brute-force

計量に関する業界誌 'NCSL International MEASURE' を読んでいたら、業界誌にしては珍しく、覚えたいと思う表現が出てきました。
Monte Carlo iterations are used in the generation of the matrix. This requires considerable computational brute-force and consumed approximately 43 hours of CPU time running under MS Windows 7 in Excel 2010 using an Intel Core i5 4300 CPU clocked at 2.6 GHz.
覚えたい表現は "brute-force" です。辞書にはハイフン抜きの "brute force" で次の説明が出ていました。
・Wiktionary: (computer science) A method of computation wherein all permutations of a problem are tried manually until one is found that provides a solution, in contrast to the implementation of a more intelligent algorithm. E.g. to find the set of all positive integers that are multiples of seven, a brute force algorithm would search through all positive integers, checking each one to see if it is a multiple of seven, whereas a more intelligent algorithm might simply multiply the set of all positive integers by seven.
・Dictionary of Algorithms and Data Structures: An algorithm that inefficiently solves a problem, often by trying every one of a wide range of possible solutions.
コンピュータのスピードが益々速くなってきたので、この様な力ずくの手法が容易になって来たようです。

pit

Japan Times March 13の記事 'Populism versus prosperity' からの引用です。
The battle that will actually define this century will pit long-term thinking against short-term thinking. The politicians and governments that plan for the long term will defeat those that fail -- or simply refuse -- to look beyond the current election cycle.
上に出てきた "pit" は既に（10/15/2011）に取り上げていますが、完全に忘れていたので復習です。
"pit sb/sth against sb/sth" の形で使われます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: (pit someone/something against) Set someone or something in conflict or competition with.: a chance to pit herself against him’
・Cambridge English Dictionary: to cause one person, group, or thing to fight against or be in competition with another: It was a bitter civil war, that pitted neighbour against neighbour.

seamy side

Before I Say Good-Byeを読んでいます。
The wrapping paper and twine were in Winifred’s file--she remembered that clearly. She also knew that Winifred was involved with someone named Harry Reynolds, although she still had no clue as to who he was. Winifred had been at Walters and Arsdale for over twenty years, long before Adam went there. When she began working closely with Adam, had she taken advantage of his trust? Nell wondered. He would have been the new man on the job, untried and untested, while she knew the construction business, including the seamy side, backward and forward.
"seamy side" は文字通りには縫い目側ですが、ここでは一体何を指しているのでしょうか？　辞書を見ます。
・Dictionary.com: The sordid, unattractive aspect of something: "Lying and stealing are part of the seamy side of life.": The seamy side of British democracy was appropriately symbolized.
・Bartleby.com: The “wrong” or worst side; as, the “seamy side of Australia,” “the seamy side of life.” Thus, in velvet, in Brussels carpets, in tapestry, etc., the “wrong” side shows the seams or threads of the pattern exhibited on the right side.: You see the seamy side of human nature in its most seamy attire.
なるほど、カーペットの裏側から来た表現ですね。

French twist

Before I Say Good-Byeを読んでいます。
She showered and dressed, putting on white chinos, a short-sleeve blouse, a lightweight blue denim jacket and sandals.
It’s almost time for a cut, she decided as she brushed her hair into a French twist. Then she paused suddenly, as something in the mirror struck her as odd. It was the face--the face she saw there seemed almost to be that of a stranger, the expression strained and anxious. This ordeal has definitely taken its toll, she realized. Something had better be resolved soon, or I will be a total wreck.
"French twist" がどんな髪型か気になりました。
・Oxford English Dictionary: A woman's hairstyle in which the hair is tucked into a vertical roll down the back of the head.: I nodded at my older sister, her long brown hair in a neat French twist, no loose strands to be seen.
だいたい分かった気がしますが、こういうのは写真が一番。インターネット検索で幾らでも写真が見つかりました。例: https://jp.pinterest.com/chrisnair/french-twist-hair-tutorials/
私は "French twist" を知りませんでしたが、女性には常識かな。

crank call

Before I Say Good-Byeを読んでいます。 Benはボートの爆発事故を目撃した少年です。
He handed them Ben’s latest sketch. “He now believes he saw someone in a wet suit and carrying a woman’s pocketbook dive off the boat at the moment it exploded. It may indeed be a child’s fantasy, but I felt you should at least see the sketch. I am aware that you get many crank calls after an incident such as this, and I figured that if I sent it to you by mail, then it would be ignored, and I didn’t want that to happen. The drawing may not help at all, but I felt I had to bring it to your attention.”
"prank calls" は聞いたことがありますが、"crank calls" も同じ意味でしょうか？　辞書で確認します。
・Oxford English Dictionary: A telephone call made to disturb, annoy, or trick someone, often anonymously.: she had been getting a lot of crank calls and so she wasn't answering her phone
・Urban Dictionary: A term that was created when someone misheard the expression prank call.
同じでしたね。語呂が似ているので直ぐに覚えられそうです。

take-no-prisoners mentality

Before I Say Good-Byeを読んでいます。
And of course there was more, Nell told herself, so say it straight. Adam was in some ways the antithesis of Mac. I know how Mac feels about me, she thought, but he would choke on the word “love.” I was hungry for someone to tell me instantly, passionately that I was loved.
But in other ways, Adam and Mac were very similar, and I liked that too. He didn’t so much have the take-no-prisoners mentality that Mac had, but he had the same moral stamina. Adam, like Mac, was very independent, having worked his way through college and graduate school.
"take-no-prisoners mentality" の意味が分かりません。"take-no-prisoners" を辞書で調べます。
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: having a fierce, relentless, or merciless character: take-no-prisoners politics
・Dictionary.com: wholeheartedly aggressive; zealous; gung-ho: a businessman with a take-no-prisoners attitude toward dealmaking.
何故この様な意味になるのか The Phrase Finderに次の説明がありました。
She doesn't spare anyone. If you take no prisoners, you kill all of your enemies. There are none left alive to be prisoners of war.
なるほど、皆殺しで捕虜は不要ですか。恐ろしい。

When I Grow Up, I'm Gonna Marry You

At dinner, my six-year-old niece turned to her dad and said, "Dad, when I grow up, I'm gonna marry you."
I laughed until her mom said to her, "Don't make the same mistake I did."

felled

Reader's Digest 2月号の記事 'My Bad Genes' の記事から引用します。
One of the unfortunate by-products of conducting genealogical research about yourself is cataloging all the various and sundry ways in which relatives met their ends.
...
Each ancestor's death is like a fun house mirror asking, "Will you, too, be felled by the French pox?"
"felled" でおやっ？と思いました。"fall" の過去分詞なら "fallen" なので "fell" と言う動詞は知りません。辞書を見るとありました。
・Cambridge English Dictionary: verb [ T ] us:
a) to cut down a tree: fig. He was felled (= killed) by a heart attack.
b) to knock someone down, especially in sports: He eventually felled his opponent with a punch to the head.
・Collins Dictionary: If trees are felled, they are cut down.: Badly infected trees should be felled and burned.

code cart

Reader's Digest 2月号の記事 'This Will Sting & Burn' は肺病専門の医師が皮膚ガンに罹り、手術の受けることになった話です。
There is the anesthesis machine. The Bovie cautery machine, with its dial for turning up the electric current to cauterize the incision. I try to figure out who is in charge, but no one looks at me or talks to me. What is happening? Why do they need the code cart? Am I really that sick?
"code cart" はＴＶドラマで外科の手術をする時に見かけるカートの様です。そして、"code" と "code blue" 以前（ 4/1/2015と2/15/2016）にやはりReader's Digestの記事に出てきた表現で取り上げました。"code cart" の説明を辞書で確認します。
・Medical Dictionary: A container or cart that can easily and quickly be moved to a patient who has suddenly developed a life-threatening emergency. Supplies should always be replenished and arranged so that the most frequently used first-line drugs and equipment are readily available. Powered equipment, such as a defibrillator, is tested regularly to be certain it is functioning properly.
・Wikipedia: A crash cart or code cart (crash trolley in UK medical jargon) or "MAX cart" is a set of trays/drawers/shelves on wheels used in hospitals for transportation and dispensing of emergency medication/equipment at site of medical/surgical emergency for life support protocols (ACLS/ALS) to potentially save someone's life. The cart carries instruments for cardiopulmonary resuscitation and other medical supplies while also functioning as a support litter for the patient.
"crash cart" だと "code cart" より心肺停止の患者のイメージがわきます。

hex

Before I Say Good-Byeを読んでいます。Macと秘書のLizとの会話です。
IN ONE GESTURE, Liz Hanley tapped on and opened the door of Cornelius MacDermott’s private office. “I’m on my way,” she told him.
“I was just going to remind you to get started. It’s 2:30.”
“And I’m due at three.”
“Now, Liz, I feel a little guilty asking you to do this, but it is important.”
“Mac, if that woman puts a hex on me, it’s your fault.”
"hex" はコンピュータの機械語やアセンブリー言語でよく使用する16進法かあるいは "hexagon"（六角形）を連想しますが、上の引用文の "hex" の意味は何でしょう？　辞書を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Cast a spell on; bewitch.: he hexed her with his fingers ・Collins Dictionary: If you say that there is a hex on someone or something, you mean that there seems to be a supernatural power causing unpleasant things to happen to them.: It's almost as if there is a hex on my family.
意味は分かりましたが語源が気になります。次の辞書に説明がありました。
・Wiktionary: First attested about 1830, from Pennsylvania German hexe (“to practice witchcraft”), from German hexen (compare Hexe (“witch”)). The noun appeared later, in the 1850s