own up to

リーダーズダイジェスト11月号のKidsコーナーにあった記事です。
I was trying to get my son to own up to knocking an ornament off the cupboard. He thought I hadn't seen him and kept denying it.
Exasperated, he exclaimed, "Who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?"
子供の言う事は面白いですね。　ところで "own up to" 慣用句のようですが意味は何でしょうか？
慣用句は調べにくいのでまず "own" を辞書で見ると、
・Dictionary.com: to confess (often fol. by to, up, or up to): The one who did it had better own up. I own to being uncertain about that.
・American Herritage Dictionary: Confess, make a full admission, as in Come on, Tim, you'd better own upthat you lost the car keys. This idiom uses the verb own in the sense of "acknowledge."
"own up to" だけではなく own up/own to とも言うのですね。

off-putting

読みかけのPsychology Made Simpleをぼちぼちと寝る前に読むことにしました。 Physical Developmentの項に知っていそうで知らない表現が出てきました。
Carol Beausang and Anita Razor at Indiana University conducted a similar study in 2000. In that study, adult women were asked to recall their early experiences with mothers and teachers regarding menstruation. Most recounted experiences that were off-putting.
"off-putting" ですが、経験のない私には見当が付きませんので辞書を見ます。
・OneLook Quick Definitions: causing annoyance or repugnance ("An off-putting remark"); tending to repel ("The trappings of upper-class life are off-putting and sterile- Elizabeth Hess")
・Cambridge Advanced Learner's English Dictionary: slightly unpleasant or worrying so that you do not want to get involved in any way; He's slightly aggressive, which a lot of people find a bit off-putting when they first meet him.; What I found off-putting was the amount of work that you were expected to do.
やはり羨ましい経験ではありませんでした。

yarn

リーダーズダイジェスト11月号の "They Never Said That!" と題した記事です。
Someone suggested that the new Spanish-speaking immigrants might benefit from classes taught in their native language. Furious, Ma picked up the King James Version of the New Testament and shouted, "If English was good enough for Jesus, it's good for Texas!"
Ma has been credited with this goofy statement by New York Times columnist William Safire and Texas humourist Kinky Friedman, among others, none of whom has ever cited a source. Of course, that would be difficult. Ma Ferguson was a college-educated progressive, and it's highly unlikely she said it. The yarn, in fact, dates to at least 1881, when Ferguson was six.
演説や新聞記事などで著名人の言葉が引用されることは多いのですが、この引用された言葉を誰が最初に使ったのかについては結構間違いが多いことを話題にした記事です。オバマ大統領やケネディ大統領も演説で間違って引用していると実例をあげていました。　ところで上に引用した最後の文の "yarn" は毛糸では無いのは確かですが、何でしょう。
・OneLook Quick Definitions: the act of giving an account describing incidents or a course of events
・Dictionary.com: a tale, esp. a long story of adventure or incredible happenings: He spun a yarn that outdid any I had ever heard.
"spin a yarn" は慣用句としても辞書に載っていました。
・American Herritage Dictionary: Tell a story, especially a long drawn-out or totally fanciful one, as in This author really knows how to spin a yarn, or Whenever he's late he spins some yarn about a crisis. Originally a nautical term dating from about 1800, this expression probably owes its life to the fact that it embodies a double meaning, yarn signifying both "spun fiber" and "a tale."

call time

O. Henryの短編 "Telemachus, Friend" にあった表現です。
"When we lined up in front and the preacher was begining to sing out his rituals and observances, I looks around and misses Paisley. I calls time on the preacher. 'Paisley ain't here,' says I. "We've got to wait for Paisley. A friend once, a friend always--that's Telemachus Hicks, 'says I. Mrs. Jessup's eyes snapped some; but the preacher holds up the incantations according to instructions.
子供の頃から遊びやゲームなどで中断を要求する時には「タイム」と大きな声で宣言していましたが、中学で英語を習い始めて以来、この意味での "time" の例を実際の英文で習ったことも読んだり聞いたりした事はありませんでしたが、 この引用文の "calls time" はまさに中断を求めている例のようです。
OneLookで "call time" を検索しても次ぎの辞書しかリストされませんでした。
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: to ask for or grant a time-out
実際の会話・ゲームで中断を求めるのに　"time" と言うだけで良いのかあるいは "time-out"　（or "timeout"） と言うのが普通なのか知りたいところです。
（Chuckさん、上の引用文で主語が一人称なのに動詞の現在形に "s" が付いていますが今回は私のtypoではありません。O. Henryが意図的に使っていると思います。）

capsicum

リーダーズダイジェスト11月号の "More ways to add acids" の記事からです。
Try pickled tomatoes, carrots, celery, broccoli, cauliflowre and red and green capsicums. At a Japanese restaurant, ask for oshinko (pickled vegetables).
"capsicums" はカプサイシン（"capsaicin"）と似ているので唐辛子を思い出しますが、ビクルスなのでパプリカの事かなと思いますが辞書で確認します。
・OneLook Quick Definitions:　any of various tropical plants of the genus Capsicum bearing peppers
・Dictionary.com: 1. any plant of the genus Capsicum, of the nightshade family, as C. annuum, the common pepper of the garden, occurring in many varieties.; 2. the fruit of such a plant or some preparation of it, used as a condiment and intestinal stimulant.
・Wikipedia（抜粋）: Capsicum (or pepper in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland) is a genus of plants from the nightshade family (Solanaceae) native to the Americas, where it was cultivated for thousands of years by the people of the tropical Americas, and is now cultivated worldwide.
ピーマン、パプリカなども皆 "capsicums" の仲間でしょうね。

LOST WIFE with a skimpy halter top

メルマガ「ジョークで英語レッスン」 10/27/2009のジョークです。
Two guys, one old and one young, are pushing their carts around the DIY Store when they collide.
"Sorry about that" says the old guy to the young guy, "I'm looking for my wife, and I guess I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."
The young guy says: "That's OK. It's a coincidence, but I'm looking for my wife, too. I can't find her and I'm getting a little desperate."
The old guy says: "Well, maybe we can help each other. What does your wife look like?
The young guy says: "Well, she is 27 years old, tall, with red hair, blue eyes, long legs, big boobs, and she's wearing a skimpy halter top and tight white shorts. What does your wife look like?"
The old guy says: "Doesn't matter - let's look for yours."
服飾には全く疎い私でも "tank top" は聞いた事がありますが、"halter top" となるとお手上げなので辞書を見ます。
・Dictionary.com: halter: Also called halter top. a woman's top, secured behind the neck and across the back, leaving the arms, shoulders, upperback, and often the midriff bare.
・American Heritage Dictionary: halter-top: A garment for women that ties behind the neck and across the back, leaving the arms, shoulders, and back bare.
なるほど、今の季節では見かける事はないでしょうね。
形容詞の "skimpy" にケチなと言う様な意味があることを知っていますので、ここでは余り布を使っていない、つまり露出度が多い、との意味だとの推測ができますが、辞書で確認します。
・Compact Oxford English Dictionary: (of clothes) short and revealing
・Cambridge International English Dictionary: Skimpy clothing shows a lot of your body; a skimpy dress
・Wiktionary: Small or inadequate; not generous, or of a garment, very small, light, or revealing.; Have you ever seen such a skimpy bikini?
日本の女子高生のスカートは "too skimpy" だと感じていることを思い出しました。 イスラム教徒ではありませんが、彼女達が "too skimpy" なスカートをはかないようにする事は何とかできないものでしょうか。
今日の卓球の試合、昨日の練習のお陰でダブルスは準優勝、シングルスは優勝しました。（これはジョークではありません。）もっとも、下から３番目のブロック内での試合ですが。これで来年はone-up上のランクのグループでの試合になります。

japonica

明日の卓球の試合に備えて朝練をして帰ってきたところです。さて、O. Henryの短編 "Telemachus, Friend" にあった単語です。
'Why, yes,' says I, 'I read it between the lines, though you only spoke one. And I suppose you are aware,' says I, 'that I have a movement on foot that leads up to the widow's changing her name to Hicks, and leaves you writing to the society column to inquire whether the best man wears a japonica or seamless socks at the wedding!'
"japonica" は "wear" するものですが何でしょう？　和服のはずはないし。
・OneLook Quick Definitions: deciduous thorny shrub native to Japan having red blossoms　
・Dictionary.com: the camellia, Camellia japonica, having waxy flowers in a variety of colors.
・American Herritage Dictionary: An ornamental shrub (Chaenomeles japonica) that is native to Japan and cultivated for its red flowers.
椿というとオペラ、椿姫を連想するのですが、英語で "japonica" と言うと日本を連想せざるを得ないですね。

raring to go

リーダーズダイジェスト11月号の "Tame Your Blood Sugar Forever!" と題した記事に興味を覚える表現と覚えたい表現がありました。
When you need a quick pick-me-up, do you reach for lollies, a gooey Danish, a sugary doughnut, perphaps a packet of biscuits? These "fast acting" foods are handy (they're called convenience foods after all), and they take no time at all to dissolve in your stomach. Then they race into your bloodstream, flooding your body with blood glucose and you're raring to go.
まず "pick-me-up" を調べます。
・OneLook Quick Definitions: a tonic or restorative (especially a drink of liquor); anything with restorative powers
・Dictionary.com: 1. an alcoholic drink taken to restore one's energy or good spirits.; 2. any restorative, as a snack or coffee.
次の "raring to go" は慣用句の様な気がしますが、とりあえず "rare" で辞書を見ましたが "rare" にも動詞の用法もあるようですが、上の文にあう適当な説明は中々見つかりません。そこでやはり慣用句として調べ直して見ると次ぎの三つの辞書に "raring to go" の説明と例文がありました。
・Wikitionary: (idiomatic) Extremely eager or anxious to begin; The new recruits are ready and raring to go.
・Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms: to be ready and excited to begin doing something The lawyers were raring to go Monday afternoon when the judge started the hearing.; Usage notes: sometimes spelled rarin' to go to show how it is said: Sometimes she'd wake up at five in the morning and was rarin' to go.
・Cambridge Idioms Dictionary: to be full of energy and ready to do something At three in the morning he was still wide awake and raring to go.
朝早くからやる気満々の時に良く使われるようですね。

cataclysm

次ぎの文は "The Origin of Species" のIntroductionからの一節です。
As all the living forms of life are the lineal descendants of those which lived long before the Silurian epoch, we may feel certain that the ordinary succession by generation has never once been broken, and that no cataclysm has desolated the whole world.
"cataclysm" は以前どこかで見たことがあり、また "catastrophe" を連想する単語ですが、辞書で確認します。
・OneLook Quick Definitions: a sudden violent change in the earth's surface
・Dictionary.com:
1. any violent upheaval, esp. one of a social or political nature.
2. Physical Geography. a sudden and violent physical action producing changes in the earth's surface.
3. an extensive flood; deluge.
"catastrophe" と意味が重なる部分もあるようなので、"catastrophe"も "Dictionary.com" で見ると：
1. a sudden and widespread disaster: the catastrophe of war.
2. any misfortune, mishap, or failure; fiasco: The play was so poor our whole evening was a catastrophe.
3. a final event or conclusion, usually an unfortunate one; a disastrous end: the great catastrophe of the Old South at Appomattox.
4. (in a drama) the point at which the circumstances overcome the central motive, introducing the close or conclusion; "denouement". Compare catastasis, epitasis, protasis.
5. Geology. a sudden, violent disturbance, esp. of a part of the surface of the earth; cataclysm.
6. Also called catastrophe function. Mathematics. any of the mathematical functions that describe the discontinuities that are treated in catastrophe theory.
"catastrophe" の方が "cataclysm" よりも使用される範囲が広いようです。

autologous

リーダーズダイジェスト11月号に "Blood Matters" と題された "cord blood"/"stem cell" に関する記事がありました。　次ぎの文はその一部です。
Most parents I spoke with said they are storing their child's cord blood just in case there's need to use it in the future. However, I wonder if they delved into more research on the subject? I did, and discovered that the case for future autologous transplant (using one's own cells) is not only very rare but also counter-intuitive.
"autologous" の意味は括弧内に説明があるので分かりますが、やはり辞書の説明を見ます。
・OneLook Quick Definitions; derived from organisms of the selfsame individual ("Autologous blood donation")
・Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary:
1 : derived from the same individualautologous(incubated lymphoid cells with autologous tumor cells)
2 : involving one individual as both donor and recipient (as of blood)(an autologous blood transfusion), an autologous bone marrow transplant)