snap off 復習
DALLAS — The pilots of a Southwest Airlines jet struggled to handle the plane after an engine blew apart at 32,000 feet over Pennsylvania last month.
Investigators say the captain, Tammie Jo Shults, took over control from the co-pilot. She first asked air traffic controllers for permission to land at the nearest airport, but then aimed for Philadelphia, where the crippled plane made an emergency landing.
中略
In its update, the NTSB also said that investigators have found pieces of the broken engine fan blade suspected of triggering the accident when it snapped off due to metal fatigue, or microscopic cracking. The NTSB said the other blades in the engine on the Boeing 737 were nicked during the accident but showed no signs of cracking.
スナップ写真や留め金のスナップ、野球などのスポーツ用語でお馴染みのsnap / snˈæp / にoff / ɔːf / が付くとどのような意味になるのか気になりました。『ジーニアス英和辞典』を引くと「〈物が〉ポキンと折れる，プツンと切れる」と記載されています。The Free Dictionaryでは“break a piece from a whole”と定義されていました。また後に付く前置詞によって擬音語を伴った様々な意味になることが確認できました。
補足ですがsnap(bite) a person’s head offで「食ってかかる; けんか腰で答える」という意味になります。(Kiwi girl)
