hazmat suit

今日はThe Japan Times April 23の 'Recovered, almost: China’s early patients unable to shed coronavirus' と題された記事にあった単語を覚えたいと思います。
Wuhan, China ? Dressed in a hazmat suit, two masks and a face shield, Du Mingjun knocked on the mahogany door of a flat in a suburban district of Wuhan on a recent morning.
...
Patients need to stay at the center for at least 28 days and obtain two negative results before being allowed to leave. Patients are isolated in individual rooms they said were paid for by the government.
COVID-19 virusは本当にしつこい様です。記事中にある "hazmat suit" は、最近ニュースでよく見かける、細菌やウィルスから完全に身を守るための医療用の防護服を示していると思います。 "hazmat" を辞書で見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Dangerous substances; hazardous material: as modifier ‘hazmat shipments’

・Collins Dictionary: substances that pose a danger to public health: (as modifier)
a hazmat suit

・Wiktionary: Often used attributively, as in the term hazmat suit, the term hazmat (also capitalized as HAZMAT or hyphenated as Haz-Mat) is chiefly used in the US. The equivalent term in the rest of the English-speaking world is dangerous goods.
"hazardous material" が語源だと分かると簡単に覚えられますね。

shoring up

緊急事態宣言が解除されました。　私も昨日から通常勤務に戻りました。
The Japan Times Online April 20の記事からの引用です。
Tokyo is likely to place a top priority on shoring up the nation’s virus-hit economy for an extended period, which would make it more difficult for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to promote free trade agreements including the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.
"shoring up" は初めて見る表現ではないようですが、意味を覚えていないので辞書を見ます。
・Farlex Dictionary of Idioms: To give someone or something robust support in the face of difficulty or to prevent potential failure. A noun or pronoun can be used between "shore" and "up.": Workers are trying to shore up the levee to prevent a failure.

・Wiktionary: To reinforce or strengthen (something at risk of failure).: They hastened outside between storms to shore up the damaged fence.

"shore" に元々支柱、支柱で支える意味があるのですね。
俗語辞典のUrban Dictionaryに "shore up" について次のような面白い説明がありました。

a phrase that republican politicians use when they don't know what they are talking about, or are trying to sound important. Possibly coined by John McCain or Sarah Palin.
Couric: What specifically do we need to do to save the economy?

Palin: We need to shore up the economy, and reign in spending also.
新聞記事の筆者はUrban Dictionaryのこの定義を念頭に "shoring up" を使ったのでしょうか？

sou'wester

Madeleine L'engleの "A Wind in the Door" を読んでいます。
But nothing happened except that the wind blew wildly through the pantry. She shivered, and grabbed the first rain clothes that came to hand, a big black rubber poncho that belonged to the twins and had done double duty as a ground cloth for a tend; and Charls Wallace's yellow sou'wester,

"sou'wester" は何かを略した言葉のようですが、元が分かりません。このままで辞書に出ているか調べると出ていました。
・Collins Dictionary: A sou'wester is a waterproof hat that is worn especially by sailors in stormy weather. It has a wide brim at the back to keep your neck dry.

・Cambridge English Dictionary: a waterproof hat with a wide piece at the back to protect the neck, worn especially by sailors (Note: a southwester: a strong wind coming from the southwest)
南西の風から来た言葉でした。

come out in the wash

ジュニア向けの小説 "A Wind in the Door"(written by Madeleine L'engle) を読み始めました。
"Did Father tell you why he has to go rushing off to Brookhaven, or is it another of those top-secret classified things?"
Mrs. Murry looked down at the checked tablecloth, and at the remains of an equation which had not come out in the wash; doodling equations on anything available was a habit of which she could not break her husband. "It's not really secret. There've been several bits about it in the papers recently."
"come out in the wash" は慣用句でしょうね。辞書を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Be resolved eventually with no lasting harm.: he's not happy but he assures me it'll all come out in the wash

・Collins Dictionary: If you say that something will come out in the wash, you mean that people will eventually find out the truth about it.: This will all come out in the wash–I promise you.

・Wiktionary: Of problems or difficulties, to work out, resolve, or become understood eventually and naturally.: It may look like a huge mess now, but I expect that it will all come out in the wash as time goes on.
汚れて見えなかった服の模様が水で洗ったら見えるようになったとか、流水で砂金を選別することを想像すると意味を覚えやすそうです。

driving skill?

コロナによる緊急事態は長引きますね。
それでもバッテリーがあがると困るので週に1回は車を運転しています。　今日は車の運転に関する話です。　Reader's Digest 2月号の記事 'Laugh Lines' からの引用です。
Somebody actually compllimented my driving today.
They left a little note on the wind-shield that said "parking fine."

asinine

Roald Dahlの "The Witches" を読んでいます。
"Hello, Dad" Bruno said. He had a silly sort of mousy grin on his face.
Mr Jenkins's mouth dropped open so wide I could see the gold fillings in his back teeth.
"Don't worry, Dad," Bruno went on. "It's not as bad as all that. Just so long as the cat doesn't get me."
"B-B-Bruno!" stammered Mr Jenkins.
"No more school!" said Bruno, grinning a broad and asinine mouse-grin.
"The Witches" は子供向けの物語ですが、結構難しい単語が出てきます。子供がネズミに変えられる章のタイトルは "Metamorphosis" となっていて、今日取り上げる "asinine" も難しい単語に見えます。辞書を見ます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: Extremely stupid or foolish.: Lydia ignored his asinine remark

・Collins Dictionary: If you describe something or someone as asinine, you mean that they are very foolish.

・Cambridge English Dictionary: extremely stupid: an asinine comment

devilment

Roald Dahlの "The Witches" を読んでいます。
"Where is that grandson of yours?" he said to my grandmother. He spoke rudely and looked very angry.
My grandmother put on her frostiest look, but didn't ansewer him.
"My guess is that he and my son Bruno are up to some devilment," Mr Jenkins went on. "Bruno hasn't turned up for his supper and it takes a lot to make that boy miss his food!"
"devilment" は "devil" から派生した言葉のようですが、辞書で調べます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: Reckless mischief; wild spirits.: his eyes were blazing with devilment

・Collins Dictionary: devilish or mischievous conduct

・Cambridge English Dictionary: behaviour that causes trouble but is usually intended to be humorous: He's up to some kind of devilment again, I'll be bound.
悪ふざけ程度の軽い悪さでしょうか。

affair

コロナ感染を防ぐための緊急事態宣言の影響で図書館の本が借りれなくなったので、家にある本で読む物は無いか探したところ Roald Dahlの "The Witches" があったので読むことにしました。自分で買った本は必ず全部読むことにしているので、読んだことの無い自分の本はありませんが、この本は娘が小学生の時に米国で読んだ（買ってもらっただけかも？）本で処分されてない物の中にありました。Roald Dahlの本を読むのはこれで4冊目です。
The Grand High Witchの魔法により二人の少年はネズミにされてしまいました。
Her handbag was a large bulgy black-leather affair with a tortoise-shell clasp. She picked up Bruno and me and popped us into it. "I shall leave the clasp undone," she said. "But be sure to keep out of sight."
"affair" は出来事や状況、浮気などで使われる事は知っていますが、物について使われるのは余り記憶がありません。辞書を見ます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: informal with adjective An object of a particular type.:
her dress was a black low-cut affair’

・Collins Dictionary: (qualified by an adjective or descriptive phrase)something previously specified, esp a man-made object; thing: our house is a tumbledown affair

・Cambridge English Dictionary: an object of the type stated: She wore a long black velvet affair.

特別な物、注意を引きたい物に使われるようですね。