hot wiring

Reader's Digest ５月号に間抜けな泥棒の話の特集がありました。
NORWAY. A would-be snowmobile thief was left behind at the scene of the crime in mid-March 2012. Not only was the youngster filmed on a security video, but after hot wiring the  snowmobile of his choice and then gunning it to escape, he was jerked to a halt. The machine was tethered to the shop's foundation by strong wire. The thief ran to catch up with  his companion but was left standing, alone and bewildered, as his buddy took off in his car, thinking he was following on the snowmobile. The thieves were arrested by police shortly after.
"hot wiring" を辞書で調べます。
辞書ではハイフンでつないだ一語になっていて、"hot-wire" が動詞形です。
・Collins Dictionary:  to start the engine of (a motor vehicle) by bypassing the ignition switch: The jury heard that it took only 10 seconds for someone with a screwdriver to open and hot-wire a van.
・Wikipedia: Hot-wiring is the process of bypassing an automobile's ignition interlock and thus starting it without the key. A vehicle owner who has lost their key or a thief attempting to steal the vehicle may implement this process.

stinger

Reader's Digest ５月号に "stinger" を説明している記事、STAY SEATEDを引用します。
If you're one of those movie lovers who leaps to their feet and heads for the exit as the movie credits roll...Stop. Wait. You could be missing out on an extra scene or fun extras. Called a stinger, footage might include bloopers, an interview with one of the film's stars, or perhaps scenes cut from the main film.
To check if it's worth hanging in there, head to mediastinger.com.
"stinger" についての記事なので意味は分かりますが、この意味の説明が辞書にあるか調べます。ほとんどの辞書にこの意味は記載されていませんでしたがWiktonaryに次の説明を見つけました。
A scene shown on films or television shows after the credits.
最近映画を見ること滅多にないのですが、先週多分５～６年振りに映画「アナと雪の女王」をみました。デフォルメした顔以外は本物の様に見え、人物の動きは自然でびっくりしました。"stinger" があることを期待してクレディットが終わるまで我慢していましたが、吹き替えの声優の名前が出てきただけでした。

ham-handed

June 16 Japan Times OnlineのOPINION記事から引用します。
Prime Minister Narendra Modi embarked Sunday on a two-day visit to Bhutan, his first destination abroad after assuming office, underscoring the importance India attaches to its ties with Bhutan, whose prime minister, Tshering Tobgay, was among the leaders from the neighboring countries to attend the new government’s swearing-in on May 26.
It is an indication of the ham-handed manner in which Indian foreign policy is managed that even India’s relations with Bhutan have seemed troubled in the last few years.
"ham-handed" が気になります。文脈からすると稚拙の意味かなとも思いますが、辞書を引いて確認します。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Clumsy; bungling: ‘a ham-handed attempt’
・Collins Dictionary: lacking dexterity or elegance; clumsy: No wonder its ham-handed attempt at democracy came to nought.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: doing things in an awkward or unskilled way when using the hands or dealing with people: The report criticizes the ham-fisted way in which complaints were dealt with.
どの辞書にも解説はありませんでしたが、大根役者の事を "a ham actor" と言うのと関係がある気がします。
引用したオピニオン記事に次の記述があったのも気になるとこです。 China’s rising profile in South Asia is no news. What is significant is the diminishing role of India and the rapidity with which New Delhi has ceded strategic space to Beijing in its immediate vicinity.
記事の著者はHarsh V. Pant teaches defense studies at King’s College London.でした。

TEXT MESSAGE

自転車を乗る時のマナーは小学生か中学生の時に教えられているとは思うのだが、マナーを守っていない人が大半なのは大問題だと思うが、世間ではほとんど問題にされていない様だ。特に危険なので止めて欲しいのは夜間の無灯火走行、車道の右側走行、そして携帯のメールかスマホの画面を見ながらの運転です。
Sign outside a church in Ohio: "Honk if you love Jesus. Text while driving if you want to meet Him."
中々ユーモアのある教会ですね。

nonplus

私は英語の語彙を増やすために十年程前からブログを始め、採り上げた単語、慣用句は２千以上になりました。それを全部覚えていれば英語の原書をもっとスラスラと読めるようになっているはずですが、中々そうはいかず、最近では新しく覚える語彙より忘れる語彙の方が多くなっている気もします。しかしながら、このブログで取り上げた単語・表現に数年振りに出会うと（それだけ読書量が少ないとも言える）、少しは役に立っている事が分かり嬉しくなります。次に引用するTom Clancy's Net Forceの文中に出てきた "nonplus" は５年振りの再会です。
Their expressions varied widely. Tall, dark Bob looked completely nonplussed, as if he'd senn the moon fall down; ...
She was almost stifled with her own rage. A couple of the others, never having seen Maj so angry before-never having seen her angry at all--hung back a little, plainly nonplussed and not knowing where to look.

younger marks

日本語にもなっているような中学生レベルの英単語でもいまだに意味が分からないのが英語です。次に引用するNet Forceに出てきた "marks" の意味が分かりません。
Rachel listened patiently to Alain's tale of grievance and revenge, nodding in all the right places and looking interested. Normally she wouldn't have wasted her time--these younger marks were almost without exception pitifully self-centered, and would talk the sun out of the sky and your patience into rags if you let them.
早速 "marks" を辞書で調べます。
・Oxford English Dictinary: A characteristic property or feature: 'it is the mark of a civilized society to treat its elderly members well’
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: a distinguishing trait or quality :  characteristic: the marks of an educated -
・Wiktionary: A characteristic feature. [from 16th c.]: A good sense of manners is the mark of a true gentleman.
答えを知ってしまうと、なーんだそうだったのかと自分の推測力のなささにがっかりです。この "younger marks" の後にある "talk the sun out of the sky" の意味もよく分かりませんが、宿題にしておきます。

maitre d'

Net Force から今日取り上げる表現も外来語です。
Rachel got to lunch at Obelisco a little early. She greeted the maitre d' with a twenty-dollar handshake, and a desire for a table off to the side, in a quiet spot, as well as a couple of other requests.
"maitre d'" を調べます。
・Cambridge English Dictionary: the person in charge of a restaurant or of the people who bring food to your table in a restaurant
・Vocabulary.com: a dining-room attendant who is in charge of the waiters and the seating of customers
Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionaryによると、maître d'hôtel, headwaiter, First Known Use of MAÎTRE D' 1950 となっているので英語として使われるようになったのはそんなにも古くからではないようです。

hord de combat

日本語の中にも外来語は増える一方ですが、英米の小説にも外来語は頻繁に出てきます。
Roddy paused, ever so briefly thinking. Should I? Rachel's eyes were glinting with good-natured amusement, and she put her eyebrows up in anticipation of what he was going to say next. "Well," Roddy said, "I surprised him a little. Left him a little present in the playroom's code... and left him hord de combat." He chuckled. "Next time he'll wait for a formal invitation."
今回気になる外来語はNet Forceからの上の引用文に出てきた "hord de combat" です。　早速意味を調べます。
・Oxford English Dictinary: Out of action due to injury or damage: 'their pilots had been rendered temporarily hors de combat’
・Collins Dictionary: disabled or injured: And Fowler's latest affliction, that leaves him hors de combat , could not have come at a worse moment.
フランス語から来た言葉でOnline Etymology Dictionaryによると、1757, French, literally "out of combat." だそうです。

set me up

Net Forceを読んでいますが、今日も慣用句の勉強です。
And he vanished, or seemed to. The spotlight over his chair went out, and nothing remained in the darkness but Roddy's laughter. Finally it faded....
And the message deleted itself.
Alain sat there, frozen with fear at first--that was what made him most ashamed--and then with growing anger.
The little sonofabitch.
He set me up.
He set me up!!
And I don't even know how--!
"set me up" は口語的な慣用句ですね。意味を調べます。
・Macmillan Dictionary: informal to arrange a situation so that someone is for doing something, especially something illegal: She claims she's innocent and someone set her up.
・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs: to lead-by deception-a person to play a particular role in an event; to arrange an event-usually by deception-so that a specific person suffers the consequences for the event; to frame someone. (See also set someone up (as something).) I had nothing to do with the robbery! I was just standing there. Somebody must have set me up! John isn't the one who started the fight. Somebody set up the poor guy.
・Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms: to trick someone into a situation in which it appears they have done something wrong She denied using drugs and claimed she had been set up by the police.
日本語の「仕組まれた」に似ている表現なので直ぐに覚えられそうです。