常時英心:言葉の森から 1.0

約10年間,はてなダイアリーで英語表現の落穂拾いを行ってきました。現在はAmeba Blogに2.0を開設し,継続中です。こちらはしばらくアーカイブとして維持します。

batten down the hatches

数日前の記事になりますが、ニューヨークに降り立ったハリケーンについての記事を、New York Todayから取り上げます。

Eyes on the Hurricane

Good morning on this damp Friday.
Hurricane Joaquin watch has commenced.
The Category 4 storm is in the Bahamas, and most projections for its path have it heading north and avoiding most land areas.
With strong northeastern winds and rain not associated with Hurricane Joaquin, we could still experience minor coastal flooding around high tide. But that, as one National Weather Service spokesman told us, is “more in the nuisance category.”
We’ve already been feeling some effects here in New York: showers, high winds and much cooler temperatures than we saw this week.
The National Weather Service predicts a total rainfall of around one inch today, with 20- to 30-mile-per-hour winds, gusts up to 40 m.p.h., and a high of 52.
Even if the storm stays off the coast, we’re likely to see rain for a while.
And city officials are battening down the hatches in case
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/02/nyregion/new-york-today-eyes-on-the-hurricane.html?WT.mc_id=nytoday-redirect&_r=0
“batten down the hatches”を取り上げます。G4では「(1)危機に備える (2)〘海事〙昇降口を密閉する」とありました。LDOCEでは “a) to prepare yourself for a period of difficulty or trouble”、 “b) firmly fasten the entrance to the lower part of a ship”とあります。ここでは危機に備えるという意味で使われていますね。

語源はやはり船上でのハッチ(昇降口)を密閉するということからきているようです。インターネットで調べてみたところ、 “From the practice aboard a ship of sealing hatches to prevent water getting below-decks in a storm by using covers secured by strips of material, called battens, firmly attached to the frame of the hatch opening.”と書かれていました。(Inaho)

以前にも先輩が取り上げられています。
http://d.hatena.ne.jp/A30/20140213/1392247243