ご指名質問回答：five-strong party #3
UG先生ご指名質問有難うございます。
strongは述べられているように過去にも取り上げられています。（cf. -strong #2 - 田邉祐司ゼミ 常時英心：言葉の森から）「[数詞の後で]総勢・・・人の」（『ジーニアス英和辞典 第3版』大修館）という意味になります。したがって赤字の箇所は「総勢5名の仲間達」と解釈できます。
何百人も乗ることのできる飛行機を、たった5名＋ペットの犬で貸し切ったという驚きのような感情が、the entire planeとtaken upとともにこのstrongが表していると感じました。（Shou-VR*）
Baseball star Tanaka charters Dreamliner for flight to New York
Japanese baseball sensation Masahiro Tanaka chartered his own Boeing 787 Dreamliner to fly him to New York, with the entire plane taken up by his five-strong party and his pet dog.
The ace pitcher, who has just signed a seven-year deal worth $155 million with the New York Yankees, is believed to have splashed out 20 million yen of his own money on the one-way flight.
“It’s a (chartered) private jet. It’s not something the Yankees have prepared,” he told reporters at Narita Airport near Tokyo on Sunday.
Japan Airlines (JAL) confirmed he used one of its Boeing 787s but declined to disclose further details.
