Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: as luck would have it (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ Why — is he going away quite soon?’ asked Felicity in dismay , and Breeze could only gaze at her in astonishment . ‘ Flick 's made a hit,’ Gay observed that night , strolling into Breeze 's bedroom clad in the patched pyjamas she had worn at school . Since the advent of Felicity , she had gone up to sleep in the attic — an arrangement she preferred , as she had absolute privacy up there , and as luck would have it , there was an electric fire , so that she could use it as a study . ‘ A hit ? With Roger ?
Idiom: in your dreams (used idiomatically: yes)
Okay . Thanks very much . You 'll have to have another go in your dreams Theresa . Well now you , now you 've had a class on it , you 'll have to go back to it refreshed and try and crack it . I did this but it 's not for a few weeks time for my presentation on Freud , or
Idiom: come to mind (used idiomatically: yes)
( f ) Strength of Conservatism , e.g. attracting lower middle class . In this assessment of an explanation the writer has disagreed with the main proposition and supported it by looking at the Liberal and Labour parties separately , and secondly at the other factors making for Liberal decline . At the same time as writing down the reasons , other things came to mind which could illustrate and support those reasons , so they are jotted down too . 3 . Why was Britain so slow to develop a national system of education before 1914 ?
Idiom: fly the flag (used idiomatically: yes)
Cranes were used to hoist it into place on the 8th March 1986 . After the old maypole was taken down in October 1985 it was sadly missed , especially when the ex - president of the maypole committee , Amos Clapham ( of coal race fame ) , died . It was customary to fly a flag at half - mast when anyone connected with the May weekend died so , not to be beaten , committee members managed to obtain a telegraph pole , paint and erect it in one weekend so that old Amos would not be cheated of this sign of respect . This is one example of the feeling for the maypole in the village . ' Other places have their town hall , we have our maypole ' , I was told , ' it is a focus for the village community ' .
Idiom: in the club (used idiomatically: yes)
There is only one reservation : should Miss Jade bear a daughter , can Mr Jagger guarantee that he will in future years be able to keep her away from the attentions of his bass ( sic ) colleague , Mr William Wyman ? Finally , in the week that the flame of altruism flickered on as the saintly Mother Teresa and her divine holiness the Princess of Wales clasped hands in a gesture of tender solidarity that touched the souls of millions , it was revealed that : Pop star Mr Nathan Moore is touting for gigs in gay London clubs ; Miss Barbara Streisand , the nasally - unchallenged tragedienne and diva , ' is now terrified to make stage appearances ' ; TV 's Miss Victoria ' Vicki ' Michelle gets so many requests for suspenders that she 'd ' go BUST if she answered them all ;
Idiom: take heart (used idiomatically: no)
An ' yuh know whut she done , Gone an ' ended mah fun — ? She took my heart and squashed the sucker flat . ' There you have it , ' said Francis , ' so eloquent . And now let us pass on to Lucy — we have forty minutes until Happy Hour . '
Idiom: think the world of (used idiomatically: no)
However there 's no place for Paisley North MP Irene Adams despite her polling eighty eight votes in last weeks shadow cabinet elections . JIM DELAHUNT Paul Weir woke up this morning , still mini-flyweight champion of the world , but already thinking of giving up the title . That 's the price he 'll have to pay as he progresses onwards and upwards through boxing 's weight divisions . Next stop , hopefully , the light flyweight title held by Dickie Camacho .
Idiom: ring a bell (used idiomatically: no)
Teesdale , Teesdale , I 'm sure there 's a Teesdale in it you must be in erm , you must be in Blythe constituency Teesdale rings a bell he 's one of these men who stand up and talk whether they 've got anything to say or not you know at at meetings There 's a lot like that
Idiom: see the light (used idiomatically: yes)
The scale of his windows and free - standing or hanging glass assemblages has not overwhelmed his lyrical impulse and painter 's training and approach . Stained glass is inextricably associated with the leadline , but most of Beleschenko 's glass innovatively ‘ liberates the glass from having a black line around it . You then see the light - catching quality that you get with an edge of glass.’ In his large window ( 1986 ) at the Fujitsu Building at Stockley Park near Heathrow , myriad mosaic squares of antique glass are suspended , without glue or resin , between sheets of reinforced clear glass . Precision - cut , liberated from the leadline , the mosaic edges refract the light in scintillating , unpredictable ways .
Idiom: on the rocks (used idiomatically: yes)
He was a self - absorbed old fool . He had drained all the virtue from her . He had taken her innocence and beguiled it , filled her childish head with enthusiasm for his own mad fantasies , and left her depleted , a high - minded virgin on the rocks of her own barren dreams . A monstrosity . There was so much anger in her she could not see what might be done with it .
Idiom: out of pocket (used idiomatically: yes)
General Finance All accommodation , food , facility and equipment hire will be paid for the athletes and coaches . Travelling expenses for the athletes will be paid on an out of pocket basis . Coaches Each governing body selected will be expected to provide a top senior coach and an assistant coach .
Idiom: break new ground (used idiomatically: yes)
When speaking the drill sentence , equal attention should be paid to the verbal context and to the attitude expressed . Repetition should be done aloud when possible . The student should avoid breaking new ground on his own as this may result in the formation of bad habits rather than good ones . But once a tune is correctly established , the more repetition the better ( O'Connor & Arnold 1961 ) . intrinsic programming
Idiom: walk of life (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ It was described by Lord Provost Black in 1845 as a school which has conferred a lustre upon our city and which has given a tone to the manners and intellect of all its inhabitants . Whether they remain in Edinburgh or betake themselves to other lands and whatever be the walk of life in which they were bred I believe the students of this seminary will be found everywhere and at all times promoting civilisation in the world.’ I now suggest that the new Government should immediately sell the building for the same price so that it can become a seat of learning for talented Scottish children , such as it then produced of every walk of life . Sir NICHOLAS FAIRBAIRN , MP ( Con ) Fordell Castle , Fife Leading Article : Ulster 's latest hope
Idiom: see stars (used idiomatically: no)
I was standing outside the Beverly Wilshire Hotel , in Los Angeles , talking to Cary Grant , when a woman saw me and she shrieked , ' You 're him ! She said , ' I 've been here for three weeks , I have n't seen one movie star until now , ' and she came over and got my autograph . And then she turned to Cary Grant , and said , ' You never see any movie stars , do you ? ' And he said , ' No , my dear , you don't … . ' PAMELA STEPHENSON
Idiom: light at the end of the tunnel (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ But then there 's the counter - argument . If Shostakovich was writing now , he would n't have had the same material . Many of his symphonies dealt with desolation — no light at the end of the tunnel . We would n't have had Symphonies eight and ten . So who knows ?
Idiom: at a loss for words (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ Pretty Quickly … Ugly Slowly’(Midnight ) IN THE current lukewarm musical climate there is something very likeable about a record that genuinely leaves you at a loss for words . In the early to mid-'80s , The Wasp Factory 's prole art debut would not have seemed so brave , but in releasing an album bound to infuriate and confuse most who cross its path at this time they really are pressing their luck . Beginning with the noisy sub - poetic ‘ Dies Irae I’(conceivably something an unbalanced literature student dreamed up in desperation ) which is invested with an insectival repulsion , The Wasp Factory get right up your nose .
Idiom: have a few (used idiomatically: no)
And young women . Of course , Dorcas thought , as a scientist and rational thinking nome I know we were n't really intended to live under floorboards the whole time . It 's just that , as a nome who is probably seven years old and feeling a bit creaky , I 've got to admit I 'd find it sort of comforting to have a few of the good old signs around the place . Amazing Reductions , perhaps , or just a little sign saying , Mammoth Sale Starts Tomorrow . It would n't hurt , and I 'm sure I 'd feel happier .
Idiom: child's play (used idiomatically: no)
Can you find a cylinder that is taller than this one ? How many blue cubes do you need to build a cube the same size as the red cube ? Appreciation of the ways in which the various shapes are related enables the teacher to ask further leading questions when a suitable opening presents itself in a child 's play ( e.g. commenting on the way the flat slabs will go together to make a staircase of three steps —‘What would we need to make the next step?’ ) . Other apparatus which is mathematically structured the set of ‘ logic’ or ‘ attribute’blocks . The majority of suppliers use plastic shapes although the original Dienes floor set was a collection of wooden shapes .
Idiom: to the bone (used idiomatically: no)
I do n't care what Josh says , I 'm going to wake him up . He 's supposed to be at the shop . Me and Aunt Emily 's been working our fingers to the bone , waiting for him.’ Pushing past Mabel , Florrie climbed the stairs and knocked angrily on the door of Jimmy 's bedroom . There was no reaction from within .
Idiom: have a heart (used idiomatically: yes)
Youth itself was hardly a disadvantage , in an age when people were ruling kingdoms and leading armies in their teens ; the Stewart kings themselves , all but one beginning his personal rule in his teens , two dead at thirty , and only one surviving beyond the age of forty , could hardly have waited for age and experience to bless their undertakings and achievements . To be a woman ruler of course posed problems , severely practical ones . Elizabeth 's famous Armada speech —'I know that I have the body of a weak and feeble woman , but I have the heart of a king and a king of England too ' — and Mary 's much - quoted desire to live the life of a soldier , wearing a Glasgow buckler and sleeping under the stars , are testimony to one ( it is perhaps worth adding that the context for Elizabeth was fighting Spain , for Mary fighting her half - brother ) . Their different solutions to the question of marriage , neither of which was in any way adequate , are witness to another , even more serious . Yet there are two reasons why Mary 's sex will not explain her failure and downfall .
Idiom: lift a finger (used idiomatically: yes)
' Normally she is so collected , so self - controlled . ' I wondered if you might have . ' Mrs Marsden lifted an accusatory finger . ' It is very difficult , as you can well imagine , for a parent to exercise proper control over the friendships of a daughter who insists on following a career . But it does not mean , ' she said starchily , ' that one is totally without influence , or that propriety has been put in abeyance .
Idiom: give and take (used idiomatically: no)
Scènes de Ballet The lines are straighter and more angled than usual in classical dance . They are precise in detail yet from time to time break away from the formal patterns of Petipa 's well-ordered conventions . Birthday Offering Precise and accurately placed enchaînements and éaulement give a clear definition to each step and pose as it takes its place in a perfectly balanced design . Rhapsodie The patterns fill the stage in all its dimensions whilst remaining within the more conventional patterns of older ballets . Because the patterns are forever changing shape , the lines are more lightly etched and give greater fluidity and excitement to the dance .
Idiom: play for time (used idiomatically: yes)
Kapil had a frustrating day yesterday as a light drizzle washed out the fourth day 's play in India 's first Test against South Africa in Durban . But with three Tests to follow in the Republic Kapil should be on the verge of the record by the time England arrive in India after Christmas . ' Providing I stay fit I will get the record because I plan to keep on playing for some time yet . ' And on my current strike rate it certainly could be during the England series . ' Kapil has advanced a long way since he burst onto the international scene in the late 1970s .
Idiom: bang for the buck (used idiomatically: yes)
Higher oil prices mean that Americans ( and Europeans and Japanese ) are paying hundreds of millions of dollars to Middle ~ East oil dictators and oil exporters elsewhere in the world rather than spending it at home . Moreover , money spent on the Iraq war does not stimulate the economy today as much as money spent at home on roads , hospitals , or schools , and it does n’t contribute as much to long - term growth . Economists talk about “ bang for the buck ” – how much economic stimulus is provided by each dollar of spending . It ’s hard to imagine less bang than from bucks spent on a Nepalese contractor working in Iraq .
Idiom: stay the course (used idiomatically: yes)
It needs a stronger , warmer personality for the solitary girl than Bonnie Moore can provide but the dancing was sprightly . If these two ballets were evidence of MacMillan 's gift for using the classical technique in a fresh and personal way , La Hermanas ( based on Lorca 's The House of Bernarda Alba ) , which came between , showed those themes of dark sexuality which would find their full development in Mayerling . Made for the Stuttgart Ballet in 1956 , the ballet has stayed the course because of its tight construction and the meaty roles it offers . On Tuesday Marion Tait was superbly tragic as the older sister , Karen Donovan full of spite as the jealous one , and Anita Landa fiercely repressive as the mother , while Joseph Cipolla gave due emphasis to the pelvic thrusts of which his role chiefly consists . MacMillan has come a long way since 1963 but Hermanas can still grip when done as well as this .
Idiom: in the nick of time (used idiomatically: yes)
Out of the fog came a figure in black . Delaney 's Uzi zeroed in , pressure increased on the trigger . In the nick of time he saw the yellow triangular patch on the shoulder . It was Lawton . Delaney caught him by the arm .
Idiom: out and about (used idiomatically: no)
The introduction of large-scale drift-nets into the Mediterranean has greatly boosted the catch of swordfish , according to fishermen . Many Mediterranean fishermen have been subsidised into the use of drift-nets through the European Community , which has been paying them to convert from bottom trawling — supposedly because of its detrimental effects on the seabed . In 1988 , 30–40 Spanish vessels were operating out of Algeciras and Almeria , and according to some estimates , as many as 800 Italian and French drift-net vessels , with a total net length exceeding 15,000 km ( about 10,000 miles ) , were fishing in the Mediterranean . The burgeoning European drift-net fleet is thought to have killed as many as 4000 dolphins in 1989 , and at least 23 sperm whales during the previous three years . The Milan-based Centre for Cetacean Studies , in association with several other wildlife and research groups , has petitioned the Italian Government for an end to the swordfish drift-net fishery , warning that the cetacean populations of the Italian seas would otherwise be at risk of extinction by the year 2000 .
Idiom: on the ground (used idiomatically: yes)
Right now , though , he faces the most critical time in his managerial career . First he has to beat his former club , QPR , tomorrow night in the Coca-Cola Cup — a competition that can take Wednesday back into the UEFA Cup . Secondly , he must make sure Hirst knuckles down and gets his feet back on the ground . The striker will be having mixed thoughts now . Even though he is staying at Wednesday , half his attention is sure to be elsewhere following all the recent transfer talk .
Idiom: lose the plot (used idiomatically: yes)
GINA MORRIS joins him for a big breakfast . THIS , SOME would say , is how it is . The British Broadcasting Big Wigs have lost the plot . They 've fumbled their grip on ‘ youth’ culture and let it slide into their bottomless pockets . Where once we had Tizwas and The Tube , we now have Bob and Paula 's Big Breakfast and The Word .
Idiom: apples and oranges (used idiomatically: yes)
Another possibility is to get the children sitting in two rows . The first person puts the banana on their feet and passes it to the next . A non - competitive way of playing this is to get the children in a circle with , as well as bananas , several pieces of other fruit such as apples and oranges . They then pass the fruit until it falls off . For tea , give the children banana sandwiches and shape the birthday cake like a banana .
Idiom: follow suit (used idiomatically: yes)
LATIN AMERICA US trade and debt plan United States President George Bush announced on June 27 an " Enterprise for the Americas Initiative " for Latin America and the Caribbean , proposing ( i ) a new investment fund to promote free - market investment , free trade and privatization schemes to which the US government would donate US$ 100,000,000 and would ask West European countries and Japan to follow suit;(ii ) the reduction of the region 's US$ 12,000 million debt to the USA , on condition that debtor countries adopted International Monetary Fund ( IMF ) and World Bank approved economic reforms;(iii ) Inter - American Development Bank ( IDB ) grants of up to US$ 300,000,000 to assist specific reforms to create free - market conditions conducive to foreign investment ; and ( iv ) preferential trade benefits to countries which reduced trade barriers with the long - term aim of achieving a free trade zone across the American hemisphere . Bush stated that prosperity depended on " trade not aid " and that the initiative was also intended to bolster the economic and political changes already taking place in the region . Latin American governments welcomed the proposals .
Idiom: break ranks (used idiomatically: yes)
No further hostilities occurred until the late afternoon . Then , a group of youths rolled a tractor tyre towards the police line . Some officers broke ranks and were met with a volley of stones . At this point , police on horseback and riot officers carrying riot shields chased pickets across fields and railway lines into the village and through gardens . When the police regrouped with the intention of holding a railway bridge , pickets constructed blazing barricades out of the remnants of scrapped cars , telegraph poles and a portakabin to prevent a second advance .
Idiom: hold water (used idiomatically: no)
We should therefore see shields on their own as aniconic representations of the deity ; the shield motif in the frescoes at Knossos is a religious , not a military , symbol . The Aegina Pendant , which probably came originally from the tomb of Chrysolakkos at Mallia , again shows the Minoan Master of Animals grasping a pair of creatures by the neck . This time he is holding water - birds against a strange background apparently consisting of snakes ( Figure 1 ) . The Minoan Goddess of the Caves was associated with childbirth and the underworld . As a literal Earth - mother , she may have been the prototype of the Rhea of the later myths , but we also know that at least in the fourteenth century BC the Minoans knew her as Eleuthia .
Idiom: take a back seat (used idiomatically: yes)
The high reliability of the new postwar plant may , however , have been purchased at too high a cost . Certainly there were those , both in the divisions and outside , who felt that the BEA headquarters design policy , in its search for reliability and speed of construction above all else , had imposed an unnecessary conservatism on development . Long - term planning took a back seat in the deliberations of the senior engineers whose efforts were principally devoted to overcoming short - term problems . Forward planning ( matching load forecasts and planned capacity , thinking about the future regional spread of power stations ) , was , of course , necessary , but was in practice merely a part time function of the ex - CEB engineers in charge of system operation . The CEB had , in fact , been quite sophisticated in its long - term planning , and their interwar prognostications had proved remarkably accurate .
Idiom: fall from grace (used idiomatically: yes)
Whereas for Beccaria individual rights are supreme , there are no safeguards against abuse of state power in the work of Garofalo and Ferri . Garland ( 1985a , p. 129 ) has made a similar point : although both classical and positivist criminology incorporated a conception of the relationship between the individual and the state , he sees the positivist version as ‘ moving from a liberal mode to a more authoritarian , interventionist one’ , at least in the case of the early , biological school . Such arguments perhaps illustrate the extent of the fall from grace to positivist criminology in recent years . Not only , apparently , was it based on a misguided assumption about the nature of human action , but it also stands accused of paving the way for nefarious political ideologies ! Such a contrast between classicism and positivism seems rather generous to Beccaria .
Idiom: spend a penny (used idiomatically: no)
The problem in all such charity - backed schemes is that , whereas cash has been raised for buildings and equipment , somebody is going to have to fund the day - to - day running and staffing . That may mean taking resources away from other services . The chairman of the fund - raising committee Heather Scott promised yesterday that she would make sure that every penny would be spent on the new unit . We applaud her stance . But only a full and detailed commitment from Darlington Health Authority will put people 's minds at rest .
Idiom: strike a chord (used idiomatically: yes)
It sounded like an echo of words he had heard before . Foley had a light of humour in his eyes . ‘ I thought I 'd strike a chord,’ he said . ‘ Just what do you know about all this?’ Edward thought fast , achieving little .
Idiom: up a tree (used idiomatically: no)
‘ That 's weak advice,’ he said , shaking his head . I did n't argue , but many died from exhaustion every year through not understanding the strengths of weakness . It was better to stop every day 's travel early so as to have good energy for raising a tent , digging an igloo , building a platform up a tree . Dropping down exhausted without shelter could bring new meaning to the expression ‘ dead tired , . ‘ Food , ’’ Doone read out .
Idiom: old hat (used idiomatically: yes)
Here Robert Gore - Langton assesses the field and picks next century 's big names By ROBERT GORE - LANGton BEING young and talented in the theatre is old hat . Peter Hall and Trevor Nunn made their reputations within a few years of leaving Cambridge . The glam young directors who surfaced in the 1980s are already part of the scenery .
Idiom: make the cut (used idiomatically: no)
‘ So you were glad,’ said Rachaela , ‘ when Terry Porter cut himself.’ Ruth said nothing . ‘ Why did you make the cut worse ? To scare him?’ Ruth drew on .