Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: bite the bullet (used idiomatically: yes)
City Comment : NatWest action THREE weeks ago , I suggested National Westminster Bank should hurry up in naming a successor to chief executive Tom Frost , whose credibility has been damaged by allegations relating to the Blue Arrow affair . Last week , chairman Lord Alexander bit the bullet : Frost became deputy chairman , freeing him to cope with the re - opened Department of Trade and Industry probe . In as replacement came 44-year - old Derek Wanless . On page 48 , Jim Levi profiles the man who will occupy one of the hottest seats in British banking , so I will confine myself to a few points .
Idiom: green light (used idiomatically: yes)
He took the paper , nodded briefly and ran out to his bike , firing it up instantly . Jack chucked her her helmet , stowed the emergency gear and fired up his bike , and in seconds she was clinging on behind him as the sirens wailed and they took off through the car park as if the hounds of hell were after them . She was surprised to see that he had the green flashing lights of a doctor set into the fairing at the front of the bike , and a siren that almost deafened her . It was her last coherent thought for some minutes . Stan was away , cleaving a path through the traffic so that all Jack had to do was follow him .
Idiom: tit for tat (used idiomatically: yes)
A forgiving strategy is one that , although it may retaliate , has a short memory . It is swift to overlook old misdeeds . Tit for Tat is a forgiving strategy . It raps a defector over the knuckles instantly but , after that , lets bygones be bygones . Chapter 10 's Grudger is totally unforgiving .
Idiom: under the sun (used idiomatically: yes)
A portentous voice announces : Portentous ' Scientists say that the greatest threat to our planet Voice : is global warming … ' ( Picture of a child with a garden hose under a blazing sun . The water from the hose stops . The child looks fearfully at the sky ) .
Idiom: go the distance (used idiomatically: yes)
On the tube ? Like tonight ? ' Preston threw in the towel before it went the whole distance . He could have come back on that one , if he 'd really tried , but sometimes it was much easier to lie on the floor and watch the lights on the ceiling and listen to the count going on . ' Okay , ' he said .
Idiom: in the dock (used idiomatically: no)
‘ It may well be that the factors which influenced the sheriff are strongly mitigating and should be given proper consideration by the children 's hearing when they come to consider the future arrangements for L on the footing that the grounds of referral are now held to be established.’ Collapse in dock halts frauds trial A 37-year - old woman accused of mortgage frauds totalling more than £ 1 million yesterday collapsed twice in the dock as the case got under way . Mrs Sandra Lamb , also known as Sandi Baxter or Sandi Lamb , slumped to the floor in the dock as a jury was selected for the trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court . She collapsed again as the 22-page indictment was read to a jury of 12 men and three women .
Idiom: hammer and tongs (used idiomatically: yes)
Do we actually draw them up ? Or do the copy department deal with it the copy department ? No we 've got we 've got twenty or thirty girls back there hammer and tongs . We 've got six months work just wai you know just going through the process at the moment . Mhm .
Idiom: run riot (used idiomatically: no)
‘ His condition was FIR this morning , so we sent him home.’ Shoppers launch pie wars ANGRY customers ran riot in a High Street store after it ran out of mince pies . A shop assistant was punched in the face at Tesco in Witham , Essex , when he said there were only vegetarian pies left . Staff in Sainsbury stores were also warned to look out for ‘ trolley lifters’ as shoppers took goods from each other 's baskets after shelves were cleared of food .
Idiom: stand up and be counted (used idiomatically: yes)
At best , it is naivete . At worst , it is placebo politics , selling a deceit to make people feel better . I do not want to stand up and be counted as a supporter of those demands . Secondly , I object to the marching . I can imagine nothing less likely to be an empowering experience .
Idiom: on the game (used idiomatically: yes)
The 33-year-old from Seattle is so laid back he is almost horizontal , while Faldo 's intensity over every shot would have most other players reaching for the straight jacket . Conceded The pair partner each other in first two rounds of the Johnnie Walker World Championship in Jamaica , starting today , and Couples conceded : ‘ We have different outlooks on the game . ‘ Nick Faldo is not there to take it easy , but that 's Faldo 's game . He does it better than anybody else and deserves the acclaim . ’
Idiom: get the boot (used idiomatically: yes)
They do n't to September , October , it is innit ? Yeah . Our Mat was moaning he 's , he 's got those suede boots and he was moaning the , this morning I goes do n't bloody , I , I , more . trying to see , you got Christmas , you got holidays Yeah .
Idiom: the icing on the cake (used idiomatically: yes)
Life was at its rosiest for Leslie Ash in the summer of 1988 . She was a successful and sought - after actress , happily married to professional footballer Lee Chapman and she was expecting their first , much - wanted child . Lee 's transfer to a French soccer club was the icing on the cake . Leslie , best known for her starring role in the TV series C.A.T.S Eyes , was happy to put her career on hold and move with him . Early check - ups in England had shown a normal pregnancy and she was looking forward to being able to indulge in her favourite French foods .
Idiom: dead and buried (used idiomatically: no)
Others , however , felt a similar shudder at the thought of telling and discussing the political jokes about contemporary leaders of the modern Arab World and advised me to confine myself to the days of the Prophet and the early imams . After all , these are men of God and are guided by his spirit of indulgence and forgiveness . They are , furthermore , dead and buried and have no recourse to the revenge squads despatched from the Middle East to the four corners of the world . Yet , a full picture of Arab political humour truly reflecting the psychology , thought and politics of the Arab peoples can not be adequately drawn without covering the entire span of Arab history , at least from the rise of Islam . Writing on the topic of political humour in the Arab World , past and present , is a task full of danger .
Idiom: on the make (used idiomatically: yes)
It is at the conferences of Labour , the party that killed the grammar schools , that you see one fruit of that enlightened policy , which is that many of the younger delegates are incoherently illiterate . But change there is . ‘ Make the change’ , and Labour is a party on the make . It is still a mix of ancient and modern . Delegates are still addressed as brother , sister , or comrade , but this year there are electronic signs in the hall giving the speaker 's name — as there have been at the Conservative conference for quite a while .
Idiom: streets ahead (used idiomatically: yes)
Shadow Chancellor Gordon Brown slammed the ' arrogant complacency ' of Ministers who did nothing for homeowners , the unemployed or small businesses . ATTACK : Brown STREETS AHEAD WITH TV HOTEL A LUXURY £ 12 million hotel with a TV theme is to open just a stone 's throw from Coronation Street . Granada , makers of the top soap , are turning an old studio into the Victoria and Albert hotel , with each of its 132 rooms named after hit programmes .
Idiom: pull someone's leg (used idiomatically: no)
Er yeah make it longer . All that I live by is with the awl ha ha ha . You do n't have to say that but we all you know you 're you 're pulling their leg the whole time okay ? Okay sorry sir . Yeah .
Idiom: get to the bottom of (used idiomatically: yes)
By David Banks Daily Post Staff THE family of a teenage Royal Marine who died after a party to celebrate winning his Green Beret have launched a compensation claim against the Ministry of Defence , it was revealed yesterday . Last night Marine Ian Mallard 's father , Malcolm , declared : ‘ I want to get to the bottom of things once and for all.’ Ian , 17 , died of acute alcohol poisoning and choking on his own vomit after the traditional celebration to mark completion of the gruelling 30-week course at the Commando Training Centre , Lympstone , Devon . Last month a coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death on the young Marine , who had drunk four or five bottles of lager and six quadruple or triple glasses of a mixture of whisky and vodka .
Idiom: run the gamut (used idiomatically: yes)
In a million bathrooms , pores breathed sighs of relief as the trowelled - on layers of moisturiser , foundation , blusher , shaper , powder , eye liner , eye shadow , mascara , lashes , and lipstick were scraped off for the first time in decades . For the majority , an increasing casualness caused a crisis in the tie industry as young men discarded the item worn by their fathers even for digging the garden or carving the Sunday roast ; the latter simultaneously appearing on the endangered species list too , but as victim of inflation rather than fashion . Young women meanwhile ran the gamut of possibilities from the Third World 's untapped richness of natural fabrics and ethnic styles , with varied but usually voluminous results . All in all , fashion in the seventies , along with just about every other aspect of life in the west , was , by and large , a mess . Not yet a terrible mess , but a vaguely irritating , vaguely disquieting , formless mess .
Idiom: when the chips are down (used idiomatically: yes)
Talking of those other prices is ludicrous.’ Hankin also responded to weekend criticism of his clear out of experienced players . ‘ Where were the old heads when we needed them when the chips were down ? The reason that a lot of the older players are going is because they did n't produce the goods when the club needed it most at least the kids were going out battling . They guarantee the supporters commitment.’
Idiom: follow suit (used idiomatically: yes)
DOUGLAS MOLLOY / East Kilbride Against Tyre Burning ; 30secs Scotland 's salmon farmers have warned of a severe crisis facing their industry following a meeting with Scottish Office Minister Sir Hector Munro . Industry leaders say two salmon farms had to call in the receivers last week and others will have to follow suit unless the European Union takes action . At this afternoon 's meeting the government heard calls for concerted action against Norway which produces as much salmon as the rest of Europe put together . The residents of a small Lanarkshire village have blocked a main road in a protest against essential repair work , which they say will isolate them completely .
Idiom: close to home (used idiomatically: yes)
On the following morning , she bought a portable TV , a warm winter coat for herself , and new clothes for Josh . She did n't buy any toys for Josh because she had decided to open a toy shop . Two weeks later , Clare bought the short lease of a small shop in the Pimlico Road , close to Mrs Gooden 's home . Though there was a lot to do , Clare , busy redecorating the shop and visiting wholesalers to buy stock , still managed to work one evening a week for the Movement . In mid - April , just before her toy shop opened , Clare 's weary , amiable , National Health doctor looked up from his desk and said , ' About your vaginal symptoms , Mrs Shapiro .
Idiom: give someone pause (used idiomatically: yes)
But it will prove that Miss Normal Superstar has one great girl : the camera loves her . ' When Hollywood sees her luminescent qualities , they will steal her forever . ' The sexual content of the film did give Kylie pause for thought . But after carefully considering the plot and the situation , she accepted the raunchy bits , because she believed they were true to life . ' Realism is important to me .
Idiom: with a will (used idiomatically: no)
Oh yes , Alan Charlton . Alan Charlton . Now , with the best will in the world , I stand in front of that sort of painting and I get very little from it . Yes . Now , have you got any comment to make about that ?
Idiom: on the horn (used idiomatically: yes)
Then I drove into his space well then somebody else came and drove in behind me and the car in front then was sort of , oh yeah , then somebody else came and reversed in in front of him , so the car in front it was across the drive was boxed in by this time , I did n't box him in I just No . parked behind , but then somebody else came and parked in front of him , and he was there and sort , you could see him looking you know , he looked at the driveway and he looked , he was looking in his rear view mirror and then he turned round and looked like this , then he looked at the front , and he was thinking my god I ca n't get out of here , and all of a sudden a little car comes up the road stops , goes beep , beep on the horn , wanna get in the drive , this bloke went ha , ha , ha , ha and he could n't do anything . So , so , he looked , he looked round at me , he looked at the the other group waiting in front and he was , he flashed his lights at them so that , they realised what was going on by then , they moved forward a bit , I moved back a bit and he just had enough room he reversed right up close to me and then got out but he just had enough room to get out , and since then I wo n't park over the driveway up there , cos you can bet your life the one driveway along that road and you parked in front is the one that somebody wants to get into .
Idiom: in someone's pocket (used idiomatically: yes)
Quite funny in the shop , erm it came to one pound ninety two which is the usual price Yeah . and it was exact amount of coins I had in my pocket ! Good Lord ! I 'm very ha happy that we 're going to Sarah 's because quite honestly I go I 've got ta get out of that ca house !
Idiom: rough and tumble (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ Is n't the jumper perfect ? I 'd been asking Peggy to get something like that for ages . I said I did n't want anything shoddy … something strong that would stand up to a bit of rough and tumble.’ ‘ It 's gorgeous,’ Benny said . ‘ Feel it,’ her mother urged .
Idiom: as a rule (used idiomatically: yes)
But are we quite sure that this quality of unpredictability , which is , after all , only another name for " free will " , is really a human rather than an animal peculiarity ? What about animals other than men ? As a general rule the strictly orthodox laboratory study of animal behaviour has always ignored this possibility . Psychological experiments of the rats - in - mazes kind are always set up in such a way that , even if the animals concerned had been capable of exercising individual judgement in such a way as to wreck the experiment , this fact would escape detection . It is assumed from the start that it is the experimenter rather than his subject matter who is in control of events .
Idiom: muddy the waters (used idiomatically: no)
Most river dolphins are almost blind . They have an extraordinarily sensitive echolocation system , and their huge foreheads enclose a large brain and sound organ which enable them to navigate and detect prey in conditions of zero visibility . During tropical rainy seasons when rivers flood and spread muddy waters over the land , the Amazon River dolphin ranges miles from the river bed seeking fish . Unlike oceanic dolphins , they have articulated vertebrae similar to those of land mammals , which enable them to manoeuvre through tree trunks and roots in flooded forests . They can travel easily in silty water only a metre or so deep , and as the waters recede they can remember the way back to the river bed along deep channels .
Idiom: tie the knot (used idiomatically: yes)
Formed by looping the pile yarn through two warp strands and then drawing it back through one . It is also referred to as the " asymmetrical " knot because the pile yarn may be drawn to either the right or the left of the warp strands . Many experts argue that the Persian knot makes it easier to produce intricate , curvilinear designs by enabling the weaver to tie more knot to the square inch , but this theory is by no means universally accepted in the carpet trade . The Persian knot is used almost exclusively in China , India , Pakistan and the Balkan countries . A simple , though far from foolproof , method of telling whether the Senneh knot has been used is to examine the back of the rug .
Idiom: for Africa (used idiomatically: yes)
Since 1950 , the population has been steadily increasing from 164 million to 448 million in 1989 . This is very much a Third World phenomenon for , throughout these areas , the rate of population increase is considerably higher than in the industrialised world . For the period from 1975–82 , the annual rate of population increase was 2.9 for Africa , 1.4 for East Asia , 2.2 for South Asia , 1.5 for Oceania and 2.5 for Latin America . Europe , however , during this period had an annual rate of only 0.4 . Even for LDCs , the Latin American rate is high .
Idiom: to the hilt (used idiomatically: no)
‘ Your looks are as crooked as your eyes,’ Southgate sneered . ( Oh , yes , I was a handsome rogue , tall with jet - black hair , olive - skinned but with a cast in one eye , I always thought it gave me a devil - may - care look . ) I noticed Southgate 's hand had fallen to the hilt of his rapier . I gulped and peered over my shoulder to make sure Benjamin was behind me . ‘ When this business is over,’ I scoffed , ‘ draw your hangar .
Idiom: to the hilt (used idiomatically: yes)
' We must live our earthly lives in obedience to Him but also in the service of the great possibilities He gives us . Not to be bound by manmade laws of rank or fortune or education but to show His true glory in reaching out for everything we feel will reveal His variety and greatness . I tell you , after a long life of many escapes , many dramas which might have been tragedies , what I want and would value most is to be free to choose as much of my life as is given to me — to live it by my own lights , Mary , to do , insofar as God wills it , what I want to do to the very hilt and limit . ' The passion infusing his remarks had the effect of subduing all four of them . George turned to Catherine , kissed her hands and seemed content to stare at her for the rest of the night if not for the rest of his life : Mary bowed her head a little and Hope looked away , sipped at his claret , could do no more .
Idiom: in the doghouse (used idiomatically: no)
Greyhound racing claims the Chancellor earmarked the windfall for the tracks in his March Budget . It 's the poor old punter who pays the betting tax in stoppages from winning bets — but he wo n't get a penny . It 's not the first time punters , who bet £ 1.6billion a year just on the dogs , have found themselves cornered in the doghouse . Betting shops deduct ten per cent from punters ' winnings — a whopping two per cent over the odds which puts a £ 10million perk in bookies ' pockets . If the money was ploughed back into dog racing — horse racing enjoys a £ 40million levy — tracks could improve amenities and strengthen security which would encourage more people to go to the dogs .
Idiom: take stock (used idiomatically: yes)
And then , when you find they say it in the fourth year , they mean it and you begin to look at yourself and realize what colour you are . Instances of the second more sudden realization are rarer . Garry Thompson , the Coventry City footballer , told how he was made to take stock of his colour slightly earlier , just after beginning secondary school in Birmingham : ‘ I went up to some guys and asked to play football and they just shut me out . One of the older guys called me a nigger , and he influenced the others so that they all started calling me it . That 's when I felt different.’
Idiom: take root (used idiomatically: yes)
One day , this planet could become an agricultural export world . If so , the Imperium could convert the barren fourth world , Quartus , into a valuable mining planet , its population fed from Quintus . The expedition also found the coastal population to be a potentially fertile field where the Imperial cult could take root . Was not the God - Emperor the great guardian against change ? Missionaries and preachers strove to switch the focus of hatred from the God of Change to the products of change dwelling in the interior .
Idiom: on the cards (used idiomatically: yes)
do n't like them , that way Oh I 'm always sitting thinking if I had n't got them , I 'd be thinking now was it on the card I have n't got you know Yeah I 'm like that
Idiom: to say the least (used idiomatically: yes)
A complicating factor in making the provisions relating t settled property has been the inordinate delay between the time when the intention to impose the tax was announced and the date of its becoming law . In conjunction with the necessity to provide for the transition from estate duty to CT . these considerations have produced provisions governing events which take place during the interim period which are to say the least of it , complicated . The account of them which follows is based on the print of the Bill which is dated 19th February 1975 . The Bill is bound to be extensively amended before it reaches the statute book — at the time of writing 16 , amendments have been put down by the Government and 25 of them are of major importance — but it is believed that few if any of these amendments will affect settlements under which there is subsisting an interest in possession .
Idiom: make tracks (used idiomatically: no)
EMI Records 1–3 Uxbridge Road Hayes Middlesex UB4 0SU Dear Sir/Madam I am writing to ask if it might be possible for Oxford University Press to make use of the following tracks in a non-broadcast educational video . ‘ Waterfront ’ by Simple Minds ‘ I Like Driving in my Car ’ by Madness
Idiom: in the works (used idiomatically: yes)
But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face . I will listen to you , especially when we disagree . And above all , I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation , the only way it 's been done in America for 221 years ; block by block , brick by brick , calloused hand by calloused hand .
Idiom: play games (used idiomatically: yes)
From this angle , stepping down with the altar candles behind him , his high shoulder and the bulge behind it scarcely broke the symmetry of a body beautifully compact and admirably handled . He withdrew at once to a gracious distance , not to disturb in any way the privacy and composure of the next contender , and his two young squires , well trained to be equally unobtrusive in attendance , drew in silently at either shoulder . If he plays games to while away the tedious time , thought Cadfael , he plays them by noble rules , even those he makes up as he goes . Hugh liked him from the first ; and so do I like him , I like him very well . And it entered his mind uninvited to wonder about the strangeness of human relationships .
Idiom: night and day (used idiomatically: yes)
It was there that the fibreglass P–40s were assembled . Also , sets were organised and much of the set decoration such as trucks , cars , and period pieces were stored and prepared for use in the film . Machine shops and special effects crews worked night and day to bring the film 's culminating scenes to life . The entire fleet of Japanese aircraft were based at NAS Barbers Point , while the flyable American aircraft , such as the B–17s , were mostly kept at Wheeler Field . As noted earlier , scenes were shot at Ford Island , and then the field was redressed to become Hickam Field for arrival shots of the B–17s .