raceme

"Landscape Gardening in Japan" は全国各地の庭園について紹介していますが、その中の東京の浜離宮の個所から引用します。
The cascade at the head of the lake, the water for which was brought from the river Tamagawa, was picturesquely designed. A striking feature of this garden is a long winding bridge crossing the lake, covered in parts with wistaria trellises, which are loaded with immense racemes of purple flowers in the season. The Hama Rikiu is now chiefly known for its unrivalled show of double cherry blossoms in spring, forming an attraction honoured yearly by an Imperial visit and reception.
藤の花の話なので "racemes" は垂れ下がっている花の房と関係がありそうですが、辞書で調べます。
・Collins Dictionary: an inflorescence in which the flowers are borne along the main stem, with the oldest flowers at the base. It can be simple, as in the foxglove, or compound: I bought a laburnum'Vossii' in autumn 1998. In 2000, it flowered quite well, but this year produced only one raceme.
・Wiktionary: a simple inflorescence (as in the lily of the valley) in which the flowers are borne on short stalks of about equal length at equal distances along an elongated axis and open in succession toward the apex
東京には浜離宮の他にも後楽園、六義園なで江戸時代からの庭園が幾つも残っているので新緑や花が咲く季節に訪れるのはいいものです。

boy or girl

A: Just look at that young person with the short hair and blue jeans. Is it a boy or a girl?
B: It's a girl. She's my daughter.
A: Oh, I'm sorry, sir. I didn't know that you were her father.
B: I'm not. I'm her mother.

pull-off calendar

私は鞄を持ち歩かないのでカレンダーの紙で作ったブックカバーを図書館で借りる本にかけていますが、カレンダーから破り外した紙の事を示す英語がアガサクリスティーの "Evil Under the Sun" に出てきました。
A large irregular blob of candle grease--some fragments of green paper or cardboard, possibly a pull-off calendar, for with it was an unburnt fragment bearing a large figure 5 and a scrap of printing . . . noble deeds... 簡単ですっきりした表現ですね。

pollard

今日採り上げるのは "The garden of a part of Prince Shimazu's residence at Kagoshima" の説明の中にあった単語です。
One or two quaintly trimmed pollards near the verandah, and some fine pines in the extreme background, are the only large trees in the design.
"pollards" は何かの木の様ですが何でしょうか？　早速辞書を見ます。
・Collins Dictionary: a tree that has had its top cut off to encourage the formation of a crown of branches: In a small garden it is efficient to pollard these species, cutting back the stems every other year or annually.
・Oxford English Dictionary: A tree whose top and branches have been cut off for this reason.
・Wiktionary: (often attributive) A tree that has been pruned by cutting its branches back close to the trunk to promote a more bushy growth of foliage.
この "pollard" は動物にも使われると書かれていました。
an animal, such as a sheep or deer, that has either shed its horns or antlers or has had them removed

variegated

"Landscape Gardening in Japan" を読んでいます。序章の後はHistoryの章になりました。次に引用するのは小石川の後楽園の記述の個所からです。
On the further side, opposite the house, is an eminence planted with azaleas, pine trees, camellia bushes, and variegated bamboos, having a stepped pathway leading to the plateau which forms the summit, and from which an extensive view of the garden can be had.
"variegated bamboos" の "variegated" は "vary/various/variation" の仲間の様ですが、色々な種類の竹なら "various bamboos" とすると思うので別の意味があるようです。辞書を見ます。
・Collins Dictionary: 1.displaying differently coloured spots, patches, streaks, etc 2.(of foliage or flowers) having pale patches, usually as a result of mutation, infection, etc: Hedera helix `Little Diamond": a good, slow-growing ivy with grey-green leaves variegated with creamy white.
・Vocabulary.com: having a variety of colors
Something variegated has many different colors, as in the trees of autumn or the feathers of a peacock. Whenever you see "vari" at the beginning of a word, you know that the idea of difference or change is involved.
Using vari is a good way to start thinking about this word. It's the same root as in various, variable, varied, and variety. All these words mean something similar: lots of different versions of something. The scales of a fish can appear quite variegated from one angle and then strangely uniform from another. A tiger's variegated coat helps it stay hidden.
"variegated" だと色が異なるものと斑入りのものの両方を示すのですね。

error

ＮＨＫの日曜美術館という番組で河鍋暁斎の特集を見ていたところ、鹿鳴館やニコライ堂の設計をした建築家のJosiah Conderが河鍋暁斎の弟子になり、後に河鍋暁斎の事を本に書いた事を知り、その本を読みたいと思い地元の図書館の蔵書を調べましたが、その本はありませんでした。しかし Conderが書いた "Landscape Gardening in Japan" と　"The Flowers of Japan and the Art of Floral Arrangement" の二冊の本がありました。そこでまず前者の本を借りる事にしましたが図書館に取りに行って本の大きさにちょっとびびりました。厚いＡ４サイズなので持ち運びにちょっと不便です。会社の昼休みと通勤の行き帰りの電車の中でしか読まないので大きな本は余り好きではありませんが、しかたありません。
まだIntroductionの途中までしか読んでいませんが、意味がよく分からない単語が出てきました。しかもその単語は仕事でも毎日のように見かける "error" です。 "error" が出てきた個所を下に引用しますが、この文は "Landscape Gardening in Japan" の著者 Conderの文ではなく、Miltonの詩を引用した個所にありました。
Rolling on orient pearl and sands of gold,
With mazy error under pendent shades,
Ran nectar, visiting each plant, and fed
Flow'rs worthy of Paradise, which not nice art
この "error" は誤りでも、測定器の貿易に携わっている関係で毎日の様に見かける "error" （誤差の意味）でもありません。さてどんな意味があるのでしょうか？ どの辞書を見ても引用した詩の文脈に合いそうな意味は中々見つかりませんでしたが、次ぎの古い辞書にそれらしき意味がありました。
・Webster's 1828 Dictionary: A wandering; excursion; irregular course.
・Webster's Revised Unabridged, 1913 Edition: A wandering; a roving or irregular course. [Obs.]
この意味では現在は使われないのでしょうが、"irregular course" を行くことは道を誤ることなので、誤りや誤差との共通点を感じます。

spry for a nonagenarian

私は参加できませんでしたが、ASJの今年のGeneral MeetingでDonald Keene氏の講演があり、それを伝えるASJの会報の一部を下に引用します。
We came now to the high point of the meeting, with Prof. Donald Keene, still very spry for a nonagenarian, speaking on "Takuboku the Rebel".
Donald Keene氏がかなりの高齢であることを知っているので "spry for a nonagenarian" は高齢の割りに元気だと述べていると推測できますが、 "spry" も "nonagenarian" も知らない単語なので辞書で確認します。まず "spry" の意味は：
・Cambridge English Dictionary: (especially of older people) active and able to move quickly and energetically: He was amazingly spry for a man of almost 80.
・Vocabulary.com: If you are an old lady, remaining spry is something you aspire to. It means "nimble." You might also use it to describe a goat that jumps easily along from mountain crag to mountain crag. The most common use of spry is to describe people who are aging. You might say that at 92, your great grandmother is still spry and sharp as a tack. Spry refers to her physical well-being; "sharp as a tack" to her mental faculties.
年寄りにしか使わない形容詞の様ですね。
"nonagenarian" はかなりの年寄りの事を示している様ですがどうでしょう？　後者と同じ辞書で調べます。
"nonagenarian": being from 90 to 99 years old: “the nonagenarian inhabitants of the nursing home” Donald Keene氏は元気な９０代ですか。ご立派です。

connivance

アガサ・クリスティのEvil Under the Sunも終わりに近づきました。その小説から採り上げる最後の単語です。
She could have been killed by her husband--with Miss Darnley's connivance. (They too had both lied as to one point which looked suspicious.) She could have been killed as a result of her having stumbled on the secret of the dope sumggling.
"connivance" は初めて見る気のしない単語ですが、意味が思い浮かんでこないので辞書を見ます。
・Cambridge English Dictionary: the act of conniving, especially by knowing that something bad is happening and allowing it to continue: Their appalling treatment of their child could only have happened with the connivance of their neighbours.
・V2 Vocabulary Building Dictionary: unspoken consent to someone else's wrongdoing; 2. secret plotting Tips: Connivance refers to unspoken encouragement of wrongdoing. To connive is the verb form of connivance and is usually used in the second meaning: "to plot or conspire." Connive is somewhat similar to condone, but to condone is to passively accept something, while to connive is more underhanded and outright devious in encouragement of unlawful behavior. Conniving is the adjective used to describe someone who is plotting or conspiring.
・Vocabulary.com: (law) tacit approval of someone's wrongdoing
If your principal overlooks cheating on standardized tests because it makes his school look better, he is guilty of connivance, or allowing an unethical act to take place.
If your siblings conspire to play a prank on you, you could say they are conniving to trick you. If your mother knew about it, but chose to allow the act to happen, you'd probably be pretty angry at her connivance. Or you could follow the old saying, "Don't get mad, get even!"
"connive" は "condone" よりも悪いニュアンスがあることを覚えておきましょう。

Searching for hair

来月から消費税が3%上がりますが、千円床屋の値段がどうなるのか気になります。　今の料金支払機は小型で千円札だけしか受け付けられませんが、増税分だけ値上げるには機械がコインも使えるようにするか、料金を据え置くと増税分だけ損することになります。
そんなことより世の中には元々の料金自体に疑問を持っている人もいるようです。
The balding middle-aged man asked his barber,
"Why do you charge me the full price for cutting my hair -- there's so little of it."
"Well, "said the barber,"actually I make little charge for cutting it. What you're paying for is my searching for it!"

brass tacks

昨日は朝から墓参りに行きなんだかんだ忙しかったのでブログを休みました。
さて、先日 "games mistress" を採り上げた引用文に "brass tacks" が次ぎの様に使われていました。
But when it came down to brass tacks the husband was washed right out of the picture.
"brass tacks"（the most fundamental considerations; essentials; realities） は "get down to brass tacks" という慣用句として知っていますが、ふとその意味の由来が気になり調べて見ました。
結論から言うと、どうもはっきりとは分からないのですが、Wiktionaryに次ぎの説があると出ていました。
Unknown. Earliest attestation in 1863 US, specifically Texas. A theory is that it comes from the brass tacks in the counter of a hardware store or draper’s shop used to measure cloth in precise units (rather than holding one end to the nose and stretching out the arm to approximately one yard).