英和和英

語源

Referred as such due to its involvement in two fatal criticality accidents at the Los Alamos Laboratory in 1945 and in 1946. In the late 2010s, the circumstances of the second indicent were popularized widely by science history videos and internet memes.

The noun sense are figuratively derived from the proper noun.

固有名詞

the demon core

1. (historical) A spherical subcritical mass of plutonium manufactured during World War II by the United States as a fissile core for an early atomic bomb.

派生した語

• → Japanese: デーモン・コア (Dīmon Koa)
• → Vietnamese: Lõi Quỷ (calque)

名詞

demon core (uncountable) (figurative)

1. A essential instance or part of something, especially something malevolent.

   Synonym: beating heart

   • 2017 August 31, Connor Kilpatrick, “Victory Over the Sun”, in Jacobin‎:

     As Mazzocchi saw it, those chemicals that poisoned his union’s rank and file eventually make their way into communities outside — through the air, soil, and waterways. The factory was therefore the demon core of the environmental crisis.

   • 2018 April 27, @gravislizard, Twitter‎:

     That's the demon core of capitalism; you live decades watching companies do what appears to be reasonable, justifiable things and ignore the anti capitalists saying "does this not set a precedent for much more terrifying things?" No, no, ridiculous

   • 2023 October 2, @MalevolentAstra, Twitter‎:

     California democrats is the demon core of Hitler partials when it comes to homelessness

2. (humorous) Something that is especially dangerous and should not be tampered with, or otherwise reminiscent of the demon core.
   • 2019 September 27, @VelocityCatte, Twitter‎:

     She's a 'Demon Core' of gay energy. If you drop a screwdriver on one of the piercings, she goes supercritical.

   • 2022 December 3, /u/isloohik2, “Nookular Noodles”, in Reddit‎, /r/CuratedTumblr:

     Is this the demon core of noodles

   • 2024 February 18, @RatboyJon, Twitter‎:

     That this is like the demon core of edibles, you drop it and a whole city is getting high for years afterward.

参考

• tickle the dragon's tail