dance at the end of a rope

船員に嫌われたCaptain Davis率いるFranklin号で反乱が起きてしまいます。
"Mutineers might dance at the end of a rope," Aken said, "if just cause be found."
"dance at the end of a rope" は慣用句の様な表現ですが、この表現を載せている辞書は見つかりません。
Dictionary.comに "at the end of one's rope" という慣用句の説明が次ぎのようにありました。
at the end of one's rope: at the end of one's endurance or means; at the limit: With all her savings gone and bills piling up, she was at the end of her rope.
しかし、これは "dance at the end of a rope" とは関係がなさそうです。　しかたがなく Googleで検索すると、"dance at the end of a rope" を使った文は次ぎの様に幾つもでてきました。
Pirates are war criminals and deserve to dance at the end of a rope.
In the olden days, a pirate would end up doing a dance at the end of a rope.
I look forward to a seat in the electric chair or dance at the end of a rope.
これらの文からすると、 "dance at the end of a rope" 、死刑の処刑を受けるの意味で、恐らく絞首刑からきた表現と推測します。

lashing with the "cat"

Howland号のCaptain Whitfieldと違ってFranklin号のCaptain Davisは船員から嫌われています。
The crew was silent. No one wanted to cross Captain Davis. He'd started out with tongue-lashings, moved on to lashing with the "cat," and had now taken to stalking about the deck waving a musket.
猫で鞭を打つなんて事はできる訳はないので "cat" は引用符で囲まれていて普通の猫とは意味が違うことをしましていますが、では実際この "cat" は何でしょう？
猫以外の意味が辞書を引いて分かるのかと思いましたが、あっさりと分かりました。
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: cat-o'-nine-tails: a whip made of usually nine knotted lines or cords fastened to a handle
・Vocabulary.com: a whip with nine knotted cords: “British sailors feared the cat”
・Cambridge English Dictionary: cat-o'-nine-tails: a whip made from rope that has nine ends, and was used especially in the past for hitting people to punish them

brackish

昨日今年の２月以来初めてジョッギングをしました。８月に手術で切った傷も痛みはなく、これなら今月２８日の江戸川ランを無事走れると感じました。しかし、あまりにもゆっくり走ったので走っている途中で蚊にさされました。先月末まで続いた残暑がやっと終わり、秋風が心地よく感じました。秋の花はないかときょろきょろしながら走ったのですが、彼岸花の他はコスモス、Rose of Sharon、crepe myrtleの咲き残りを見かけるだけでした。来週は往復で14kmとちょっと距離がありますが、バラの見れるローズガーデンまで足を延ばそうと思っています。
さて本題です、万次郎を救助したHowland号の乗組員だったMr. Davisからまた捕鯨船に乗ることを誘われます。条件は良くありませんでしたが日本の近くまで行くと言うので、日本に帰れる可能性を期待して万次郎は再び航海に出ました。
It didn't matter anyway, Manjiro told himself. He wouldn't be accepted at home anymore. Better to live out his days in the middle of this endless, motionless sea. If they didn't make landfall soon, there might not be many of those days left anyway. The little water they had was brackish and foul, the port moldy, and the biscuits more weevil than bread. Some of the men were suffering from scurvy.
私がこの話を耳で聞いていたら "brackish" は "blackish" と聞き取ること間違いありません。
では "brackish" の意味を確認しましょう。
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: 1. somewhat salty: brackish water 2. not appealing to the taste: brackish tea
・Cambridge English Dictionary: Brackish water is salty, dirty and unpleasant.

The passage of time

Three men are deciding where to meet for lunch to celebrate their 40th birthdays. Finally they settle on the Ocean View restaurant, because the waitresses there are gorgeous.
Ten years later, at age 50, the friends once again discuss where they should meet for lunch. Finally it's agreed that they will dine at the Ocean View restaurant, because the food is good and the wine selection excellent.
Ten years later, at age 60, the friends again discuss where they should have lunch, and finally agree to meet at the Ocean View restaurant because they can dine in peace and quiet while looking at the beautiful view.
Ten years later, at age 70, the friends again discuss where they should meet for lunch. The Ocean View restaurant is agreed upon because it has wheelchair access and a lift.
Ten years later, at age 80, the three men discuss where they should meet for lunch. Finally it's agreed that they will meet at the Ocean View restaurant because they have never been there before.
この話のオチが直ぐに分からない方は安心して下さい。まだまだ若いと言う事です。
直ぐに分かった方、心配ですね。いや、それはそれで幸せなのでしょう。
cf. "jamais vu": http://blog.alc.co.jp/blog/3302827/archive/2007/5/15

Thermos flask for hot and cold drinks

Did you hear about the man who brought a flask to work with his tiffin case?
His workmates ask: "What's that?"
He says: "It's a thermos flask. It keeps hot drinks hot and cold drinks cold."
Amazed, the man ask (sic): What's inside?"
He replies: "Two cups of hot milk tea and a fizzy cola."

cf. tiffin: a small meal that you eat in the middle of the day
sic: used in writing after a word that is not spelled or used correctly to show that you have written it that way because you are repeating what someone else said or wrote

administer

万次郎はbullyのトムと馬の競争で戦う事になり、万次郎の乗る農耕馬のようなDuffyとは違って、立派な馬、Lightningを持っていて、小さい頃から乗馬に親しんでいるトムには勝てそうもありませんが、友人の助けもあり、万次郎は練習に励み、果敢に戦いますが、やはり勝負には勝てません。しかし、
Tom's father took hold of Lightning's bridle with one hand and Tom's father collar with the other and led them away, one on each side of him. He aimed a steam of curses at Tom and every to often delivered a kick to his backside. Every time another kick of blow was administered, Tom hopped or cringed, his swogger gone.
トムは断りなしにLightningを連れ出したのが父親の逆鱗に触れました。　私の関心はこの "kick of blow was administered" の "administered" の意味・用法です。意味は例えば "administered" を "given" と解釈しても間違ってはいないと思います。　以前 "administer" の "give or apply (medications)" の用例を覚えましたが、この用法も辞書に出ているか確認します。
・Macmillan Dictionary: to give someone a punishment: He administered a sharp rebuke.
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: to mete out : dispense: administer punishment
なるほど、"administer" には罰を与える用法もあるのですね。

withering glance

昨日の内容は長かったので今日は短めにします。
万次郎は学校にも行かせてもらえます。捕鯨船Howland号の船員の中にもbullyがいましたが、学校にもいます。
"Stow it, Tom," someone in the back called out.
"You stow it or I'll come back there and make you," Tom yelled back.
"Yeah?"
"You know I will."
A fight was narrowly avoided when the teacher reentered. The boys abruptly sat down, and the teacher gave them all a withering glance before continuing.
この時は幸い先生がいてイジメを止めてくれました。 "withering glance" の "wither" は植物が枯れる、しおらさせると言う意味を知っているので大体の意味は想像できますが、辞書で用法を確認します。
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: to make speechless or incapable of action: stun: withered him with a look
・Macmillan Dictionary: to make someone feel silly or ashamed
・Dictionary.com: to abash, as by a scathing glance: a look that withered him.

shonkey

ジョン万次郎の伝記 "Heart of a Samurai" by Margi Preus を今読んでいますが、冒険、英語の苦労、人種差別、イジメ、米国での生活と波乱万丈の生涯（まだ最後まで読んでいませんが）で実に面白い話です。
さて、万次郎が米国の捕鯨船John Howland号に助けられ、６ヶ月後にハワイに着き、米国本土に向かってHowland号が再び航海にでた頃の場面に意味がさっぱりわからない個所が続けてでてきました。
He was taking a meal to the first mate one day when he overheard this shipmates talking.
"Where's Jolly, anyhow?" said one. "Why isn't he onboard?"
Manjiro set down his tray quietly.
"The night afore we was to ship out," Biscuit began consipiratorially, "Jolly took a dickey run and met his oppos. He was already half seas over by the time he hooked up with them and very shortly they was all three sheets in the wind."
What are they talking about? Manjiro wondered.
"That Jolly, he used to bleed the monkey, all right."
Isaiah nodded. "He was a shonkey, too."
Manjiro sighed. He would never understand English!
"Though I'm not entirely sure what all transpired," Biscuit went on. "Jolly had the devil to pay and no pitch hot."
What were they saying? Manjiro wondered. English was such a difficult language!
"Well, what happened?" Josiah said.
"I guess you can see which way the wind is blowin'," Biscuit said. "He either swallowed the anchor or slipped his cable!"
英語が分からないと万次郎は嘆いていますが、嘆きたいのは私の方です、たった６ヶ月程英語に接しただけの万次郎が上の会話が分からないのは当然で、英語の勉強を始めてから何十年も経た私も次ぎのフレーズはさっぱり分かりません。
・took a dickey run
・half seas over
・three sheets in the wind
・bleed the monkey
・devil to pay and no pitch hot
・swallowed the anchor:
・slipped his cable:
これらの言い回しは普通の辞書には載っていない表現が多いのですが、潮騒の音がでるサイト、Sailing in Mexico and Yachting in MexicoのNautical Glossary　（http://www.latitudemexico.com/glossary/h/6-3.html） に、上の７つの表現の内の５つの表現の説明が次ぎの様に書かれていました。
・half seas over: drunk: If she doesn't know I'm also half seas over she must be blind.
・three sheets in the wind: Inf. intoxicated and unsteady. (Sheets are the ropes used to manage a ship's sails. It is assumed that if these ropes were blowing in the wind, the ship would be out of control.) He had gotten three sheets to the wind and didn't pay attention to my warning. By midnight, he was three sheets.
・bleed the monkey: Secretly, to remove spirit from a keg or cask by making a small hole and sucking through a straw. also called Suck the Monkey
・devil to pay: Old seafaring term meaning something very difficult or awkward.
・swallowed the anchor: To retire from a life at sea and settle ashore.
分からない表現が二つ残り、宿題とすることにしました。
しかし、青少年向けの小説なので巻末に難しい表現、そして日本語（ローマ字で色々な表現が小説にはでてきます）の解説が載っている事に気がつき、宿題となって表現の意味は次ぎのように説明されていました。
・a dickey run: a short leave ashore
・devil to pay and no pitch hot: a predicament; derives from the job of sealing the outermost deck seam (the devil), which a sailor had to seal (pay) with pitch, a difficult and unpleasant task.
・slipped his cable: to die
また、Nautical Glossaryで分かった表現の内、次ぎの表現についても説明がありました。
・bleed the monkey: to secretely remove liquor from a cask by making a small hole and sucking through a straw
・three sheets in the wind: drunk
やれやれです。これらの表現は海賊小説でも読まなければ出てきそうも無いので、忘れても良さそうですが、上の引用文にあった "shonkey" だけでも覚えておこうとおもいます。 "shonkey" の意味は：
・巻末の説明: of dubious quality; a shipmate who will drink but avoid paying his round
・Collins Dictionary: 1.of dubious integrity or legality　 2.unreliable; unsound

young ward

万次郎を載せたJohn Howland号はやっとマサセッツ州のNew Bedfordに戻ってきます。
He paused, not wanting to disturb them, and heard the captain say, "I had resigned myself to a life at sea, with a small house in Fairhaven for my few months between ships. But now, with a bright young ward, I've begun to think of a farm again. A boy should have land to roam, work for his hands to do, a pond to fish, and a horse to ride."
船長のWhitfieldの言葉の中に "young ward" があり、万次郎を指していますが、この "ward" は何でしょう。　先日 BABY DOLL by Tennessee Williamsに出てきた "ward heeler" の "ward" とは全く関係がなさそうです。辞書を見ます。
・Macmillan Dictionary: legal someone, especially a child, who is officially being looked after by a court of law or by someone who is not their parents. The person who looks after them is their guardian: She was made a ward of the court when her parents died.
・Vocabulary.com: a person who is under the protection or in the custody of another: Although ward is most often used in connection with hospitals and prisons, cities and towns can also be broken into wards. These are usually geographic areas that are used in elections: city council members often represent wards of the city. A ward is also the name given to a child who is watched over by someone other than his parents. Sometimes children are known as "wards of the state," meaning they have been taken from their homes.
"ward" にこんな重要な意味があるのですね。こんな事も知らなくては大人に、ましてや "guardian" にはなれません。

halting English

万次郎達を乗せた捕鯨船John Howland号は捕鯨をしながら６ヶ月後にハワイの島に着きます。万次郎は船長のWhitfieldから一緒にアメリカに行く事を誘われます。万次郎より一歳年上の五右衛門は野蛮人の住む国などへは絶対に行くなと言います。
But then he thought of his mother and how worried she must be. Perhaps she thought he was dead. Had she heard what had happened to him? Maybe she thought he had run away with no intention of ever returning! If only he had told his mother where he was going--and that he planned to return! Perhaps it would be best to try to get back to his family as fast as possible.
Then he thought of the times he'd spent with Captain Whitfield, asking question after question in his halting English, the captain patiently answering every one.
若い万次郎は６ヶ月で少なくとも簡単な会話は英語で出来る様になりましたが、すらすらとはいかない事は想像に難くはありません。　従って、"halting English" はたどたどしい英語で、"broken English" と似た表現と思いますが、今までこの言い方を聞いたことはないので辞書で確認します。
・Macmillan Dictionary: with a lot of pauses between words or movements, often because of a lack of confidence: a halting conversation
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: marked by a lack of sureness or effectiveness: spoke in a halting manner
話がとぎれとぎれになる英語ですね。 、"broken English" の方は文法的な誤りもある英語の意味があると思いますが、辞書で見た事はないのでこの際確認してみます。
・Urban Dictionary:
Incorrect or awkwardly structured English, usually spoken or written by non-native speakers.: Not necessarily pejorative.: She's not fluent yet, she only knows some broken English, but she's trying!
・Vocabulary.com: imperfectly spoken or written: “broken English”
程度にもよりますが、“broken English” より "halting English" の方がましでしょうか？