound, related to its cohesive and adhesive properties. 

  • That which is tacky; something cheap and gaudy. 

  • A small nail with a flat head. 

  • A stain; a tache. 

  • That which is attached; a supplement; an appendix. 

  • A course or heading that enables a sailing vessel to head upwind. 

  • Food generally; fare, especially of the bread kind. 

  • A loose seam used to temporarily fasten pieces of cloth. 

  • A thumbtack. 

  • The lower corner on the leading edge of a sail relative to the direction of the wind. 

verb
  • To nail with a tack (small nail with a flat head). 

  • To maneuver a sailing vessel so that its bow turns through the wind, i.e. the wind changes from one side of the vessel to the other. 

  • To add something as an extra item. 

  • To sew/stitch with a tack (loose seam used to temporarily fasten pieces of cloth). 

  • to tack (something) onto (something) 

  • To place the tack on a horse; often paired with "up". 

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