handicap vs thwart

handicap

verb
  • To place at disadvantage. 

  • To estimate betting odds. 

  • To encumber with a handicap in any contest. 

noun
  • Something that prevents, hampers, or hinders. 

  • An allowance of a certain amount of time or distance in starting, granted in a race (or other contest of skill) to the competitor possessing disadvantages; or an additional weight or other hindrance imposed upon the one possessing advantages, in order to equalize, as much as possible, the chances of success. 

  • The disadvantage itself, in particular physical or mental disadvantages of people. 

  • A race or similar contest in which there is an allowance of time, distance, weight, or other advantage, to equalize the chances of the competitors. 

thwart

verb
  • To cause to fail; to frustrate, to prevent. 

noun
  • A seat across a boat on which a rower may sit. 

  • An act of thwarting; something which thwarts; a hindrance, an obstacle. 

  • A brace, perpendicular to the keel, that helps maintain the beam (“breadth”) of a marine vessel against external water pressure and that may serve to support the rail. 

adj
  • Placed or situated across something else; cross, oblique, transverse. 

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