belt out

Reader's　Digest 7/8月合併号の記事 "A Song in His Heart" からの引用です。

At a medical laboratory clinic in Waterloo, Ontario, an elderly woman sat on the edge of a waiting room chair belting out the Celine Dion tune "My Heart Will Go On."

"belting out" は歌うことだと文脈から推測できますが、辞書で "belt" を見てもその様な意味は出てきません。しかし、"belt out" で次の様に説明がありました。

・Macmillan Dictionary: shout or sing something loudly, or to play something loudly on a musical instrument: Mahalia Jackson belting out a gospel tune

・Collins Dictionary: If you belt out a song, you sing or play it very loudly.
[informal]: We shouldn't have opera singers belting out the national anthem before England matches.

・Wiktionary: to sing loudly; to emit music loudly: He belted out Sweet Child of Mine at the karaoke.

strength and weakness

Reader's　Digest 7/8月合併号の記事 "All in a Day's Work" からの引用です。

"What would be your main strength?"
"Well, I can communicate with animals..."
"Wow, impressive. Any weakness?"
"They can't understand me."

つい最近TVで小鳥の鳴き声の研究をしているドキュメンタリーを見たのを思い出しました。
小鳥が鳴き声で騙しあいをしているのを知り、大変興味深い内容でした。

jaws of defeat

今日は読む本が途切れた時に読む 'Merriam-Webster's Vocabulary Builder' の "resign" の言葉を説明する例文が目に留まり、その中の表現を紹介します。
resign: (1) To give up a position or offices. (2) To accept something as unavoidable.
By the last quarter the fans were resigned to losing, but two miraculous touchdowns snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.

この後に "resign" の語源と意味のニュアンスを含めた説明がある構成になっていますが、私が気になったのは上記の例文に出てきた "jaws of defeat" の意味です。

・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: the position of being close to losing: The team was able to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat by scoring in the final seconds of the game.
・Oxford English Dictionary: Used to suggest the notion of being in danger from something such as death or defeat.: ‘victory was snatched from the jaws of defeat’


"jaws of defeat" を項目として掲載している辞書は上の二つの辞書くらいでしたが、多くの辞書は "the jaws" の意味を説明しています。

・Collins Dictionary: a dangerously close position: When washed near the outer edge, it grabbed and pulled her back into the jaws of its turbulence.

・Cambridge English Dictionary: something dangerous: The rescuers snatched the children from the jaws of death.
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: a position or situation in which one is threatened: rode into the jaws of danger

"the jaws" で映画の「ジョーズ」を連想すればいいですね。

herky-jerky animatronics won’t cut it

The Japan Times Aug.25のCULTURE欄の記事からの抜粋です。

Are you ready for sentient Disney robots?
The Magic Kingdom knows the nostalgia of herky-jerky animatronics won’t cut it with today’s children sentient

"herky-jerky" は動詞の "jerk" の意味と関係があると思います。


・Oxford English Dictionary: Characterized by or moving in sudden stops and starts.: there were no windup toys, no herky-jerky contraptions

・Random House Unabridged Dictionary: progressing in a fitfully jerky or irregular manner: a herky-jerky home movie shown on an old projector.

・Urban Dictionary: spasmodic, not smooth said of a persons movements: His herky-jerky gait made me think he should not have been there.

次に口語的な "cut it" の意味を調べます。


・Oxford English Dictionary: Come up to expectations; meet requirements.: this CD player doesn't quite cut it

・Collins Dictionary: If you say that someone can't cut it, you mean that they do not have the qualities needed to do a task or cope with a situation.: [informal] He doesn't think English-born players can cut it abroad.

・Wiktionary: To suffice; to be effective or successful.: Sometimes, professional tools are necessary and homespun solutions just don't cut it.

"cut it" は否定形で使われる様ですね。

Clotted cream

今日はThe Garden Visitor's Handbook 2021のDorset Countyの個所から引用します。
Dorset is not on the way to anywhere. We have no cathedral and no motorways. The county has been inhabited forever and the constantly varying landscape is dotted with prehistoric earthworks and ancient monuments, bordered to the south by the magnificent Jurassic Coast.
...
So do come, discover and explore what the gardens of Dorset have to offer with the added bonus of that welcome cup of tea and that irresistible slice of cake, or a scone laden with clotted cream and strawberry jam!

スコーンの上に載せる "clotted cream" が気になりました。辞書で調べます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: Thick cream obtained by heating milk slowly and then allowing it to cool while the cream content rises to the top in coagulated lumps.: (as modifier)‘they serve clotted cream teas’

・Collins Dictionary: Clotted cream is very thick cream made by heating milk gently and taking the cream off the top. It is made mainly in the southwest of England.

・Wiktionary: A thick, sweet dairy product, made by skimming the thickened layer off the top of unhomogenized cream that has been heated and allowed to stand. Fat content is at least 55%.: I like to have scones with jam and clotted cream for afternoon tea.

英国南部の名物の様ですが、コーヒーに乗せる生クリームと同じかな？

al fresco lunch / alfresco

図書館から借りて読む本が途切れた時に読む（見る）The Garden Visitor's Handbook 2021から引用します。

Join the Great British Garden Party 2021
Whether you choose to host an all al fresco lunch, an afternoon tea party, prosecco by candlelight or a plant sale in your front garden, everyone can join in and help raise funds for the frontline nursing and health charities that are at the heart of the National Garden Scheme.

"al fresco" は外来語に違いないと思いますが、英英辞書に出ているか調べます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: (especially with reference to eating) in the open air.: in the unlikely event of some sunshine you can even dine al fresco
・Collins Dictionary: An alfresco activity, especially a meal, is one that takes place in the open air.: ... an al fresco breakfast of fresh fruit.

・Cambridge English Dictionary: (especially of food and eating) outside: Most summer evenings we eat al fresco.

ヨーロッパの人はカフェやレストランでも天気の良い日は外で飲食するのが好きな様ですね。

pull themselves up by their bootstraps

John J. Rateyの "SPARK" を読んでいます。

I don't look at exercise and medicine as an either-or proposition.
Exercise is another tool at your disposal, and it's handy because it's something you can prescribe for yourself, whether you have a definable disorder of just feel anxious at times. Like most people do. And I'm certainly not a pharmacological Calvinist--I don't tell people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps or that it's a sin or weakness to rely on medicine.

慣用句らしい "pull themselves up by their bootstraps" を調べます。


・Oxford English Dictionary: Improve one's position by one's own efforts.: 'I want to congratulate the farmer-investors, showing they can pulls themselves up by their bootstraps,’ he said.

・Collins Dictionary: If you have pulled yourself up by your bootstraps, you have achieved success by your own efforts, starting from very difficult circumstances and without help from anyone.
・Dictionary.com: to help oneself without the aid of others; use one's resources: I admire him for pulling himself up by his own bootstraps.

以前（9/3/2019）"bootstrap" が単独で出てきたのを取り上げていました。

at the behest of

John J. Rateyの "SPARK" を読んでいます。

Aside from the usual financial considerations, the custody of several children was at stake for the defendant, a patient of mine--I'll call her Amy--who was being divorced by her husband. I had taken the witness stand at the behest of her legal team, to testify about her mental state, and now I was under cross-examination.

"at the behest of" は慣用句の様ですね。辞書を見ます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: A person's orders or command.: ‘they had assembled at his behest’

・Collins Dictionary: If something is done at someone's behest, it is done because they have ordered or requested it. [formal]: Both posts were removed at the school's behest.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: because someone has asked or ordered you to do something: The budget proposal was adopted at the mayor's behest.

"at sb's behest" あるいは "at the behest of sb の形で使われる慣用句として覚えます。

overarching

John J. Rateyの "SPARK" を読んでいます。
The overarching principle of the fight-or-flight response is marshaling resouces for immediate needs in lieu of building for the future--act now, ask questions later. The hormonal rush of epinephrine focuses the body, increasing heart rate and blood pressure and dilating the bronchial tubes of the lungs to carry more oxygen to the muscles.

"overarching" の意味を辞書で調べます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: Comprehensive; all-embracing.: ‘a single overarching principle’

・Collins Dictionary: You use overarching to indicate that you are talking about something that includes or affects everything or everyone.[formal]: The overarching question seems to be what happens when the U.S. pulls out?
・Cambridge English Dictionary: most important, because of including or affecting all other areas: The overarching theme of the election campaign was tax cuts.

意味や辞書の備考に[formal]とある点からすると今までに何度か見たことがあっても当然な単語ですが、初めて見る単語の気がします。

asana

John J. Rateyの "SPARK" を読んでいます。

Learning the asanas of yoga, the position of ballet, the skills of gymnastics, the elements of figure skating, the contortions of Pilates, the forms of karate--all these practices engage nerve cells throughout the brain. Studies of dancers, for example, show that moving to an irregular rhythm versus a regular one improves brain plasticity.
"asanas" は後に続く"the position of ballet" 等々からヨガのポーズを示していると推測できますが、辞書で確かめます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: A posture adopted in performing hatha yoga.: The course includes basic asanas, pranayama and lectures on higher aspects of yoga.

・Collins Dictionary: any of various postures in yoga: At intervals, she stopped to explain, `Of course, I cannot do this asana now, because I am pregnant.
・Vocabulary.com: An asana is a specific yoga position. Your favorite asana in yoga class might be "corpse pose" at the end, when you just lie there and breathe.
Anyone who's taken a yoga class is familiar with the term asana, which simply means "pose" or "position." There are 84 classic asanas in yoga, and even more variations on them. When a yoga class does an asana together, the students position their bodies in a particular way, often holding the asana as they breathe. In Sanskrit, āsana means "seat" or "manner of sitting."