unicorn

6月20日 The Japan Times Online　メルカリ上場の記事です。
Mercari’s IPO raises over ¥60 billion on Mothers, putting Japanese flea market app in spotlight
Mercari Inc., Japan’s first unicorn to go public, made its debut Tuesday on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Mothers section, becoming the largest IPO this year.

"unicorn" は普通は架空の動物一角獣を指しますが、ここではどんな意味があるのでしょう？
辞書で調べます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: A start-up company valued at more than a billion dollars, typically in the software or technology sector.: many unicorn start-ups have little revenue to speak of
・Cambridge English Dictionary: start-up (= new business) whose value is considered to be over $1 billion
Compare decacorn: a start-up (= new business) whose value is considered to be over $10 billion
なるほど。この意味の由来が知りたくなりました。Wikipediaに次の記述がありました。
A unicorn is a privately held startup company valued at over $1 billion. The term was coined in 2013 by venture capitalist Aileen Lee, choosing the mythical animal to represent the statistical rarity of such successful ventures. A decacorn is a word used for those companies over $10 billion, while hectocorn is the appropriate term for such a company valued over $100 billion.

come out of the woodwork

Reader's Digest 5月号の記事 Perfect Strangersから引用します。
So she launched a Facebook Group called Make Lincoln Kind Again. Members have made cards for seniors, assembled hygiene bags for womem in need, and gathered supplies for an incoming refugee family. There's some karma at play, too: When Nightenale had a stroke in January, members rallied to make hospital visits and look after her kids. "It's amazing to see people you barely know come out of the woodwork to support you," she says.
慣用句らしい "come out of the woodwork" の意味を調べます。
・Wiktionary: to appear or emerge unexpectedly or inexplicably, frequently in large numbers or quantity.: He won the lottery last year and he has had old "friends" and distant relatives coming out of the woodwork ever since.
Etymology: From the idea of insects crawling out from inside the woodwork in a house
・Farlex Dictionary of Idioms: To appear unexpectedly, or from unexpected places.: Ever since Liam won the lottery, his so-called relatives have been coming out of the woodwork.
似た表現の "crawl out of the woodwork" を 12/24/2013 に取り上げていました。

pull off

Miyuki MiyabeのCrossfireも終わりに近づいて来たので今日がCrossfireからの最後の引用になりそうです。
"I think he was rich." The waiter mentioned a brand name for the jacket he'd worn, but it meant nothing to either Chikako or Makihara. "He acted casual, like he wore that kind of thing all the time. He could have been a model. He looked really at home it if."
"How old?"
"Twenty-five or twenty-six. Long hair, the way everyone wants to have it, but most guys can't pull off."
"Just like my son!" chimed in Chikako. "He's grown it long and has it tied in the back. I tried to like it, but it just makes him look like a starving samurai. He seems to think he looks great."

"pull off" に車を道路脇に止める意味がありますが、ここではもちろんそんな意味ではないですね。辞書を見ます。"
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: to carry out despite difficulties: the rebel forces pulled off a surprisingly successful offensive against the better equipped government troops
・Collins Dictionary: If you pull off something very difficult, you succeed in achieving it.: It will be a very, very fine piece of mountaineering if they pull it off.
・Wiktionary: To achieve; to succeed at something difficult.: Six pages is a lot to write in one night. Do you think she can pull it off?
英語は難しい。

a book of matches

Miyuki MiyabeのCrossfireを読んでいます。
"The thirteen-year-old girl has the same power as you." Junko was speechless for a few seconds. She looked at the photograph of Kaori. Her eyes seemed to be speaking to her. "Are you listening?" Koichi demanded.
"She can start fires, too?"
"She doesn't have anywhere near the power you do. She's more like a book of matches than a flamethrower. But she definitely has potential."
マッチで火を点けることがほとんどなくなったので "match" はほぼ死語になっているのではと思いますが、上に出てきた "a book of matches" の様に "book" がこのように使われるとは意外です。
辞書で "book" の意味と用法を見てみます。
・Collins Dictionary: A book of something such as stamps, matches, or tickets is a small number of them fastened together between thin cardboard covers.: Can I have a book of first class stamps please?
・Cambridge English Dictionary: a number of one type of thing fastened together flat inside a cover: a book of stamps/tickets/matches
そう云えば、昔マッチ箱ではなく、平らな細長い厚紙で作られたマッチ棒をやはり厚紙で包んだものがありましたが、それこそ "a book of matches" ですね。

fall about

The Answer written by Allan & Barbara Peaseから引用します。
'So you just decided to turn up on the other side of the world where no-one knows you, you don't know anyone, you're broke, you'll write only bestsellers and make it big? Is that what you're telling me?' he asked.
'That's a perfect summary, John!' I said.
He looked down, put his hands over his face, shook his head and, laughing, said, 'Then we'd better have a drink to celebrate!'
He opened a bottle of champagne and before long we were all falling about, laughing at the absurdity of it all.
"falling about" は句動詞でしょう。辞書を見ます。
・Collins Dictionary: If you say that people are falling about, you mean that they are laughing a lot about something.: Dan fell about and slapped his thighs.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: to laugh without being able to stop: We fell about when we heard her reply.
・Wiktionary: To laugh so much that one's entire body moves somewhat uncontrollably.: Every time he performed the trick people would fall about laughing.
日本語の「笑い転げる」を思い出せば良さそうだ。

less of a neatnik

Reader's Digest 4月号の記事 'That's Outrageous!' からの引用です。
He'd been less of a neatnik: A Florida man who'd broken into and ransacked a cell phone store thought of everything. He even shut off the power to the building to disable the surveillance cameras and sprayed the glass display counters with Windex to remove his fingerprints. Yes, he thought of everything--except for the Windex. He left it behind, and the police lifted his fingerprints from the bottle.

"neatnik": A stickler for neatness or cleanliness.: His mom is such a neatnik that a dirty dish never even hits her sink.
昔聞いたことのある "beatnik" から生まれた言葉に違いない。

gelotology

The Answer written by Allan & Barbara Peaseを読んでいます。
Sucessful people everywhere share one trait in common -- they have learned to see the funny side of negative events. There's a positive, humorous aspect to every negative thing that can happen in life -- you just have to look for it. The study of humor and laughter and its psychological and physiological effects on the human body is called gelotology.

"gelotology" は見慣れない単語ですが意味は文中に説明があるので分かります。
・Wiktionary: The study of humor and laughter, and its effects on the body.
上記引用文のちょっと後に "Always laugh when you can. It's cheaper than medicine." とありましたが、毎月読んでいるReader's DigestにもLaughter The Best Medicineと云うコーナーがありますね。
又、"gelotology" で同時通訳者の故村松増美さんを思い出しました。十数年前のことですが、当時村松さんは日本笑い学会や国際ユーモア学会の理事を務めているとおっしゃっていました。本当にユーモアのある方でした。

turn a hair

Miyuki MiyabeのCrossfireを読んでいます。
"So what has changed since Arakawa?" Chikako asked, quickyly adding, "That is, assuming this isn't some elaborately made-up story."
"Makihara didn't turn a hair. "No, Kazuki Tada knew she had pyrokinesis and that she could use it. She's a walking flamethrower--a perpetually-armed assassin."
慣用句らしい "turn a hair" の意味を辞書で調べます。
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: to give a sign of distress or disturbance: did not turn a hair when told of the savage murder
上の辞書は例文のみ否定形になっていますが、他のほとんど辞書は否定形の "not turn a hair" を見出しに使っています。
・Farlex Dictionary of Idioms: To show no outward emotion when something bad happens or is announced.: I thought he'd be devastated after losing the race, but he didn't turn a hair.
・The American HeritageR Dictionary of Idioms : Not become afraid or upset, remain calm, as in She didn't turn a hair during the bank robbery.
以前（5/17/2013）"keep your hair on"（To stay calm）を取り上げましたが、意味に共通点があるので一緒に覚えるとよさそうだ。

if I get pregnant, it will be your fault!

Reader's Digest 4月号の記事 'All in A Day's Work' からの引用です。
I received a call from a customer on our pharmacy benefits hotline saying that she could not get in touch with her doctor and, as a result, couldn't get her birth control prescription filled. Although I explained politely there was nothing I could do, she became irate.
"Fine!" she said. "But if I get pregnant, it will be your fault!"

make off

Miyuki MiyabeのCrossfireを読んでいます。
"You know how they say that even Buddha forgives three times and then gets angry? Well, since then no matter what the guy says Kayoko's stopped going back to him. Even when he threatens to kill himself on our doorstep. But you know, Chika-chan, the scary thing is that now it's like a state of war. And a guerrilla war at that"
"What's he saying now?"
"He wants to make off with my grandson," Izaki growled. "If he manages to get the kid, Kayoko would have to go back to him, right?"

"make off" は句動詞の様です。意味を調べます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Leave hurriedly, especially in order to avoid duty or punishment.: they made off without paying
・Collins Dictionary: If you make off, you leave somewhere as quickly as possible, often in order to escape.: They broke free and made off in a stolen car.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: to leave quickly, usually in order to escape: The burglars made off before the police arrived.
この "make off" はこの後にも次の文で使われていました。
The thieves killed his mother and made off in the family's car with her younger sister as a hostage. Her body was found three dasys later.