knacker
Theresa May. Can you hear me Theresa May? Your boys took one hell of a beating.” It’s been a rough week for the Brexit department. On Monday, the junior minister Robin Walker had to answer an urgent question from his own Eurosceptic backbencher, Bill Cash, on whether the government actually had any Brexit plans at all. ...
It was once again left to Walker and Baker to do most of the heavy lifting at the start of the session, though Fernandes chipped in from time to time with her own special words of wisdom. The message was clear. The prime minister had been entirely coherent in her vision for Britain. Coherently incoherent. Britain was looking for a deep and special relationship, a bespoke deal that only existed in her imagination. Everything was going better than anyone with no expectations whatsoever could possibly have expected. And, yes, there were rumours the civil service was full of remainer commies hellbent on knackering Brexit. Tomorrow belongs to us. (Skip the rest)
今回取り上げる語は、knacker / nˈækɚ / です。
まず意味を確認します。LDOCEをみると、”[British English spoken informal] to become extremely tired “ とあり、Collins Dictionary をみると、”to exhaust” と定義されていました。『ウィズダム英和辞典』(三省堂)をみると、「…をへとへとに疲れさせる、…をこき使う、…を傷つける、損害を与える」とあります。
次に語源を確認します。Collins Dictionary をみると、”C16: probably from nacker saddler, probably of Scandinavian origin; compare Old Norse hnakkur saddle” とありました。(OkaUchi)
