earthling

ちょっと前に "Convenience Store Woman" を読みましたが、その著者、村田沙耶香、の "Earthlings" が図書館にあったので借りて読み始めました。題名の意味が分からないので "earthling" を辞書を見ました。

・Collins Dictionary: Earthling is used in science fiction to refer to human beings who live on the planet Earth.：　At least this is how it is for most earthlings.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: in stories, a human being, especially when talked to or talked about by a creature from another planet: The writer found this especially true for the former of the two features, in which the earthling protagonist supplies his alien cohort with candy.
・Vocabulary.com: An earthling is someone who lives on the planet Earth. In science fiction books and movies, people are called earthlings to distinguish them from aliens. E.T. was definitely not an earthling.
You're most likely to come across the word earthling in fiction, since we more often refer to ourselves as "people" or "humans," assuming that we are all from Earth. In science fiction, though, some characters come from other planets or galaxies and aren't actually earthlings. Earthling has an Old English root, yrþling, or "plowman," and in 1949 the author Robert Heinlein first used earthling in a science fiction context.

原題を調べると、『地球星人』となっていました。SFですか、余り期待できないな。

wild goose chase

Yasuo Uchidaの "The Togakushi Legend Murders" を読んでいます。
Taki and Keiichi seemed to have kept the police on wild goose chases to the very end. Since Keiichi had abandoned his station wagon at Upper Kusugawa, the police had assumed that he and Taki must be headed for the vicinity on Maple's Cave, and therefore had confined their search to that area.

"wild goose chases" は比ゆ的な表現ですが、具体的にはどんな意味なのでしょうか？　辞書を見ます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: a search for something that is impossible for you to find or that does not exist, that makes you waste a lot of time: The police had been sent on a wild goose chase.:
・Collins Dictionary: If you are on a wild goose chase, you waste a lot of time searching for something that you have little chance of finding, because you have been given incorrect information.: Harry wondered if Potts had deliberately sent him on a wild goose chase.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: a search that is completely unsuccessful and a waste of time because the person or thing being searched for does not exist or is somewhere else: After two hours spent wandering in the snow, I realized we were on a wild goose chase.

面白い表現ですね。"wild goose chases" を読み飛ばすところでした。

APB

Yasuo Uchidaの "The Togakushi Legend Murders" を読んでいます。
"Well, it's probably only a matter of time until we get them. We'll put out a nationwide APB today."
"Will you? Well, it would be nice if we found them," said Takemura, dejected.

"APB" は文脈からすると指名手配を意味しているようですが、何の略語か分かりません。辞書を見ます。
・Collins Dictionary: APB is an abbreviation for all-points bulletin.: An APB has been put out on him, but so far the authorities haven't come up with anything.

"all-points bulletin" なら昔通訳ガイドの試験勉強で覚えた記憶があります。

taper

Yasuo Uchidaの "The Togakushi Legend Murders" を読んでいます。
It was even darker beyond the door, the only light coming from a sacred taper and cedar sticks burning on two alters, but they dimly illuminated the shrine maiden.

"taper" の意味は知らないわけではありませんが、想像力が乏しいのでここでの意味は分かりません。辞書を見ます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: a long, thin candle: She lit the gas with a taper.
・Collins Dictionary: A taper is a long, thin candle or a thin wooden strip that is used for lighting fires.
・Vocabulary.com: As a noun, taper refers to a shape that narrows at one end, and it's also another word for a candle that is smaller at one end than the other.

なるほど、細いロウソクですね。そう言えば "taper" のあるロウソクも見たことがあります。

brook

Yasuo Uchidaの "The Togakushi Legend Murders" を読んでいます。
Though Keiichi was being as polite as possible, Tatibana could see he would brook no refusal. Overpowered, Tatibana nodded assent. Only then did Keiichi relax and take another sip of tea, which by now was thoroughly cold.

小川を意味する名詞の "brook" は知っていますが、動詞の "brook" は知りません。辞書を見ます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: not brook something/not brook somebody doing something/brook no… to not allow something: The tone in his voice brooked no argument.
・Collins Dictionary: If someone in a position of authority will brook no interference or opposition, they will not accept any interference or opposition from others.: She'd had a plan of action, one that would brook no interference.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: to not allow or accept something, especially a difference of opinion or intention: She won't brook any criticism of her work.
・Vocabulary.com: A brook is a small stream. On a hot day, you might enjoy wading in a babbling brook. As a verb, brook is a rather stuffy word for "put up with." The lord of the manor might say, "I will brook no trespassing on my land."

bleeding heart

Yasuo Uchidaの "The Togakushi Legend Murders" を読んでいます。

Takemura always cautioned himself never to forget, even when dealing with a suspect, that human pain was still human pain. Some of his colleagues, of course, considered him a bleeding heart. They felt their job was to exercise the authority of the state to its limits, and any sympathy toward the target of an investigation was to them taboo.

"bleeding heart" は文脈からすると同情し易い人を意味している様ですが、辞書を見ます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: a person who you think is too kind towards people who do not deserve it: They thought he was a bleeding-heart liberal.
・Collins Dictionary: If you describe someone as a bleeding heart, you are criticizing them for being sympathetic towards people who are poor and suffering, without doing anything practical to help.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: someone who shows too much sympathy for everyone: [before noun] I'm sick of bleeding-heart liberal politicians.

どの定義も肯定的ではありませんが、特にCollins Dictionaryの定義は辛辣かつ皮肉を込めていますね。

doodlebug

Yasuo Uchidaの "The Togakushi Legend Murders" を読んでいます。
As he squatted down with an uninhibited shout of relief, he spotted something very rare on the ground in front of him. This part of the ground, probably under water when the brook was high, was practically all sand. In it a doodlebug had dug a cone-shaped hole.
...
"It's a doodlebug hole! The larva of a mayfly is in there."

"doodlebug" は聞いたことがない虫ですが、その後に "dug a cone-shaped hole" とあるので、アリジゴクを連想します。 "doodlebug" を辞書で見ると、

・Collins Dictionary: any of certain insect larvae that resemble the antlion

動植物なら百科事典の方が丁寧な説明があるのでWikipediaも見ます。
The antlions are a group of about 2,000 species of insect in the neuropteran family Myrmeleontidae. They are known for the predatory habits of their larvae, which mostly dig pits to trap passing ants or other prey. In North America, the larvae are sometimes referred to as doodlebugs because of the marks they leave in the sand. The adult insects are less well known due to their relatively short lifespans compared to the larvae. Adults, sometimes known as antlion lacewings, mostly fly at dusk or just after dark and may be mistakenly identified as dragonflies or damselflies.
...
Adults, sometimes known as antlion lacewings, mostly fly at dusk or just after dark and may be mistakenly identified as dragonflies or damselflies.

"antlion" は聞いたことがあります。 アリジゴクなら成虫はウスバカゲロウなので、その後に出てきた "mayfly" はウスバカゲロウを指すはずですが、"mayfly" を辞書とWikipediaで確認します。

・Collins Dictionary: A mayfly is an insect which lives near water and only lives for a very short time as an adult.: He wishes he was out on the river now the mayflies are up.
・Wikipedia(抜粋): Immature mayflies are aquatic and are referred to as nymphs or naiads. In contrast to their short lives as adults, they may live for several years in the water.

つまり、"mayfly" は水生昆虫なので、小説に出てきた "mayfly" は小説の人物が間違ってカゲロウと言ったか、あるいは翻訳者がウスバカゲロウを "mayfly" と誤って訳したのではないかと思います。

dumbwaiter

Yasuo Uchidaの "The Togakushi Legend Murders" を読んでいます。
"Wait a minute, though," said Takemura, inclining his head. "If you use this cart for room service, how do you get it up here? You'd have an awful time getting it up the stairs, like a portable shrine, wouldn't you?”
'"Oh, there's no problem there. We have a dumbwaiter to bring the cart up, meal and all, from the kitchen.”
"Oh, you do? Well, that’s a relief. That means you can bring it up still aboil. Well, it sure does look delicious."

"dumbwaiter" は食事を下の階から上に運ぶ装置を指しているに違いありません。辞書の説明を見ます。
 
・Oxford English Dictionary: A dumbwaiter is an elevator used to carry food and dishes from one floor of a building to another.: A dumbwaiter was installed to move book-carts between floors.
・Merriam-Webster: a small elevator used for conveying food and dishes from one story of a building to another: The food was homemade, cakes and pies on the third floor, Salisbury steak dinners on the second, all lowered by dumbwaiter to a round floor packed with diners.
・Dictionary.com:a small elevator, manually or electrically operated, consisting typically of a box with shelves, used in apartment houses, restaurants, and large private dwellings for moving dishes, food, garbage, etc., between floors.

3/18/2011 に取り上げた "Lazy Susan" を思い出しました。

bowing and scraping

Yasuo Uchidaの "The Togakushi Legend Murders" を読んでいます。
It wasn't so very hot, but when the hotel manager finally showed up, his face was covered with perspiration.
"I'm terribly sorry to have kept you waiting so long," he said, bowing and scraping.

"scrape" はもちろん知っていますが、"bowing and scraping" の "scraping" はどのような動作を示しているのでしょうか？

・Oxford English Dictionary: (disapproving) to be too polite to an important person in order to gain their approval: She was beginning to tire of all their bowing and scraping.
・Collins Dictionary: to behave in an excessively deferential or obsequious way: Having a hereditary title can be a drawback because some people feel they have to bow and scrape.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: to show too much politeness or attention to someone: It's embarrassing to see people bowing and scraping to the new CEO.

NCO

Yasuo Uchidaの "The Togakushi Legend Murders"（原題　戸隠伝説殺人事件） を読み始めました。
“Oho! You've been living quite a life here, I see!" said the officer, barging straight into the room, casting a lecherous look at Taki in her shrine-maiden's costume. "Well, you can't make fools of the army like that." He glanced back at the NCO behind him, then turned toward Tachibana and shouted, “Get up!”

"NCO" は警察官の身分・階級を示しているようですが、知らない略語なので辞書を見ます。

・Collins Dictionary: An NCO is a soldier who has a fairly low rank such as sergeant or corporal. NCO is an abbreviation for 'non-commissioned officer'.: Food for the ordinary Soviet troops and NCOs was very poor.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: abbreviation for non-commissioned officer: a member of the armed forces who has achieved the rank of officer by rising from the lower ranks rather than by receiving a commission

下の階級なので、日本の警察官で言うと巡査か巡査部長を指すと思われます。