Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: win the day (used idiomatically: yes)
" She just went out of her way to get to know what was going on . " The staff were amazed at how quickly she grasped the various issues and was able to slot them into the incredible filing system of her memory . That , and the sheer magnetism of her personality , won the day . She had only been in office a fortnight when she gave a lecture on social services at the ICO . An officer who had worked on the social side for twenty years summed it up as " the most brilliant lecture on our social services I 'd ever heard in my life " .
Idiom: do the honours (used idiomatically: yes)
He gave me this . ' Sergei and I read the letter together . Dear Comrade Surkov , You are warmly invited to do me the honour of attending my forthcoming Inauguration in Washington DC , on 20 January 1989 , as 41st President of the United States , and to read your famous poem of international accord , ' Friendship ' . Cordially yours , Michael Dukakis . ' That 's wonderful ! ' said Rozanov .
Idiom: near the knuckle (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ Did not someone think of pinning that on him after his fall ? I wonder what was heaven 's response to Henry of Winchester when he achieved the bishopric ? Even I can think of some lines that would come too near the knuckle for his liking.’ ‘ I believe,’ said Cadfael , ‘ it was something from Matthew , concerning the latter days when false prophets would multiply among us . Something to the effect that if any man should claim : Here is Christ ! do not believe him .
Idiom: have a few (used idiomatically: yes)
Er they 'd help each other , if they were sick er well let 's say quite a lot were unemployed down there and there were always someone that , I 've seen men stand at top of yard and say , have you got a fag Jack ? He say , well I 've o I 've only got two and he 'd , he 'd break a Woodbine in half and they 'd have half each . And instead of having a few puffs and , and saving and throwing two dog ends away you did n't see that , they 'd just break it in half and have half each . Yeah . In what way ?
Idiom: rule of thumb (used idiomatically: yes)
Our estimate incoming elasticity , just the T ratio would you say . T ratio of one point four nine . Typically we use the rule of thumb to statistical significance so if we have a T ratio that 's less than two we can infer that that coefficient to which the T ratio is attached is not significantly zero . In actual fact our incoming elasticity there with er nought point six is statistically significant zero , eighty five percent confidence level .
Idiom: run riot (used idiomatically: yes)
Leonora restricted herself to the main tableland of the island , knowing perfectly well that Penry had her safety in mind in his veto of exploration on her own . She kept well away from the edge of the cliffs , perfectly happy to stay in the fields which displayed such fascinating evidence of Iron Age occupation . Excited to find she could just make out traces of narrow fields with dividing banks and walls , she ventured further towards a rounded mound which could well have been an Iron Age barrow , and just beyond it she found the standing stone , where she shivered pleasurably , her imagination running riot about the monolith 's precise function in the days when the settlement had been a live , thriving community . Leonora turned her back on the past , bracing herself against the wind as she walked briskly towards the spot where the cliff path began its decent to Seal Haven . Shading her eyes with a hand against the bright sunlight , she paused to watch the acrobatics of a troupe of black - backed screaming gulls , but the wind blew suddenly colder , tearing at her hair .
Idiom: high and low (used idiomatically: yes)
The butterfly spread can be reversed ( Fig . 7.1 0(b ) ) to cater for the investor who can not decide on the balance of his or her expectations . In this situation the investor purchases two calls at E M and writes two calls , one each at E H and E L . The net effect is to produce a loss if the share price does not move beyond the limits set by the high and low exercise prices but a small and limited profit if it does . Two similar profit - loss lines can be produced with what were earlier called combinations . These are the purchased and written straddles .
Idiom: at a stretch (used idiomatically: no)
The Donegal team started at a lightning pace and Billy Pearson scored the opener in the 10th minute after collecting a JP McGranaghan pass . Three minutes from the interval Lindsay McCorkell added number two as Pearson turned provider during a sweeping five man move . Twelve minutes from time Weir had the misfortune to turn a John Eggleston short corner drive into his own net after Raphoe keeper Davy Buchanan had been at full stretch . But within a minute Weir found his bearings to make it 3–1 from a Pearson cross before Willie Gibson cut the deficit with a late set piece strike . Antrim 2 East Antrim 0
Idiom: pull a face (used idiomatically: yes)
Well say . They wo n't , I was thinking about it , probably not . And do n't pull that funny face ! I 'm not pulling a funny face ! You got netball today Clare ?
Idiom: under the table (used idiomatically: yes)
He could have buried his face in it , seeking darkness , but she set her cool fingers on the back of his neck and his head seemed to clear . And she left him with a quick glance from her eyes , dark as an otter 's pelt , and a smile that was like a gift . A cold nose nuzzled his knee , and he reached under the table with a scrap of venison for Fife — or Drum , he was not sure which . The wolf took it from his hand as delicately as a cat , and licked his palm . He met Murtach 's eyes across the table , and the shape - shifter grinned like a gnome .
Idiom: hear things (used idiomatically: yes)
echo questions The transformation of statements into questions by a shift in intonation . In real life it is not unreasonable to expect that the learner may often hear things of which the meaning escapes him . The echo question is a technique of eliciting clarification or confirmation A He left an hour ago . B An hour ago ?
Idiom: behind closed doors (used idiomatically: no)
In October 1966 the Derry Young Republican Association held an open - air meeting to protest at the eviction of a family from a house in Creggan . It denounced the corporation 's housing record and claimed that ‘ Rachmanism [ is]rife in Derry’ . The Nationalist councillors , it declared , would be better taking up such issues than ‘ attending functions behind closed doors at which toasts to the Queen are drunk’ . During the same month the Young Republicans barricaded themselves into a house in Harvey Street to resist the eviction of a family that had been on the housing list for eighteen years . They left when they were assured that no eviction would take place until alternative accommodation had been found for the family .
Idiom: as the crow flies (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ I 'd hoped he 'd still be grazing that pasture there.’ He waved an arm at an empty green field with mist rising from the cropped grass . ‘ He was last year about now but Easter 's late , I had n't thought on , and he 'll not move down until Palm Sunday like as not , and if he 's still over on the mountain he 'll be up Three Valleys Pass and that 's an hour and a half of a walk for him , going as the crow flies , but longer for us in the jeep because there 's no direct road — and then to get at him we 'd have to take a cart track that 'll be more like a river bed after yesterday 's rain . The thing is , he 'll likely not move till Palm Sunday , I should have thought on — we 'll take the old road over to Demontis 's farm and come back here at six this evening when Piladu will be milking . His wife'll be back then which is just as well — she cleans for the factor 's wife over at ‘ Il Calltuccio’ in the mornings .
Idiom: in your face (used idiomatically: no)
‘ Oh , but you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears , Bury the rags deep in your face For now 's the time for your tears.’ ( from ‘ The Lonesome Death of Hattie Caroll’ , Bob Dylan )
Idiom: under the table (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ Possibly , but try and avoid unfortunate words , old chap . Here we are . It says … ,’ he held the fluttering sheet of foolscap firmly to the table, … we have to lie down against an inner wall — under the table if possible . Let 's do that . I 'll take the telephone with me.’
Idiom: jump through hoops (used idiomatically: yes)
Might a reawakening of voter anger be the ticket to rekindling interest in a carbon tax ? A carbon tax , long advocated by a broad spectrum of economists , is a generalized version of a gas tax that hits all forms of carbon emissions , including from coal and natural gas . In principle , one can create a “ cap - and - trade ” system of quantitative restrictions that accomplishes much the same thing – and this seems to be more palatable to politicians , who will jump through hoops to avoid using the word “ tax . ” But a carbon tax is far more transparent and potentially less prone to the pitfalls seen in international carbon - quota trading . A carbon tax can help preserve the atmosphere while also discouraging some of the most exotic and risky energy - exploration activities by making them unprofitable .
Idiom: under the table (used idiomatically: yes)
The blast shattered windows and caused the ceiling to collapse . None of the injuries was serious . Investigators say the bomb was left under a table at the fast food restaurant along Nevsky Prospekt , St. Petersburg 's main street . Authorities have not said if the attack was terrorist - related . A car bombing of a Moscow McDonald 's by Muslim extremists in 2002 killed one person and wounded seven .
Idiom: play games (used idiomatically: no)
Cordelia , like Coriolanus , is being forced into a ceremony in which she would have to be false to her own nature . Lear pretends to be offering a gift , but is in fact extorting a bribe . She refuses to play the game according to these rules , professing ' Nothing . As we experience Act I , Scene i , of King Lear for the first time , it may not be easy to see that Cordelia is right , the others wrong . By the time we reach the end of the scene we see that this is how it is , for the fulsome praisers of their father put aside their hypocrisy and , left alone with each other , and with us , reveal their true nature , moving down from inflated verse to coldly pragmatic prose : They are not only cold and censorious —'unruly waywardness … infirm and choleric years … unconstant starts ' — but end by planning some form of counteraction : ' We shall further think on it ' —'We must do something , and i ' th ' heat ' ( 307f . ) .
Idiom: turn tail (used idiomatically: yes)
Then the woman smiled , and it changed her face completely . ‘ Dear Luke,’ she said fondly , and , still standing on the doorstep , plucked at the card . Folly turned tail and almost ran away . There were a few more genuine orders to deliver . But Folly hardly noticed their faces , even though it was normally one of the highlights of the job to see other people 's pleasure .
Idiom: go to seed (used idiomatically: no)
He laughed . " In the circumstances I felt that you would prefer me to make some money . " He was a big man , probably not yet fifty , though going a little to seed . He was not actually wearing morning dress , but gave the impression that he was , with impeccably creased trousers , a jacket cut rather long , and a dark red carnation in his buttonhole . His hair was almost black , without a trace of grey , and he had one of those smooth , delicately bluish chins , which suggest the use of expensive after - shave preparations on a virile male skin .
Idiom: rough edges (used idiomatically: yes)
This is not to say that all criticism is unjustified . There are good Conventions and bad Conventions . The good ones are those which , for all their rough edges , are found to work and are widely used . The bad ones do not work and are rightly neglected . The Geneva Convention on Bills of Exchange is an example of an excellent Convention which has functioned extremely effectively and has been widely adopted .
Idiom: go downhill (used idiomatically: yes)
Eight of their first 10 concerts were in Leeds but a rare excursion saw them appear at the Old Bell pub in Derby . Only 11 people turned up but the football team - sized audience asked for an encore and Charman summed it up as ‘ Good.’ ‘ The gigs went downhill very fast,’ he recalls . ‘ We played all sorts of really funny ones , just little ones . It was the four - people - and - a - dog type of crowd.’
Idiom: to say the least (used idiomatically: yes)
And yet the same policymakers believe that the rest of the world should bail out the eurozone . When it suits them , the euro is no longer the currency of a highly successful and integrated economy , but a currency shared by a collection of sovereign creditor and debtor countries , and the IMF thus has a responsibility to support the debtor members . That is an odd position to take , to say the least . Imagine that the US federal government decided that it no longer wanted to support Mississippi and demanded support for that poor southern state from the IMF . The rest of the world – led by the eurozone governments – would rightly turn their backs .
Idiom: take someone's word for it (used idiomatically: yes)
That annoyed her . Lisa 's blue eyes flashed at him indignantly . ‘ It may seem so to you , but you can take my word for it , if I were in the business of prowling around car parks looking for innocent Bentleys to wreck , I most certainly would n't use my own car as a battering - ram . I 'm far too fond of it for that . What I 'd do is keep a handy sledge - hammer in the boot!’
Idiom: in the black (used idiomatically: yes)
The professionalism of the Madeiran hotel and restaurant workers has certainly something to do with the high standard of hotels and restaurants to be found in Jersey . In fact , there are few corners of the world where Madeirans are not to be found : from Alaska to Australia , from California to Macau . In Madeira , to stand behind a little old peasant lady , dressed in black , in the bank cashing her cheques from family worldwide is quite an experience . She is an expert in exchange rates , with her cheques in many different currency denominations . She may not be able to read or write but she can convert dollars , francs , rand , etc into escudos !
Idiom: join the club (used idiomatically: yes)
All this is very abstract , so let us take a specific example by considering the significance of the pangolin for the Lele . The pangolin or scaly ant - eater , an animal rather like a hedgehog with a tail , is ritually dangerous to Lele women ; but it is also the object of a male cult ( notice again the sexual axis ) . Lele men who have produced sons and daughters are allowed to join the pangolin club , whose rituals concentrate upon fertility and success in hunting . Why is the pangolin dangerous to women , and why is it associated with a male fertility cult ? Lele describe the animal as follows : ' In our forest there is an animal with the body and tail of a fish , covered in scales .
Idiom: have a heart (used idiomatically: no)
I have been preparing myself to tell you all my mind . I will be your judge and put home questions to you , and sometimes you shall be mine and at last pronounce sentence upon me . BELVILLE : [ excited by her cold unapproachable manner ] Dear charmer of my heart , what a new Pamela have I in my arms . Let us instantly go to my closet or yours and come upon our mutual trial for you have fired by soul with impatience . PAMELA : [ moving behind the line of chairs ] Here is the bar at which I am to take my trial .
Idiom: every last (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ Which you will , when I 've had the truth.’ Her face set , she struggled into a sitting position . Deliberately ignoring him , she began to pick straw out of her clothes , and only when she was satisfied that she had removed every last one , and had taken in all there was to take in about her immediate surroundings , did she look up at him . ‘ What truth would you like?’ she asked nicely . ‘ The truth about why you came .
Idiom: tell tales (used idiomatically: yes)
Pigs can fly Three little piggies learn the facts of life . Debbie Taylor tells a tale with a twist . Once upon a time there were three little piggies . Bright - eyed and curly - tailed they were .
Idiom: at the end of the day (used idiomatically: no)
' He ( God ) needs those who join in the holiday and the dance , that they may applaud , and glorify , and sing hymns of praise about the festival . God has no need of a fault finding spectator . ' At the end of our days let us be able to say that we have tasted life and found joy in it ; that our enthusiasm never waned but increased throughout life and that we regret nothing : When I go from hence let this be my parting word , that what I have seen is unsurpassable . I have tasted of the hidden honey of this lotus that expands on the ocean of light , and thus am I blessed — let this be my parting word .
Idiom: all things being equal (used idiomatically: yes)
According to s.6 , as amended by the FSA 1986 , the practice of price stabilisation ( ie . trading activities geared towards stabilising share prices , especially in the first few months of an issue ) , if done in conformity with the rules made under s.48 of the FSA 1986 , can take place despite the fact that such activities would ordinarily be in breach of the insider dealing prohibitions . The point to note about the above defences is that if they are given a wide construction by the courts ( and it is too soon to tell , as too few cases have been brought ) , then the risk of prosecution diminishes even further . All other things being equal , this increases the incentive to breach Chinese Walls and trade illegally on the basis of inside information . Penalties Contravention of ss.1 , 2 , 4 , or 5 of the CSA 1985 makes an individual liable to criminal penalty .
Idiom: go overboard (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ He was n't much good as an audience . He would shuffle around in his seat and then be highly critical , but he always knew what was going on . On the other hand , talk to him about a book — like one that Gordon Jackson lent him — and he would go overboard about it.’ With a good book , Ken could be alone . In a theatre he frequently took refuge in a lavatory — not to solve his omnipresent bowel problems necessarily but to escape from autograph - hunters .
Idiom: at the end of the day (used idiomatically: yes)
F 1 : There are two forms of justification , inferential and non - inferential . But there is another characteristic strand to foundationalism , that of empiricism . Foundationalism , viewed quite generally ( though here we must exclude Wittgenstein ) , can be seen as the expression of the empiricist thought that verification and justification , telling whether something is true and backing up one 's claims about what is true , must rely eventually upon the evidence of one 's senses ; not in the first instance , maybe , but at the end of the day . What else could we appeal to , to tell us whether something is true , than the evidence of our senses ? This is a good sound empiricist question .
Idiom: over the hill (used idiomatically: yes)
As in Alborne eleven , Athletico none . Clutton Town nine , Athletico none , etc . etc . O = OVER THE HILL When a manager is faced with no financial resources he has to look for youth or experience to fill out his squad . Many ex - professionals prefer to open pubs or manage Swindon Town rather than to ease themselves into retirement by playing non - League football .
Idiom: jump the queue (used idiomatically: yes)
Bryan , who was pictured sunbathing with a topless Fergie earlier this year , called a mutual friend to get the number of the five - star Walserhoff . Bryan wanted to join the duchess , but it is understood that her father Major Ronald Ferguson — who is in Klosters — bluntly told her it would be a ' bad mistake ' . The duchess caused more ill - feeling and was jeered when she jumped hour - long queues on the slopes . Gift for needy A MOTHER of four who could afford only one present for each of her children and nothing for herself has won £ 660,000 .
Idiom: light at the end of the tunnel (used idiomatically: yes)
Investors are talking of “ green shoots ” of recovery and of positive “ second derivatives of economic activity ” ( continuing economic contraction is the first , negative , derivative , but the slower rate suggests that the bottom is near ) . As a result , stock ~ markets have started to rally in the US and around the world . Markets seem to believe that there is light at the end of the tunnel for the economy and for the battered profits of corporations and financial firms . This consensus optimism is , I believe , not supported by the facts . Indeed , I expect that while the rate of US contraction will slow from -6 % in the last two quarters , US growth will still be negative ( around - 1.5 to -2 % ) in the second half of the year ( compared to the bullish consensus of + 2 % ) .
Idiom: thick and fast (used idiomatically: no)
And it happened towards the end of a lunch or dinner . ‘ We always started seriously , usually discussing Louisa and perhaps her problems with her legs which stopped her doing her old - time dancing.’ Then the mood would grow mellow and the bum stories would come thick and fast . Once , during the shooting of Carry On Regardless , Ken was supposed to be at the Ideal Home Exhibition . He fell off some scaffolding and had to be taken to the studio surgery .
Idiom: shoot from the hip (used idiomatically: yes)
If the encyclopaedia has a weakness it is that it sits on the fence on controversial issues . That 's not a criticism you could level at Language — the loaded weapon by Dwight Bolinger ( Longman , 1980 ) . Bolinger , a Harvard Professor shoots from the hip . His ostensible targets are the ‘ shamans’ , the TV and magazine pundits who lament any change in the way language is used . But many other speakers and writers stray into the firing line .
Idiom: open someone's eyes (used idiomatically: yes)
The juggernaut bucked and the poet held on to the side to prevent himself being thrown around . He momentarily closed his eyes . It was difficult to tell the passage of time , but when Blake opened his eyes they appeared to be within reach of the rising smoke . He must have been asleep for hours . He looked behind and saw the desert stretched out .
Idiom: under the rose (used idiomatically: yes)
Old roses do mix much better , the Albas , Centifolias , Bourbons and Gallicas are happy in a mixed throng , but the H.T.s and H.T. -type Floribundas are more formal in carriage , and need a more formal setting . Underplanting is another association with other plants that has its problems . I do not think that there can be any combination that we did not try during my time in the parks , and the only thing that did not look positively awful were the short growing , pale , less intense blues of violas and lobelia under pink and red roses — other colours and growing heights were invariably a tasteless rag - bag . Even these plants are difficult , because there is the practical problem of keeping the soil surface hoed loose and open with underplanting in position , and mulching becomes quite impossible . By all means try underplanting if you prefer , but without question bulbs of any kind should not be grown under roses .
Idiom: out and about (used idiomatically: yes)
Cos you know she usually do if I have n't been round for a while she 'll say oh what 's the matter , have I done something wrong or why you have n't been round or Perhaps she thinks well it 's too far to come . She ca n't help it see can she ? And she ca n't get out and about with all them kids can she ? I suppose she got , no she 's only got the one home , her little baby ai n't she the , well he is n't a baby now . She got three home has n't she .