Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: from scratch (used idiomatically: yes)
Had he been English he might have been described as a typical eccentric . As a Dutchman he was harder to classify . He may have inherited some of his eccentricity from his father , Bernard , who built up a vast multi - national engineering company from scratch and then acquired a circus as a sideline , training his own Lippizaner stallions . Old Van Leer left nothing to chance : not only did he plan his own funeral , he even made Wim rehearse a funeral oration , which he did with his usual brio . He proved rather better at handling animals than his own family , who scattered in all directions — his wife to Israel , his younger son to America , and Wim to England .
Idiom: armed to the teeth (used idiomatically: yes)
As you 'd guess , most of ‘ Mexican R'n'B’ was recorded live ( although Edgar did have to double on guitar when regular guitarist Ged Lynn went AWOL in the middle of recording ) . Effects were kept to a minimum , mostly just a touch of reverb on the occasional guitar part , although the band admit to a growing interest in outdated analogue floor pedals . As for guitars , The Stairs travel armed to the teeth with a motley collection of Gibson semi - acoustics . ‘ Ged uses mostly ES-335s and ES-330s,’ reveals Edgar , ‘ and I 've got an old EB-2 bass … Well , I 've got two of them , but they play and sound completely different .
Idiom: talk the talk (used idiomatically: yes)
Lavender , an intelligent , thoughtful man nearing 40 , might have been a guerrilla chief in another war . Now , he had become a peacemaker , and he was encouraging a truce between the Bloods and the Crips , who had shot at one another for years . Before he served two years in prison , Bobby Lavender had , as they say in LA , ‘ dressed the dress , walked the walk and talked the talk’ of the black urban gangster . And lived . ‘ It 's a warrior code,’ a white hight school principal named Newton Hart said , ‘ the clothes , the walk , the talk.’
Idiom: do me a favour (used idiomatically: yes)
Leaving this afternoon … leaving from where ? ' Okay , ' I say , when Frank 's finished talking to me as though I 'm a Sun reader . ' Frank , could you do me a big favour and see if you can find who this guy Azul is ? ' ' Well , I 'm quite busy you know , Cameron . We do n't all treat deadlines with — '
Idiom: down the road (used idiomatically: no)
He foresees a small number of popular application programming interfaces becoming available on a large number of systems so that developers can target a variety of vendors with one version of an application . Translation technologies are important , however , because other options still lack a common development environment and should be able to get to multiple systems from a single code base . Echo currently has no iAPX-86 front - end for FlashPort , but is thought to be heading down that road . UNGERMANN - BASS MOVES TO FACILITATE MANAGEMENT OF 10BASE - T NETWORKS USING ITS ACCESS / ONE CONCENTRATORS Tandem Computers Inc 's San Jose - based Ungermann - Bass Inc is trying to make the management of growing 10BaseT networks easier .
Idiom: take the plunge (used idiomatically: yes)
Solving solitaire centres I have always envied John and Barbara 's solitaire board . Last Christmas , having loads of time on my hands over the holidays , I decided to take the plunge and make one at least as nice theirs . I found a piece of quarter - sawn oak in my wood store , which would do perfectly for the job . Solitaire boards are normally circular and have 33 circular depressions or sockets for the playing pieces ( marbles ) arranged on six lines in a cross configuration .
Idiom: on the nose (used idiomatically: yes)
Feel how smooth it ' It looks it . ' She took out her Ambre Solaire and rubbed a small amount on her nose . ' Could I borrow some ? ' He turned sideways , lying full length .
Idiom: for donkey's years (used idiomatically: yes)
Solution : have a suitably qualified RFU Ombudsman on hand to settle the issue irrespective of vested interests . Sole sets his store SCOTLAND captain David Sole has given short shrift to anyone who has blamed Martin Bayfield and Tim Rodber for the drastic change in Scottish scrummaging fortunes between the World Cup semi - final and the Five Nations opener , when his side scored their first pushover try against England for donkey 's years , despite losing by a record score . ‘ The criticism of our scrummage in the World Cup was unfair’ , said Sole . ‘ This time we pinpointed the English dangermen and concentrated on an eight - man push at every scrum .
Idiom: in the works (used idiomatically: no)
Cohen ( 1955 ) devotes only three pages to the control of delinquent subcultures and states that ' from a diagnosis of a social ill , even a correct one , the ' right ' solution does not leap to the eye in any obvious way'(ibid . , p. 177 ) . The rest of his discussion in these few pages is about how all sorts of possible answers could be proposed , involving the ' balancing of social values ' . Cloward and Ohlin ( 1960 ) , in a highly influential work did not themselves draw any treatment conclusions ( although their ideas inspired a major treatment programme ) . The key textbooks of sociological theories did sometimes conclude with a discussion of treatment implications , but often in the form of an analysis of existing provisions with occasional nods of approval or disapproval . A good example would be the many editions of Sutherland and Cressey ( 1970 ) .
Idiom: out of pocket (used idiomatically: yes)
Gary Lineker , Bryan Robson , Mark Wright and Pearce were Taylor 's previous captains but Platt now has a chance to stake his claim . In contrast San Marino 's happy band of no - hopers will play the paupers to England 's princes when they enter fairytale land at Wembley . While Graham Taylor 's loadsamoney outfit add to their lucrative market value by pulling on England shirts , half - a - dozen of the mountain men 's reward for tackling their Everest will be to actually find themselves out of pocket . ‘ No - one gets paid for playing for San Marino and they never will,’ explained team physio Giovanni Ragini . ‘ In some cases they are actually paying to represent their country !
Idiom: catch fire (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ But the fire caused this crisis —’ ‘ The fire just highlighted a problem that was already there . And incidentally the new singeing machine did n't catch fire on its own . That was operator error . The gas was turned too high .
Idiom: come of age (used idiomatically: yes)
Some of the princes of Germany doubted the validity of the election on the grounds that Frederick had not been baptized at the time and he had only been elected , they said , out of fear for his father . Philip of Swabia acted with the greatest propriety . He proposed a regency council to uphold the validity of Frederick 's election until the heir should come of age . He had no intention of assuming the emperorship himself . Powerful forces , however , that disliked the Staufen family influence were now unleashed .
Idiom: get your hands dirty (used idiomatically: yes)
Atari recently sent a shiver through the industry when it laid off 1700 employees . Opportunity is another reason for the entrepreneurial boon . ‘ It 's expected that you will get your hands dirty with ideas,’ said a university spokesman . The area has encouraged entrepreneurs and investors since the late 1930s when engineering professor , Frederick Terman , the acknowledged ‘ father of Silicon Valley’ , attracted engineers and scientists from the east and helped them find money for their work . There , is in addition , the lure of success .
Idiom: back to square one (used idiomatically: yes)
Here 's our Sally . money at last seems to be coming in . But if you blow the whole lot on celebrating you will be back to square one . So use your common sense if you are to finish up on top . Go about things in the right way and you wo n't have the same worries again .
Idiom: brownie point (used idiomatically: yes)
Seconded , reserve the right Thank you Chairman . these are recommendations from a joint working party D of E of the erm local authority association and they are to almost unbelievable for us to consider and I can only assume that the that we must remember that this is really a response to what I call Heseltine 's last squeeze which was the idea of executive mayors and so in a sense lip service which has to be paid somewhere along those lines but it does recommend that we think seriously about cabinet govern government about single party committees and I ca n't imagine how anybody in their right minds would argue now that the cabinet government when they see what cabinet government leads to in Westminster and what de facto cabinet government leads to in majority ruled councils up and down the country erm , there is of course a I think a misleading er er brownie point the idea of relaxing restrictions on members allowances but members must realise why that is in there . I mean in response to the general tone of the argument which was they want us to increase the leadership roles in the , in in local government and in in local communities and local councils we would we thought that So with that er suggestion Chairman I 'll , I think I 'll let you all get to tea .
Idiom: walk of life (used idiomatically: yes)
However , the farmer 's wife often had to deal on her own with callers and only 15 % felt able to cope . Dealing with an Emergency In all walks of life wives have to deal with emergencies but in the farming industry these can occur regularly and can assume considerable importance . A cow or calf lost can reflect a high percentage of the total income from the farm . Some examples of likely emergencies were used in the questioning and included dealing with a sick animal , returning stray stock , lambing a ewe , and administering first aid .
Idiom: no man's land (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ The sense of liberation when you really give everything up , and own nothing . I realize now that somewhere inside myself this is what I was always longing for.’ They do in fact own almost literally nothing , except the house , and a few acres of the surrounding woodland to serve as a no - man 's - land between them and the world . They have a few sheep , to keep down the poison ivy , a few pigs to breed , and a dusty station wagon to take them to market . The children run wild , in shirts and jeans .
Idiom: way to go (used idiomatically: yes)
Well , I looked at the shot and saw it . I could see it sailing over the trouble and landing on the green . I said , ‘ There 's only one way to go — right across the out - of - bounds.’ I handed him the 3-wood . You just know when a shot is perfect because you hear that tell - tale crack when it comes out of the middle of the club .
Idiom: by dint of (used idiomatically: yes)
If such things occurred , they did so outside the knowledge of the Association . Hodson admitted that , prior to giving evidence to the Committee , he had had no fewer than twenty meetings with Francis Place , the radical tailor of Charing Cross Road . The 1824 Act repealing the Combination Laws had , as politicians and trade unionists were very well aware , been " smuggled through " the House by Place and the Radical MP Joseph Hume by dint of persistent lobbying and political manipulation . The Prime Minister and the Lord Chancellor later in the year protested with apparent truthfulness that they had been quite unaware that it had been passed at all!. Nevertheless , it had put an end to the unlawfulness of combinations .
Idiom: send someone packing (used idiomatically: no)
Middle - aged men were automatically addressed as ‘ Miss’ for her persistent use of gender inversion helped disorientate visitors and created an upside - down world in which all accepted standards and values had no place . Her closing call was not ‘ Time , gentlemen , please,’ but ‘ Back to your lovely cottages,’using the homosexual term for public lavatories . And if she took a sudden dislike to a client , or observed one member behaving badly to another , her command , ‘ Out , cunt!’ , sent them packing . A butch lesbian with motherly tendencies , she maintained her dignity and in some lights could look beautiful . Her uncertain temper made a trip to the Colony Room always an adventure .
Idiom: jump the gun (used idiomatically: yes)
More than 3,000 consultants are backing the legal challenge , each having contributed at least £ 10 and guaranteed a further £ 100 towards the cost . The case was brought in the name of Professor Harry Keen , director of clincial services ( medicine ) at Guy 's hospital , London . His counsel , Lord Irvine , QC , accused Mr Kenneth Clarke , the Health Secretary , of ‘ jumping the gun without the authority of Parliament’ in authorising expenditure on the creation of self - governing hospital trusts . The consultants calculate that ministers have put forward £ 250 million for the shake - up . Although not all the reforms require legislation , the trusts plan does .
Idiom: make someone's day (used idiomatically: yes)
Now his conscience can be as comfortable as his lifestyle — it 's simple to rest easy if you have already earned £ 1.6 million . Public recanting was made fashionable by Clint Eastwood . He confessed in the magazine Psychology Today to being uneasy with fans who asked him to make their day by autographing their guns . He can afford to draw back a little . Just like Sir Anthony Hopkins can afford to turn down the £ 1 million reputedly offered to make a sequel to Silence of The Lambs .
Idiom: part of the furniture (used idiomatically: yes)
Why do n't you talk to people in the streets , you 're the parcels man ai n't you ? Yes , they all know him , you all know Johnny do n't you ? Part of , part of the furniture , yes what do you want , there 's no problem with parcels , and so again it becomes far less difficult to discuss erm , a business conversation , and sometimes it 's a conversation about football , and they 're all a load of complete , because that 's part of , er , that 's one of the joys of er , er , having been doing something for long enough to have got known within the , within the patch . What have you got Mary , er , what does yours show ? Right , since I 've taken over my territory the first thing I 've seen , I 've got to educate my customers as in paperwork .
Idiom: for the time being (used idiomatically: yes)
A patient who consents , even in the widest terms , to a dental operation under anaesthetic does not give a true consent to the amputation of a leg . Nor does a patient who refuses consent in some circumstances necessarily give a true refusal of consent to treatment in any quite different circumstances which may arise : an example is to be found in Werth v. Taylor ( 1991 ) 475 N.W.2d 426 . The third reason is that at the time of apparent consent or refusal the patient may not , for the time being , be a competent adult . Her understanding and reasoning powers may be seriously reduced by drugs or other circumstances , although she is not actually unconscious . The notion that consent or refusal of consent may not be a true consent or refusal presents a serious problem for doctors .
Idiom: wide of the mark (used idiomatically: yes)
Building societies and banks have finally abandoned their secrecy and pretence over their ‘ inspection’ and do not call it a structural survey any more . It is a report and valuation for mortgage and insurance assessment which is usually done in half an hour and consists of a general look at the property to see that it actually exists as described , and is not in a state of collapse or major disrepair . In actual fact I have seen valuations which are so wide of the mark ( more than 50 % in one case ) that one suspects that some valuers know little about the property market and even less about rebuilding costs , which constitute the basis for insurance . Needless to say , they usually undervalue the property and never inspect it thoroughly . Their report is of little practical use and in some cases can be positively misleading , but the building societies and banks insist upon having it .
Idiom: catch fire (used idiomatically: yes)
Fire fighters from Stockton put out a fire in a potting shed at a house in Bishopton Road , Stockton . Machine blaze : Smoke damage was caused to the kitchen of a house in Gilmour Street , Thornaby , after a washing machine caught fire . Lottery cash : Three organisations are to benefit from Hartlepool Council 's lottery fund .
Idiom: get lost (used idiomatically: yes)
The turning is a little after the village of Gan , where there is a tastery and a large cave coopérative where you can buy your Jurançon on trust , without troubling to check on the nearby vineyards . It is excellent wine , in either its white or its red versions , and said to travel well . The road to follow up into the low hills is marked with the sign ' Coteaux de Jurançon ' , though it is also quite easy to lose once you are up there ; but when vineyards are so thin on the ground as it were in this part of the country , there is every reason to get briefly lost amongst them . Together with Perpignan at the Mediterranean end , Pau is one of only two large towns in the Pyrenees : a departmental capital and a university town . It is also a historic town , after 1460 the capital of the viscounty of Béarn in succession to Lescar , Morlaas and Orthez .
Idiom: in a fog (used idiomatically: yes)
The motorway took twenty one years to build , at a cost of three hundred and thirty million pounds . It finished two months ahead of schedule , a bonus for both motorists and the contractors . So far it 's cost six lives , the first one just weeks after it opened in a multiple pileup in thick fog . Planners were heavily criticised for designing the route through a valley notorious for fog . Police say bad driving is still the biggest danger .
Idiom: knock it off (used idiomatically: no)
as I say if you could erm if you could some time soon drop a note off in my tray about , you know , kind of what exactly you 've got outstanding so I can go round and see the erm see the people concerned and , and say that you 've been to just the one thing Well mm well you , you can but it 'll be nice to , it will be nice to have something , something , you know , kind of some sort of list we can , we can refer to and , and say oh yes oh great he 's handed that one in now and , and sort of knock it off because I know they do keep records in the office but , you know just , just something so , so we know where you are erm and it also kind of er will perhaps help concentrate the mind on what you need to get done erm so er I know there 's a and there 's also
Idiom: break even (used idiomatically: yes)
A price of £ 6 and a quantity of 80,000 units would achieve both targets . 4 Breaking even . If the firm is a public sector firm ( or nationalised industry ) , it may be required to operate in the ' public interest ' and so may attempt to produce as much as possible without making losses . Such a firm would produce and sell 123,800 units at a price of £ 3.81 and would then just break even .
Idiom: play games (used idiomatically: no)
Play indoor games Yeah Mm , you 're playing an indoor game now We do in bed do n't we , that 's a little game Squash
Idiom: larger than life (used idiomatically: yes)
With its occupants pushed firmly back into their seats , the Turbo R thumped a hole in the air and lunged for the far horizon , covering the quarter - mile in a staggering 14.8secs on the way . But then the Turbo R is an outrageous concoction of sledgehammer performance and sybaritic luxury — the world 's most dignified and prestigious hot - rod . It 's larger than life in every way . A hero . We 're big fans .
Idiom: bear fruit (used idiomatically: yes)
But Congress is in deep disrepute in India . The past two years of economic reform have won Mr Rao and his finance minister , Manmohan Singh , much praise from foreigners and from Indian businessmen . And the policy is bearing fruit : India 's economy will probably expand by more than 5 % this year and inflation is down to 7 % . Yet Congress seems to be getting little thanks for this from the voters . Politics - watchers guess that , had Rajiv Gandhi not been assassinated at the end of the general - election campaign two years ago , the BJP would have won roughly as many seats as Congress .
Idiom: come of age (used idiomatically: yes)
When Charles came of age in 1969 , the Duchy had been in abeyance for thirty - three years and was seriously rundown ; much of it was yielding nothing . Although administered by a council , which met three times a year to review policy , it had undergone none of the post - war modernization and investment that had rescued the rest of the farming industry from the crippling effects of war . No one seemed to have realized that Charles would need an income when he came of age . Land stewards had become autonomous , farm buildings had fallen into disuse , land had been poorly managed , properties had been allowed to run down and rents had gone unreviewed . If the Prince was going to be able to live off it when he finished his naval career and support the wife that everyone seemed so desperate for him to acquire , something radical had to be done .
Idiom: have it both ways (used idiomatically: yes)
SO Mr Clarke says the ambulance dispute was caused by the ambulance crews ' failure to accept their leaders ' recommendation . Had the recommendation been for industrial action and the crews voted against , I have no doubt Mr Clarke would have applauded the triumph of democracy . He really can not have it both ways . This government has repeatedly talked about ‘ giving the unions back to their members.’ Very well : the union has behaved democratically .
Idiom: in the clear (used idiomatically: no)
While Prince Charles must be relieved to be free of a marriage which had become a sham , he , his family and in the end the British Government have met Diana 's terms . This was the year she finally emerged from her shell to win every round in a public relations battle she was determined should go her way . In India in February , when Charles attempted to kiss her for the first time in public in four years , Diana defiantly turned away in a clear move to embarrass her husband . A month later in Egypt she sat forlornly on her own in front of the Pyramids , knowing full well that the media would again sympathise with her lonely vigil . But the greatest coup of all was engineering publication of her side of the story of her failed marriage .
Idiom: fair game (used idiomatically: no)
The loss of Batty was a big blow to the midfield but the injuries to both Wallace and Speed have been the big set back this season . The loss of Wallace 's pace has allowed better marking of Deane who is so far doing a pretty good impression of a Donkey and also failing to score . He sets up a fair few goals but we really need a finisher something Wallace managed to do ( if you gave him enough chances in the game ) . But perhaps the loss of Speed is the biggest worry , his late runs into the box , power in the air and explosive finishing have resulted in the goals from midfield completely drying up . What we need is Speed and Wallace back and to buy a good striker , White is OK but stuck out on the right wing he wo n't score many goals IMHO .
Idiom: spot on (used idiomatically: no)
He did so hope I was enjoying myself . He did so hope I was not bored with country life . Was this not , however , the most beautiful spot on earth ? He went into the kitchen and returned with a plate of local delicacies which he offered me together with a little plate , a napkin and a finger - bowl . ‘ The English — and of course I do n't want you to take this personally — the English are peculiar in that they have very little culinary self - esteem .
Idiom: behind someone's back (used idiomatically: yes)
Can y Ca n't feel it can you turn it round and get it behind your back ? Can you put your hand behind your back like that ? Turn it round .