nipping at somebody/something #2

恒例の世界大学ランキング。なんやかんや言われながらもアジアの大学も健闘しています。

Asian universities catch up with U.S., Britain

Leading Asian universities are catching up with their competitors in Britain and the United States in rankings, measuring everything from reputation to research funding, released on Wednesday.

The top institutions in Japan, South Korea, China and Singapore generally rose in the annual index published by Britain’s Times Higher Education magazine, continuing a “power shift from West to East,” its rankings editor Phil Baty said.

“More Asian institutions are nipping at the heels of the best in the West, increasingly occupying world top 50 places and showing no signs of letting up,” Baty said in a statement.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/asian-universities-catch-up-with-u-s-britain

nip at the heels of~はすでに院生時代に小山本くんが扱っています。「（競争相手などが）今にも〜に追いつきそうである」がその訳ですが、彼が書いているように「脅威にはなっていない」というニュアンスがあります。これはMcGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbsも以下のような例文をあげているところからも明白です。

The dog nipped at the visitor, but didn't cause any real harm. The dog nipped at the visitor, but didn't cause any real harm. A small dog nipped at my heels.

いつの日にかmenaceとなるようにがんばりたいものです。（UG）