inch 復習

　400メートルリレーの日本代表チームの練習が公開されました。

Relay team aims for better-than-passing grade

The Japan men’s 4x100-meter relay team has recently started training for the upcoming season — albeit with an eye on gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Having captured the silver at the 2016 Rio Games and the bronze at the world championships last year, the sprinters are making efforts to improve their individual running techniques and gain more experience in competition. They aim to win the Asian Games, set for August in Jakarta.

In a workout at the Ajinomoto National Training Center in Tokyo on Sunday, Yoshihide Kiryu, who competed at the Rio Games, delivered a smooth pass of the baton to Aska Cambridge.

Such precision is a strength of the Japanese team. However, now that this group is highly skilled in passing the baton, improving that facet is a challenge.

中略

With the Tokyo Olympics about two years away, the members of the team have no time to spare in trying to inch a little closer to the Jamaican and U.S. sprinters — many of whom can cover 100 meters in less than 10 seconds.

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0004430392

　inch /íntʃ/ を取り上げます。長さを表す単位として知られる語ですが、ここでは動詞として用いられています。『ライトハウス英和辞典』（第5版　研究社）で調べると「（副詞句をともなって）一寸刻みで（苦労して）進む、じりじり（じわじわ）動く」「一寸刻みで動かす」とありました。

　LDOCEには “to move very slowly in a particular direction, or to make something do this” と定義されています。

　上記の英和辞典によると、語源は「ラテン語で12分の1の意、ounceと同語源」と説明されています。記事では、ジャマイカやアメリカの選手たちの速さに近づこうとする様子をinchで表現しています。（aqua）

inch v. #2 - 田邉祐司ゼミ 常時英心：言葉の森から
inch v. - 田邉祐司ゼミ 常時英心：言葉の森から