skerrickとは 意味・読み方・使い方

語源

Origin uncertain, possibly a variant of scuddick (“(Northern England, Southwestern England, slang) very small amount; small coin or other object”), possibly related to scud (“(UK, dialectal, dated) piece of twisted straw used to stop up a drain”, noun), scud (“(UK, dialectal, dated) to form straw into scuds”, verb); further etymology unknown.

発音

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA: /ˈskɛɹɪk/
• (General Australian) IPA: /ˈskeɹɪk/
• 韻: -ɛɹɪk
• ハイフネーション: sker‧rick

名詞

skerrick (plural skerricks)

1. (originally UK, dialectal, now chiefly Australia, New Zealand, chiefly in the negative) A very small amount or portion; the least bit.

   Synonyms: shred, skosh, trace, whit; see also Thesaurus:modicum

   • 1969, Clive Barry, Fly Jamskoni, London: Faber and Faber […], →ISBN, page 54:

     From the crate beneath him, Reed fished up a can of aerated mineral water. A label said it had been treated according to most scrupulous hygienic standards. It had been filtered through porcelain and centrifuged until every last skerrick of life had succumbed. Reed read the label and gazed afresh on to the plain of dust. In a world of unscrupulous sterility, skerricks of life down there were scuttling around vigorously.

   • 1973, Chester Eagle, “Part Ten: Going Back, Going Forward”, in Who Could Love the Nightingale?, Melbourne, Vic.: Wren Publishing, →ISBN, page 285:

     Blue deepened in the east, the few skerricks of cloud went all the shades of pastel.

   • 1982, Paul John Radley, chapter 12, in My Blue-checker Corker and Me, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Ticknor & Fields, published 1986, →ISBN, page 141:

     He stood in front of Vonnie Kyle and his eyes examined hers with every skerrick of judgment he could muster.

   • 2006, Alexis Wright, “Number One House”, in Carpentaria […], 1st Atria Books hardcover edition, New York, N.Y.: Atria Books, published April 2009, →ISBN, page 117:

     When he reached this point in his madness, it disabled whatever skerrick of common sense he might have had even to save himself.

   • 2007 April, Kennedy Warne, “Blue Haven”, in Chris Johns, editor, National Geographic, volume 211, number 4, Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 78, column 2:

     "I take visitors out to the Poor Knights today, and they're so excited by the fish life they're just about walking on water," says Wade Doak, one of the country's pioneer divers and underwater naturalists. "And all I can think is that they're seeing a crumb, a skerrick of what it once was."

参照

Further reading

• Joseph Wright, editor (1905), “SKERRICK, sb.”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volume V (R–S), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, page 467, column 2.
• James Lambert (2004), Macquarie Australian Slang Dictionary: Complete & Unabridged, Sydney, N.S.W.: Macquarie Library, Macquarie University, →ISBN, page 181.
• “skourick, n.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.

アナグラム

• Kerricks