noun:

• starting with vigor but ending with no action; raising one's voice (in a call to action) and then failing to take action

noun / ~する noun:

• scoring the first point; winning the first game ［せんしょう］

noun:

• lucky day in the morning, but not in the afternoon ➜ 六曜

particle:

• only; merely; nothing but; no more than
• approximately; about
• just (finished, etc.) - after the -ta form of a verb
• as if to; (as though) about to - after an attributive form or auxiliary verb ぬ(ん), also often …とばかり(に) ➜ 言わんばかり【いわんばかり】
• indicates emphasis - in the form …とばかり or …とばかりに
• always; constantly

ichidan verb:

• to be at a loss; to think and think but get nowhere; to fail to come up with a good idea

expression:

• but he has to be handsome; that said, only if he's a looker; phrase poking fun at people describing their ideal male partner, as a postscript - humorous term

noun:

• reed warbler (esp. the great reed warbler, but also the black-browed reed warbler) ➜ 小葦切・大葦切

noun:

• reed warbler (esp. the great reed warbler, but also the black-browed reed warbler) - obscure term ➜ 葦切

conjunction:

• apart from that; other than that; leaving that aside; more importantly; more ... than that; but; however

noun:

• someone who has a title but no real duty; useless person ➜ 取り巻き
• actor playing a daimyo who merely sets the scene as part of the background (in kabuki) - original meaning ➜ 大名

noun:

• reed warbler (esp. the great reed warbler, but also the black-browed reed warbler) - obscure term ➜ 葦切

noun:

• flounder (esp. the large-tooth flounders of family Paralichthyidae, but also lefteye flounders of family Bothidae)
• bastard halibut; olive flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus)

noun:

• someone haughty and boastful at home but meek and reserved outside; being a lion at home and a mouse abroad

noun / ~する noun:

• failing to win an electoral seat in a single-member constituency, but winning a seat in a proportionally represented constituency

noun:

• not folding on a stitch but placing the fold (2mm) deeper past the stitch, folding the excess back to cover the stitch

expression:

• one has no other choice but to do what one has to do ➜ っきゃ

expression / adjective:

• cannot avoid doing; cannot help but (do); is compelled to do; (feel) obliged to (do); has to do ➜ ざる

expression:

• cannot avoid doing; cannot help but (do); is compelled to do; (feel) obliged to (do); has to do ➜ せざるを得ない

expression / adjective:

• cannot avoid doing; cannot help but (do); is compelled to do; (feel) obliged to (do); has to do ➜ ざる・せざるを得ない

expression / noun:

• fight from which neither part benefits (but a third part does); a fight between the snipe and the clam (ends in the fisherman's profit) [literal] - idiom ➜ 漁夫の利

expression:

• well-known only to those in the know; be well-known but to the few; highly regarded by a select few

noun:

• thin veneer; hasty preparation; knowledge or skill learned as a stopgap
• re-tempering a dull sword (so that it looks as if it's sharp, but is actually unusable) - orig. meaning

noun:

• matrilineal emperor of Japan; emperor (either male or female) whose mother is (was) a member of the Imperial family but whose father is (was) not - four character idiom ➜ 女性天皇

noun / suffix noun:

• bodhisattva; one who has reached enlightenment but vows to save all beings before becoming a buddha - Buddhism term
• High Monk (title bestowed by the imperial court)
• title bestowed to Shinto kami in manifestation theory ➜ 本地垂迹説

adverb:

• or; otherwise
• furthermore; also
• perhaps; by some chance; possibly - archaism
• that being said; be that as it may - archaism
• however; but - archaism
• not to mention; needless to say - archaism
• as expected; sure enough - archaism
• really; at all - used to express emphatic denial, suspicion, or emotion - archaism

noun:

• Yezo (northern part of Meiji-era Japan, esp. Hokkaido, but also Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands)
• Edo-period realm of the Ainu (as opposed to the Japanese) comprising most of Hokkaido ➜ 和人地