dominate vs take the reins

dominate

verb
  • To govern, rule or control by superior authority or power 

  • To enjoy a commanding position in some field 

  • To exert an overwhelming guiding influence over something or someone 

  • To overlook from a height. 

  • To precede another node of a directed graph in all paths from the start of the graph to the other node. 

adj
  • Dominant. 

noun
  • The late period of the Roman Empire, following the principate, during which the emperor's rule became more explicitly autocratic and remaining vestiges of the Roman Republic were removed from the formal workings of government; the reign of any particular emperor during this period. 

take the reins

verb
  • Synonym of take control. 

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