at knifepoint #2
松山市で起こった立てこもり事件は、事件発生から約16時間後に犯人が警察の説得に応じ、無事に終息しました。
Ehime woman freed after 16 ½-hour hostage ordeal
MATSUYAMA, EHIME PREF. – A knife-wielding 46-year-old man was arrested Wednesday, roughly 16½ hours after taking a woman in her 20s hostage at her apartment in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, police said.
After hours of pleas by authorities to free the woman, the suspect, identified as Kazuhiro Honda, released his hostage unharmed and was arrested at around 1:30 p.m.
中略
After the woman’s parents reported her missing Tuesday, investigators visited her apartment and found the man holding her at knife-point and shouting at them not to enter.
今回取り上げるのは、“at knifepoint”という表現です。“knifepoint”は「ナイフの刃先」のことですが、それぞれの語を見てみると意味が予想できると思います。この表現をOxford Dictionaries Onlineで調べてみると、“While threatening someone or being threatened with a knife”とあり、また『ジーニアス英和辞典』(大修館書店)では、「刃物で脅されて」といった意味が記載されていました。ドラマや映画などでもよく見る犯人が刃物を突きつけて人質を取っている光景が思い浮かびます。(ninetails)
