niggling feeling

Kazuo Ishiguroの "The Unconsoled" を読んでいます。
Now, for all his good manners, it was clear he was deeply disappointed with me. I found this thought oddly troubling and, as I continued along the roadside gazing at the sunset, began to feel more and more annoyed that I had not proceeded with greater caution over the matter of the Sattler monument. It was true - as I had pointed out to Pedersen - that my decision had seemed to represent the wisest course open to me at the time. Nevertheless, I could not avoid the niggling feeling that for all the limitations on my time, for all the enormous pressures impinging on me, I should somehow by that point have been better informed.

"niggling feeling" の "niggling" はどのような感覚でしょうか？　辞書を見ます。
・Collins Dictionary: A niggling injury or worry is small but bothers you over a long period of time.: ...a niggling worry that the cheap car is also the one that will cause endless trouble.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: to worry someone slightly, usually for a long time: I just can't remember his name - it's been niggling me for a couple of weeks.
・Wiktionary: A small irritating sensation.: Sellafield hasn’t suffered an accident of equivalent scale since the 1957 fire, but the niggling fear that some radioactivity is leaking out of the facility in some fashion has never entirely vanished

"The Unconsoled" は話が一向に進まないと言うか、次から次に訳の分からない関連のない話が続き、読んでいて非常に疲れる、我慢が必要な話の内容です。

skin me alive

Kazuo Ishiguroの "The Unconsoled" を読んでいます。

Occasionally I had brought out toys - perhaps even my collection of plastic soldiers - to lay out in the back seat. But more often I had simply built endless imaginary scenarios around the car, firing pistols through its windows, or conducting high-speed chases behind the wheel. Every so often, my mother would emerge from the house to tell me to stop slamming the car doors, the noise was driving her mad, and that if I did it once more she would 'skin me alive'. I could see her again quite vividly, standing at the back door of the cottage, shouting towards the car. T

"skin me alive" これも慣用句に違いありません。辞書で確認します。

・Cambridge English Dictionary: to punish or tell someone off severely: My mother will skin me alive for being so late home.
・Merriam-Webster: to punish (someone) severely: Mom is going to skin me alive when she finds out about the broken vase.
・Longman Dictionary: to punish someone very severely – used humorously: Dad will skin you alive when he sees this place!

"skin" には動物の皮を剥ぐとか果物の皮をむく意味がありますが、"skin you alive" は、皮膚を擦り剥く（bruise, cut, or injure the skin or the surface of: “The boy skinned his knee when he fell”）の意味の延長でしょうね。辞書の例文はみな親が子を叱っていますね。

warts and all

Kazuo Ishiguroの "The Unconsoled" を読んでいます。

'Look, if you carry on like this, I'll be forced to terminate this conversation here and now. I'm warning you. I'll do it.'
'You can't hope to protect your boy for ever, you know. How old is he? He doesn't look so young. It's not good to over-shelter them. He's got to come to terms with the world, warts and all...'

"warts" は「いぼ」とか「こぶ（木の）」の意味があるのは知っていますが、"warts and all" となると慣用句としての意味があるに違いありません。　辞書を見ます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: (informal) including all the bad or unpleasant features of somebody/something: The documentary shows the life of a fashion model, warts and all.
・Collins Dictionary: If you describe someone or accept them warts and all, you describe them or accept them as they are, including all their faults.: Lyn loves him warts and all.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: describing or including all the bad qualities in a person's character, with no attempt to hide them: He tried to paint the president as he really was, warts and all.

なるほど、分かり易い慣用句ですね。

functional

Kazuo Ishiguroの "The Unconsoled" を読んでいます。

At first I was careful to keep my thoughts to myself, but eventually I asked him if he'd enjoyed Mr Christoff's recital. Yes, he had, Mr Kohler said. There must have been something about the way he'd said it, because I recall asking him again a few moments later if he'd enjoyed the concert. This time Mr Kohler said yes, he'd enjoyed himself, but perhaps Mr Christoff's performance had been a little functional. Yes, "functional" was the word he used. As you can imagine, sir, I thought carefully before I next spoke.

"functional" は直ぐに機能的を連想させますが、ここでの "functional" は余り褒めているようには聞こえません。　辞書を見ます。

・Cambridge English Dictionary: designed to be practical and useful rather than attractive: functional clothing

やはり、デザインや音楽などでは単に "functional" だけでは魅力に欠けるのですね。すくなくともプロに対しては "functional" はむしろ酷評かも知れません。

down-at-heel

Kazuo Ishiguroの "The Unconsoled" を読んでいます。

His name was Geoffrey Saunders and he had been in my year at school in England. I had not seen him since schooldays, so was naturally struck by how much he had aged. Even allowing for the unflattering effects of the lamplight and the cold drizzle, he looked overwhelmingly down-at-heel. He was wearing a raincoat that seemed to have lost its ability to fasten and which he was now clutching together at the front as he walked.

"down-at-heel" の意味を調べます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: looking less attractive and fashionable than before, usually because of a lack of money: The town has become very down at heel.
・Collins Dictionary: Something that is down-at-heel is in bad condition because it has been used too much or has not been looked after properly. If you say that someone is down-at-heel, you mean that they are wearing old, worn clothes because they have little money.: a down-at-heel waitress in a greasy New York diner.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: wearing old clothes, or in a bad condition, because of not having much money: She had a decidedly down-at-heel appearance.

最初に引用した辞書だけハイフンの無い表現でした。

make a clean breast of

Kazuo Ishiguroの "The Unconsoled" を読んでいます。

I began to walk again, this time more purposefully. After a moment, to my satisfaction, I heard her footstep pursuing me.
'Are you really not angry?' she asked, catching up.
'Of course I'm not angry. Why should I be?'
'Can I come too? To this movie?'
I gave a shrug and continued to walk at a steady pace. 'Please yourself. You're perfectly welcome.'
Sophie grasped my arm. 'If you want, I'll make a completely clean breast of it. I'll tell you everything. Everything you want to know about...'

慣用句と思われる "make a clean breast of" を調べます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: to tell the truth about something so that you no longer feel guilty: He made a clean breast of everything and admitted taking the money.
・Collins Dictionary: to confess everything (of which one is guilty): You'll feel better if you make a clean breast of it
・Vocabulary.com: admit or acknowledge a wrongdoing or error: “I do,” Lawson said, adding, “I want to make a clean breast of it.”

fall in step

Kazuo Ishiguroの "The Unconsoled" を読み始めました。Kazuo Ishiguroの小説を読むのはこれで10冊目で、地元の図書館にある氏の小説はこれで全てです。

'Where is it Boris wants to go?' I asked his mother quietly.
'To the swing park, of course.' Sophie sighed and rose to her feet. 'He wants to show you the
progress he's made.'
There seemed no choice but for me to rise also, and the next moment the three of us were setting
off across the square.
'So,' I said to Boris as he fell in step beside me, 'you're going to show me a few things.'

"fell in step" を現在形の "fall in step" で辞書を見ます。
"fall in step" では辞書の項目として見当たりませんでしたが、 "in step" に次の説明があります。

・Collins Dictionary: marching, dancing, etc, in conformity with a specified pace or moving in unison with others
・Cambridge English Dictionary: When people walk in step, they lift their feet off the ground and put them down again at the same time: The soldiers marched in step.

"fall in step" は歩調を合わせると解釈して間違いないでしょう。
イデオム辞書のFarlex Dictionary of Idiomsに "fall into step" について次の説明がありました。
To begin walking at the same pace as someone else.: If you don't fall into step with us, you'll get left behind.

stand pat

The Japan Times Jan. 24の記事タイトル・サブタイトルから引用します。

BOJ stands pat on policy as quake's economic impact remains unclear
Observers are watching for when the BOJ will start exiting negative rates, amid growing expectations it will likely seek normalization this year.

"stands pat" は初めて見る表現です。たいていの場合、タイトル中で不明な表現は記事の本文を読むと分かるので記事を読みます。冒頭の文を読むと早速 "stands pat" に対応する表現がありました。

In a widely expected move, the Bank of Japan left the world’s last negative rate policy unchanged Tuesday, due in part to uncertainty over how the magnitude 7.6 earthquake that struck Ishikawa Prefecture on Jan. 1 will affect the Japanese economy.

日銀はマイナス金利政策を変更しないとあります。"stands pat" は変えないの意味ですね。英英辞書で確認します。

・Collins Dictionary: If you stand pat, you refuse to change your mind about something. [mainly US] It makes it hard for the Fed to do anything but stand pat till the economy's direction becomes clearer.
・Farlex Dictionary of Idioms: To be unyielding or inflexible in one's opinion, position, or decision.: Despite laying out several convincing arguments, he stood pat on his decision about the project's direction.
・Wiktionary: To resist changes.: China has cut rates and allowed banks to boost lending, while some countries, such as South Korea have stood pat, fearful that inflation pressures could reignite.
Etymology: Probably originally a poker phrase, with "pat" equaling "optimal", meaning that drawing more cards is unnecessary. Later the phrase came to be employed in other spheres. "Stand pat" was actively used in U.S. political campaigns of the 1900s, quickly gaining a sense of "being reactionary, resistant to dramatic changes in policy". Moreover, a noun, standpatter, was coined to denote such politicians.

22nd

Reader's　Digest 12月・1月合併号の記事 "Life in These United States" からの引用です。

During a church service, a woman announced she would be singing the 22nd Psalm. When followed was a lovely and moving performance, everyone agreed. Everyone, that is, except my 7-year-old son, who whispered, "That song was way longer than 20 seconds.

miner's lettuce

昨日ラン展を見るために東京ドームに行ったのですが、ドームの周辺はものすごく混雑していて、何事かと驚きました。幸いラン展の方は昨年と同じ程度で、チケットも入場もそれ程時間もかからずに済みました。今朝になった、混雑の原因はテイラー・スウィフトのコンサートが東京ドームで開かれていたこを知り納得しました。
さて、Reader's　Digest 12月・1月合併号の記事 "Find Your New Favorite Hobby" からの引用です。

She and her husband recently went hiking in San Francisco, where they live, and someone handed them a pamphlet of plants to look for along the trail, such as miner's lettuce. Instead of tossing it, they paid attention, and now they have a new hobby--foraging.

"miner's lettuce" はどんな植物でしょうか？

次の辞書/辞典には写真も掲載されていました。
・Wiktionary(): Winter purslane, Montia perfoliata (now Claytonia perfoliata), a plant of western North America with mild-flavored edible greens.
・Wikipedia(): Claytonia perfoliata, commonly known as miner's lettuce, Indian lettuce, or winter purslane, is a flowering plant in the family Montiaceae. It is an edible, fleshy, herbaceous, annual plant native to the western mountain and coastal regions of North America.