fever pitch 復習

Blue Skyさんとかぶりました。福岡市の筥崎宮では、お正月の伝統行事である「玉せせり」が行われました。

Half-naked players battle for ball in chilly New Year ritual

About 330 stripped-down male worshippers had a ball despite getting doused with cold water in the sacred annual “Tama seseri” New Year's festival at Hakozakigu shrine here on Jan. 3.

The local participants wore only loincloths in the quaint ritual, which literally means “competing for a ball,” at the shrine in Fukuoka’s Higashi Ward, in the northern part of Kyushu island.

Many spectators, who were making their New Year’s visit to the shrine, looked on as the worshippers fought for a wooden ball, which is said to bestow good luck to those who touch it in the ritual.

中略

The excitement of the crowd reached a fever pitch when the wooden globe was handed to a priest waiting at the gate of Hakozakigu shrine at the conclusion.

以下省略

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201701040038.html

今回取り上げる表現は “fever pitch” です。『ライトハウス英和辞典』（第5版　研究社）で調べると、「（興奮などの）最高潮」とありました。LDOCEには “if people’s feelings are at fever pitch, they are extremely excited” と定義されております。

今回記事では “The excitement of the crowd reached a fever pitch when the wooden globe was handed to a priest” となっており、木の玉が神官に手渡された際に盛り上がりが最高潮に達したことが伺えます。

この表現は以前にも取り上げられておりました。（aqua）
reach fever pitch - 田邉祐司ゼミ 常時英心：言葉の森から