Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: put a foot wrong (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ Yea , if it suited you,’ Anne said with truth . ‘ Only mama shall know our secret — she has already expressed the intention of concealing the nature of my illness , for fear of arousing alarm . Mama will agree , I am sure — you can not put a foot wrong , it seems , where she is concerned ! I shall have someone alter the dress to fit you . It is too tight for myself , I shall say — and since I am indisposed , my companion shall fit it on for me!’
Idiom: kick up a fuss (used idiomatically: yes)
In 1987 the UK Government went back on a pre - election promise to introduce Landscape Conservation Orders to protect these areas , so proper control from the EEC would be most welcome . Meadows and woodlands are better looked after , but that still leaves many different habitats that do not have sufficient protection . The Habitat Directive would seek to improve this situation , but sadly the UK is kicking up a fuss about the depth of the proposal , which simply wishes to preserve our natural heritage . Undoubtedly the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act has already had a beneficial effect on our countryside and wild animals , but it is not enough . However , the Countryside Commission , the Government 's advisory body , is making strenuous efforts to impress upon everyone the need for sensitivity when dealing with development .
Idiom: in my book (used idiomatically: yes)
Mostly very hardy , large flowers , pink no pruning needed . Propagated by layers . It said in my book just tidy them up if you , you know , if they needed a bit of tidying up . planting out . No , it does n't say any more than that .
Idiom: in the running (used idiomatically: yes)
Health centres are extremely hierarchical in nature . This heritage comes from a colonial model of top - down health care where the doctor , the matron and the administrator head three parallel hierarchies staffed by ranks of nurses and clerks . Patients are at the bottom of the pecking order and have very little say in the running of services . In South Africa , some NGO 's have attempted to build community responsiveness , if not accountability into their services . In a society where community factions are at war with each other this process is extremely complex and riddled with failed attempts .
Idiom: slippery slope (used idiomatically: yes)
Unveiling details of the £ 1.7 m deal , Ed WAllis , PowerGen 's chief executive , candidly said he would expect some say in the way the weather was presented . Mr Grade has been most vociferous . ‘ Sponsorship is the slippery slope towards the erosion of editorial independence.’ But his further assertion that ‘ it always ends in tears’ surprised many programme - makers , not least of all his own staff . Channel 4 has if anything led the cavalry charge , pioneering direct sponsorship deals for minority sports such as American Football , Tour de France cycling and Sumo wrestling .
Idiom: fall short (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ What was it about the report that you found so interesting , for future reference?’ If the praise is genuine , the giver should be able to be specific . In this instance you may be regarded as falling short in the modesty stakes , as your question may be interpreted to mean that you want even more adulation . Your decision to use this ploy depends on whether or not you think such a misinterpretation is preferable to being conned . Using indirect questions
Idiom: behind bars (used idiomatically: no)
If each betrays the other , both are convicted of the crime , but receive some credit for giving evidence and get a somewhat reduced , though still stiff , sentence , the Punishment for mutual defection . If both cooperate ( with each other , not with the authorities ) by refusing to speak , there is not enough evidence to convict either of them of the main crime , and they receive a small sentence for a lesser offence , the Reward for mutual cooperation . Although it may seem odd to call a jail sentence a ‘ reward’ , that is how the men would see it if the alternative was a longer spell behind bars . You will notice that , although the ‘ payoffs’ are not in dollars but in jail sentences , the essential features of the game are preserved ( look at the rank order of desirability of the four outcomes ) . If you put yourself in each prisoner 's place , assuming both to be motivated by rational self - interest and remembering that they can not talk to one another to make a pact , you will see that neither has any choice but to betray the other , thereby condemning both to heavy sentences .
Idiom: anything goes (used idiomatically: no)
And wherever he went in the city he found it to be the same . Everyone was a civilian . None of them had ever supported Mr Hitler and most were shocked to hear that anything like that had been going on . ' And who 's going to pay for all this damage ? ' the Mayor of Berlin asked my cousin . Vic returned to England without further medals , pondering on the mystery .
Idiom: make the cut (used idiomatically: yes)
Second , the Bank has long recognised that adjustment takes time . The change in relative prices brought about by devaluations may harm output in the short term , but this is offset by faster growth in the longer term . The only alternative to devaluation is to make deeper cuts in domestic spending , which would result in higher social costs . Third , the Bank emphasises that devaluations must be accompanied by other policies . These include strict fiscal and monetary policies to avoid inflation ; deregulation of domestic goods markets ; reform of the trade regime ; measures to remove constraints on factor employment , saving and investment , and to strengthen private and public institutions ; and steps to protect the poor during the transition .
Idiom: catch someone's eye (used idiomatically: yes)
She had been six years old then and she had thought the fireworks the most beautiful sight in the world . She had never forgotten them . Sean caught Ruth ' s eye and winked at her . ‘ Well then , Miss Polly , if I 'm to have the pleasure of your company on an outing it will have to be soon . And is n't it the luck of the devil that the master do n't require me tomorrow afternoon ?
Idiom: lend an ear (used idiomatically: no)
As the table waitress was away delivering the order , a passing waiter noted an empty juice glass and stopped to ask if he could fetch a refill . In a US property , a guest let off steam to the bartender because his room was not ready and it was already late . The bartender lent the customary ear , then placated the guest by offering a complimentary drink and snack , using the empowerment code to authorise a small expenditure to retain the guest 's goodwill . ' We operate from a comprehensive manual of quality standards listing tasks and procedures , ' he says . ' Sometimes everyone becomes so intent on doing things by the book , the real needs of the customer may be overlooked .
Idiom: on a roll (used idiomatically: no)
Police told him he was lucky not to be ' plunged ' — knifed . Strange times we live in , he said , when he finds himself looking over his shoulder and thinking he might be safer in Sarajevo . On a roll ANOTHER tale of derring do , or in this case derring did n't . Two postgraduate students , Nina Valebjorg and Ann Heidi Hansen , made a mid - January trip on the Stavanger to Newcastle ferry , planning to ask passengers why they were visiting the UK and Scotland .
Idiom: mean business (used idiomatically: yes)
and she 's going round , she 's gon na try and take them to court ! So she should ! It 's bis , I think they mean business people ! .And she 's going she got out papers and pencil ! Taking names and addresses who 'll back her up !
Idiom: turn a blind eye (used idiomatically: yes)
Mm . Mm . sort of turn a blind eye . Mm . You do n't remember
Idiom: to the letter (used idiomatically: yes)
The aircraft at the club I fly ( train ) from are well maintained and do have silencers — albeit they do point downwards . Trial by jury As a Black lawyer and pilot , I disagree with one of the points expressed in your response to Donald Rochdale 's letter , April issue . I assure you that in my professional capacity I come across many jurors who are both indigenous Britons , and quite advanced in years , who do not fit into the ' long tradition of honesty and fair - mindedness ' . I am baffled as to why ' New Britons ' — particularly those ' too young to be yet imbued with the wisdom that comes with age ' should be singled out .
Idiom: game on (used idiomatically: yes)
Mm . Look , lots of love from Alleycat and Digger . There are lots of games on that are n't there ? And did I see a er a game where you join things ? Listen to this .
Idiom: wear the trousers (used idiomatically: yes)
In youth she would have dressed her hair to cover them . Her face was devoid of make - up and with the hair drawn back tightly and twisted into a high roll it looked naked , a face stripped for action . She was wearing black trousers topped with a belted tunic in thin grey wool , high - buttoned almost to the chin , and deep - cuffed . Her feet were lodged in wide black - barred shoes and in their immobility gave the impression of being clamped to the carpet . There was a paperback on the round table to the right of her chair .
Idiom: turn heads (used idiomatically: yes)
' Killed ? ' ' There was no mark on him . ' Jotan turned his head , and he stared away blindly at the wall . ' I fear it was Artai 's doing , ' he said . ' Who else could have arranged it ? '
Idiom: save someone's bacon (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ I want you to go for dinner with me.’ She did n't suppose the timing could be any worse . But she also did n't see any way she could graciously say no after Nelson had just saved her bacon . Besides , he was funny and youthful , the opposite pole to Matthew Blake . Maybe she had better start planning relentlessly to fill her spare moments so she had no time to think .
Idiom: in tandem (used idiomatically: yes)
So , by sight , sound and smell , the adult insects attract their mates . Male grasps female sometimes only briefly , sometimes for several hours . The couple may even fly through the air awkwardly , in tandem . Then the female lays her fertilised eggs and provisions them . Butterflies seek out the one plant whose leaves provide the only food their caterpillars will eat ; beetles bury pellets of dung and lay their eggs within them ; flies feverishly deposit their eggs within carrion ; and solitary wasps catch spiders , paralyse them with a sting and stack them around their eggs so that the young larvae will have fresh meat awaiting them .
Idiom: sweep the board (used idiomatically: yes)
In Algeria the main Islamic party , the Islamic Salvation Front , FIS , smoothly switched support from Saudi Arabia ( a generous benefactor ) to Iraq . The FIS , which won most votes in the local elections in June 1990 , hopes to profit later this year when some 40 parties take part in the country 's ( and the Arab world 's ) first fully democratic parliamentary election . If the fundamentalist factions drop their differences to form a coalition , they could sweep the board : a prospect dreaded by many Algerians who do not want to emerge from long years of joyless socialism only to face even more joyless Islamic militancy . King Hassan of Morocco repaid old debts to the Gulf states by sending 1,500 troops to defend Saudi Arabia . But the opposition parties demanded their return , and the king had to promise that they would not be used except defensively , not even to eject Iraq from Kuwait .
Idiom: rough and ready (used idiomatically: yes)
He is a good tenor , and it was a good effort , but in this Verdi role that is not enough . ( Carlos is known to have been an epileptic , and Pountney introduces this into Barham 's characterisation . ) For much of Act I , too , Jonathan Summers 's Posa seemed as if it was to be a rough - and - ready performance by this gifted baritone . But in the later scenes with Carlos , and especially in his great aria after he has been mortally wounded , he recovered his true form . As Elisabeth , Rosalind Plowright sounded more secure than she has been for some time on British stages and sang her last aria with true Verdian pathos and passion .
Idiom: fight tooth and nail (used idiomatically: yes)
Most people , when they hear screaming , either think it is a gang of yobs or quarrelling lovers . Let me tell you a story : a prostitute was attacked by a young man in the back yard of a large block of flats in London . She fought him tooth and nail for a good 20 minutes , screaming at the top of her voice , until he eventually beat her senseless and killed her . Not only did no one come to her aid or telephone the police , but residents actually closed their windows so that they would n't be disturbed . When the police turned up , they could n't find a single witness — no one wanted to know .
Idiom: behind bars (used idiomatically: yes)
Cobalt groaned , weary of her persistence . ‘ A smalltime crook who got caught in the crossfire when I was working on a story a couple of years ago . He ended up behind bars and made threats when he got out . Until yesterday it was all talk . When I saw him in the doorway I thought he 'd come to settle that score .
Idiom: by heart (used idiomatically: yes)
Scripts,’ and he pointed to the lines . ‘ See here , that 's that character 's lines and that 's the other person answering . Actors learn them off by heart and then they rehearse them masses and masses of times until it sounds as if they 've just thought of them.’ George held up one thick battered tome . ‘ The Complete Works of William Shakespeare .
Idiom: spring to mind (used idiomatically: yes)
ANDI GOES FOR SHOCK VALUE A LITTLE ray of sunshine she is n't . Cute and sweet are not adjectives that readily spring to mind on surveying the stage wardrobe of Andi , the blonde frontwoman of local cover band Sunshine . But then Andi is n't really your average rock babe . Two years ago she traded her long , barbie doll locks for a severe Billy Idol style crop , and filled her wardrobe with outfits that are high on shock value .
Idiom: face to face (used idiomatically: yes)
paper should be used for conveying facts , but word of mouth for reasons 8 planned face to face information flow with feedback is the most effective vehicle for exchanging understanding but supporting media can improve effectiveness if appropriate and justified 9 it is your duty as a manager to do everything to beat the grapevine ; never use it to convey messages ; the grapevine always imputes evil motives to the most benign actions
Idiom: to boot (used idiomatically: no)
Take one look at Winterbottom lining up his man and you can almost touch the raw passion in the man , sense the burning desire to knock the stuffing out of his opponent . If one man has come to symbolise the hard , inner edge that has driven England to such success it is Winterbottom . He has a stare that can fill a man with dread — a quiet , almost contemptuous look which shakes you to your boots . His mere presence signals the fact that the opposition will have to bury the side ten feet under before they will concede victory . ' He likes to scare the opposition ' , says Roger Uttley , ' Just like Tony Neary in his day , no - one gets away from him .
Idiom: in black and white (used idiomatically: yes)
Chemists must not be reactive — they need to be proactive and to reach the coming generation with a positive message that is well presented . A comic gives children the opportunity to retreat into their own world ; it is a very private thing . Children think in black and white , good and bad , and the comic has a powerful influence on shaping attitudes . Perhaps future issues of comics and children 's magazines will again imaginatively present science , and especially chemistry , as beneficial and exciting . Paul Phillips , Nigel Freestone and Roger Alder are lecturers at Nene College of Higher Education , St George 's Avenue , Northampton NN2 6JD .
Idiom: old as the hills (used idiomatically: yes)
They make a fortune.’ Patrick nodded . Mortgage scams were as old as the hills . He hated these jobs . ‘ Let me have a go.’
Idiom: in the clear (used idiomatically: yes)
Then , giving her further instructions about her patient , the doctor drove away . Susan did n't get up that day , so Breeze had a great deal to do . She explored the cottage all over again , because it looked quite different — and even more attractive — in the clear light of a sunny February morning , and she found to her joy that there was a large garden at the back where they could grow vegetables . A hawthorn hedge divided them on the left from the field belonging to Upmeadow Farm , while on the right - hand side their territory was bounded by a swift little stream . She judged the garden to be about two acres in extent , and rejoiced anew at her amazing luck .
Idiom: head for the hills (used idiomatically: yes)
The post - riot air is thick with good will , but it wo n't last long . Whites , miles from any danger , panicked during the riots and do n't want to experience that unpleasing emotion again . Whole supermarkets in the Valley were stripped of their provender in a decorous food riot by the affluent , loading up their Wagoneers with Porterhouse and T - bone as they headed for the hills . Perry Anderson , who lives part of the year in Sherman Oaks while he teaches as UCLA , was reminded of what his parents saw in December 1941 , after they landed in San Francisco after three years of being bombed in South China . In the days after Pearl Harbor , streams of panic - stricken burghers headed east out of the city towards Sacramento and the safety of the Sierra Nevada , their cars similarly loaded with provender .
Idiom: there's the rub (used idiomatically: yes)
Yes . But why ? Ah , there 's the rub . ‘ The urge to beget is blind and sinister.’ It is also confusing.’
Idiom: hope against hope (used idiomatically: yes)
A gorgeously dressed footman inspected her ticket , then bowed her into the hallway which was brilliant with candles and thronged with people . Lucille already felt dowdy . She glanced about the hall , hoping against hope that Richard would be waiting for her , but there was no sign of Sharpe , nor of any of the Prince of Orange 's staff . Lucille felt friendless in an enemy country , but then was relieved to see the Dowager Countess of Mauberges who , like so many other Belgian aristocracy , thought of herself as French and wanted the world to know it . The old lady was defiantly wearing her dead husband 's Legion d'honneur about her neck .
Idiom: go off the boil (used idiomatically: yes)
KJ I think that was much truer of the first series . The second series really went off the boil because there was much more emphasis on the woman lawyer . In the first series the emphasis was all on the very street - sussed young women who went out and solved all kinds of crimes , problems and so on . Now I think that the woman lawyer has been foregrounded as if the law actually does have a part to play .
Idiom: one and the same (used idiomatically: yes)
Meretrix ! This was none of your mensa - a - table , this was a flash from the forbidden planet , and it was everywhere . History was sex , French was sex , art was sex , the Bible , poetry , penfriends , games , music , everything was sex except biology which was obviously sex but obviously not really sex , not the one which was secret and ecstatic and wicked and a sacrament and all the things it was supposed to be at one and the same time — I got that in the boiler room and it turned out to be biology after all . That 's what free love is free of — propaganda . Act 2 , Scene 7
Idiom: on a roll (used idiomatically: yes)
The true art of good football is making things look easy . For Oxford it was hard — very hard . Tranmere were on a roll and , to be fair , there are not many First Division sides that can stop them at their best . No consolation either for Oxford as Niven completed his hat - trick with Number 5 . Near the end Joey Beauchamp relieved the pain with his second goal of the season .
Idiom: stroke of luck (used idiomatically: yes)
The stranger , after a moment 's hesitation , strolled after him . A train of thought shunted its way through Hugh 's mind . Getting the newcomer to the Broken Drum so easily was a stroke of luck , no doubt of it , and Ymor would probably reward him . But for all his new acquaintance 's mildness there was something about him that made Hugh uneasy , and for the life of him he could n't figure out what it was . Not the two extra eyes , odd though they were .
Idiom: take it from me (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ You 're making her out to be a bit heartless,’ Harry protested awkwardly . ‘ I 'm sure she has no idea how … how attractive she is.’ ‘ Well , take it from me , she knows exactly what 's she doing . Now then , old chap , let 's have some champagne.’ Despite Aubrey 's warning , Harry became convinced that Madeleine was not simply flirting with him .
Idiom: two a penny (used idiomatically: no)
Brown still had some head bandages underneath a large Greek Air Force cap which , with reduced bandaging , lay almost around his neck . ' Sorry we are late back , Sir … I expect you thought you had got rid of your two bad pennies ! '' ' Apparently Ainley had told them he would try to force - land on a beach just after they flew near some naval ships . I assume the aircraft had been hit .
Idiom: watch this space (used idiomatically: yes)
Gerry Stembridge will be co - producing a drama with actors from Ireland and Roumania , while Tara Arts from England will be staging Troilus and Cressida . This is but a tip of the formidable Octoberfest iceberg . I 'll be covering events in more depth during September , so watch this space . Take a look at this singing duo COVERDALE Page , who want to play Belfast next spring , have just released a new EMI single called Take a Look at Yourself .
Idiom: high and low (used idiomatically: yes)
Under the Asplit and Hoechst acid - proof cements and Hoechst fire - proof cements trade names , a wide range of products with high resistance to chemicals and high and low temperatures are supplied for heavy - duty acid - proofing .
Idiom: watering hole (used idiomatically: yes)
LYNN DALY THE giraffe blinked , bent slowly forward and gingerly took the carrot from my outstretched arm . Behind her , in the distant heat haze , two thirsty rhinos raised a wall of dust as they lumbered past some waterbuck to a watering hole . It felt like Africa . It looked like Africa .
Idiom: go all the way (used idiomatically: no)
The lieutenant was screaming into his walkie - talkie for advice . No one would give it . His plight went all the way up to his general , who was in the palace . Even he would not give an order . The lieutenant was shouting .
Idiom: win the day (used idiomatically: yes)
Everything is too loud : The amplification , my guitar , the crowd 's cheery conversation . It 's not easy . Martin takes them on unamplified , and after about an hour 's struggle , wins the day handsomely . Two and a half hours later , as I left , he was still playing . Monday night , straight from work , and I 'm in Ullapool , still wearing my cords but with a half - decent haircut .
Idiom: on a shoestring (used idiomatically: no)
Golf nearby . No . of rooms : 456 ON A SHOESTRING OUTRIGGER MALIA Oahu On Kuhio Avenue , just two blocks from Waikiki 's splendid beach , is the comfortable Outrigger Malia .