Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: in the red (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ I have no father or mother , brothers or sisters,’ I began . ‘ But you have a kind aunt and cousins.’ ‘ But John Reed knocked me down and my aunt locked me in the red room,’ I cried . There was a pause . ‘ Do n't you like living at Gateshead , in such a beautiful house?’ he asked .
Idiom: old hat (used idiomatically: yes)
The royal wedding is creating little media frenzy around the world . In America , the big four organisations — ABC , NBC , CBS and CNN — are not even sending their London - based crews to Scotland . Meanwhile , fashion pundits were speculating last night that although Anne is likely to splash out on a new outfit , she will be wearing an old hat when she walks up the aisle . Her personal milliner John Boyd , who has been making hats for the princess since she was 16 , said : ‘ She already has such a collection of hats that she does n't need anything new for this occasion.’ The Princess Royal has around 10 hats made each year which means she must have at least 260 to choose from by now .
Idiom: turn someone's head (used idiomatically: yes)
Cats have good night vision but ca n't see colour very well . They can spot moving objects better than still ones . Goldfish ca n't turn their heads around but their slightly bulging eyes give them a wide field of vision . They have no eyelids . Flies can see in all directions at once because they have large eyes with thousands of lenses .
Idiom: stand the test of time (used idiomatically: yes)
I welcome this book on two major counts : first , because it succeeds in what should be the aim of every author , that is to educate and entertain , and secondly because it has been written by a very knowledgeable person who genuinely cares for his dogs , has bred a consistent type for many years and has put as much into the ‘ dog game’ as he has taken out . One must appreciate that with the passing of time all things progress ; what may have been of considerable interest to one generation may not be to the next . This book will , however , stand the test of time . In a few instances as might be expected , opinions differ on certain aspects . I leave it to the readers to draw their own conclusions intelligently .
Idiom: body blow (used idiomatically: yes)
Concessions from the Unionists were necessary to enable Lemass to sell the new arrangements to public opinion in the south . But this strategy might not work out as the British government hoped ; the resultant ‘ unfreezing [ could]release the political energies of the people’ , and it could lead to a situation in which Protestant workers were weaned away from Orangeism and united with their Catholic fellow workers in the Labour movement : How can Unionism possibly survive when Protestant and Catholic are no longer at each other 's throats , when discrimination has been dealt a body - blow ? … This is the most progressive outcome to the present situation … the destruction of the machinery of discrimination … the unfreezing of bigotry … the achievement of the utmost degree of civil liberties possible , freedom of political action , an end to the bitterness of social life and the divisions among the people fostered by the Unionists … They would permanently weaken the basis of Unionism , and towards these objectives the energies of the progressive people in the North should be bent in the coming months .
Idiom: rough and ready (used idiomatically: yes)
Three Ships ends well , I 'm not quite sure on that , but the order is n't , I mean the order 's just a sort Oh no , the it 's of rough and ready one , the order 's got to be hammered out . . I would have thought you needed a nice oomph at the end .
Idiom: in the long term (used idiomatically: yes)
Sam 's twist on semantics is repeated by Pippin . He describes Fangorn and the last march of the Ents : was it ' fruitless ' ? Evidently not , in the short term , but in the long term Fangorn knows his race and story are sterile . The realisation makes him , according to Pippin , ' sad but not unhappy ' , and to modern English semantics the phrase makes almost no sense , like hopeless cheer . However an early meaning of ' sad ' is ' settled , determined ' ; ' cheer'comes from Old French chair , ' face ' .
Idiom: second nature (used idiomatically: yes)
I mentioned this to no one for two practical reasons : one was that I loathed swimming , and if I pretended that I was still menstruating , signing the little red book every four weeks , I should be able to evade an unpleasant experience for at least one week out of four ; the other was that I feared further reprisals might be taken against me . It was easy enough to deposit the unused sanitary towels in the school dustbins during my nocturnal wanderings . But the main reason for my silence was that secrecy and deception had by then become second nature to me . I did n't want my periods to start again . That I had managed to stop them was a major achievement on my part .
Idiom: catch someone's eye (used idiomatically: yes)
Mr. Martin M. Brandon - Bravo ( Nottingham , South ) I was delighted that the Gracious Speech contained provisions for both the major Bills dealing with local authority functions , management and finance . I hope that I will catch your eye , Madam Deputy Speaker , on Second Reading of at least one of those Bills . I am delighted that we can refer broadly in this debate to those Bills . All too frequently , Conservative Members are wrongly accused of being anti - local authorities .
Idiom: get to grips with (used idiomatically: yes)
This was particularly the case amongst many of the female students , several of whom expressed anxiety about handling machinery or breaking expensive equipment ( unlike Paul , who was able to make jokes about it ) : As far as lab work went , I always felt very intimidated because I 'd never touched anything more technical than a hairdryer , and all these boys around me were confidently plugging in their oscilloscopes , because I mean , I suppose they had their train sets and that sort of thing , and I was very scared to plug things in , in case they blew up . Others felt frustrated by their inability to get to grips with the lab work : I always seem to get the wrong results even though I 'm working as hard as possible . The real problem was that many students felt unable to ask for help when they were in difficulty .
Idiom: take a bath (used idiomatically: yes)
Leonora Buckmaster was ten years younger than her husband . A slim blonde creature , she wore a Valentino black and white dress . Her husband gave her a hug and hurried inside , saying he was going to take a quick bath , then he 'd be down for drinks . ' A drink in the library for you , Gareth ? ' she enquired . He pecked her on the cheek .
Idiom: first up (used idiomatically: yes)
The most obvious person to take it out on is your boyfriend , and so I settled for that . We set off at a rattling rate , presumably to put some distance between us and the dozens of others still ponderously selecting items of clothing from their car boots , and I commenced my belligerence with a few barbed remarks about the pace - setting . We were the first up the hill and had to break a path , so although a summer walk up Schiehallion is simple and quick to the point of disappointment , winter is a trifle harder . An odd aspect of the mountain is that although its relative isolation from other hills makes it one of the most prominent peaks to pick out from other far distant tops , the views are rather more limited than one might expect . In summer a combination of that , plus a huge ugly path eroded deep into the hillside could make a Munroist 's heart sink .
Idiom: run amok (used idiomatically: yes)
If A Hard Heart is unintentionally comic , though , it did remind me of other people 's genuinely amusing lines . When Queen Praxis tells Riddler , ‘ You are so adamantine and impermeable,’ I could hear W C Fields sweetly explaining , ‘ I was only fooling and pretending.’ When Seemore declares that his fingers ‘ want to run amok in all your garments,’ he irresistibly brought to mind Franchot Tone sighing to Jean Harlow , ‘ I want to run barefoot through your hair.’ And , when a guard protests to Riddler that , ‘ without the temple , we are practically without our wits,’ who would not recall Dorothy Parker 's question , on learning that Calvin Coolidge was dead : ‘ How could they tell?’ THE POCKET DREAM , by Elly Brewer and Sandi Toksvig , is a TV sketch of no freshness or wit extended for a few hours , like a sausage that is half cereal and half donkey meat .
Idiom: on the game (used idiomatically: no)
PRINCE OF PERSIA ( GB £24.99 and GG £27.99 ) : Again top marks for the excellent hand-held conversion of this outstanding game . SUPER KICK OFF ( GG , £24.99 ) : Frantic footy action in top mini-vision . It 's another first-rate conversion that works a treat on the Game Gear . PCs INDIANA JONES AND THE FATE OF ATLANTIS , £37.99 : Excellent Lucasfilm graphic adventure with you as Indy pitting your wits against the Nazis .
Idiom: from pillar to post (used idiomatically: no)
Lesley Meall The first portable launched almost a decade ago was the size and weight of a sewing machine , and was termed ‘ luggable’ . Even so , many an intrepid user carted one from pillar to post while keeping an eye out for a mains socket . Some still do . Soon after , advances in microprocessors brought the laptop .
Idiom: home and dry (used idiomatically: no)
When you have received an Offer of Mortgage , to enable a bid up to a maximum agreed limit , a further visit to the property should be made near to the date of Auction , to ensure that everything is in order . Your solicitor or estate agent could also be asked to carry out bidding on your behalf as an Auction saleroom can be a tense and nerve - racking place to the unfamiliar . HOME AND DRY AND HOW TO STAY THAT WAY Congratulations ! You 've braved the jungle .
Idiom: ring a bell (used idiomatically: yes)
We stepped off the plane into warm balmy air , happy to be back amongst the many English and Maltese friends we have made here . Our flat is in the small village of Attard , just 4 miles from the sea and we are well integrated into the local community . One becomes accustomed to constantly ringing church bells and clocks — our local church clock chimes up to six , then at 7 o'clock it begins again , requiring a mathematical feat to work out the correct time . We have had many laughs during our travels and our domestic life here . On one flight from England , carrying some of our personal possessions , bells started ringing at the Customs Desk — and my carving knife was temporarily confiscated in case I attempted to hijack the plane !
Idiom: to boot (used idiomatically: no)
But they were cut from the programme after it overran by 10 minutes . Bike bite POLICE in Hampshire are to issue on - the - spot fines to motorists who carry bikes fixed to their car boots and obscure the number plate of the vehicle . Court date A 43-year - old man was due today to appear before Leeds magistrates charged in connection with the rape of a 71year - old widow at her home in the city 's Hawksworth district on Saturday night .
Idiom: as a rule (used idiomatically: yes)
Two or three thousand at a time turned out to salute their leaders in the military unison of the raised arm and the clenched fist . Black House , as the Chelsea headquarters in the King 's Road became known , had uniformed sentries at its doors , for all the world as if the private army was ready for the great coup . Even at the beginning of 1934 the anti - Semitism of the British Union of Fascists was not as a rule overt . For this reason , it was still possible to raise money by donations from big business . The BUF set up the January Club , a social and intellectual front whose members did not have to be Fascist and who were addressed by Joyce in his calmer tones .
Idiom: face to face (used idiomatically: yes)
We have to communicate : we have a need to be acknowledged by the other . Perhaps because horses are relatively large , and therefore hard to ignore , people tend to behave in the same way in the presence of a horse . When we come face to face with a horse we often feel a need or pressure to do something . So we pat it . And patting the horse , even if it completely ignores us , releases our tension .
Idiom: spill the beans (used idiomatically: yes)
from over there . Better name for him than that but I wo n't say . What 's that , come on , spill the beans look at his face Yeah
Idiom: out of the woods (used idiomatically: yes)
But the even greater crisis , so brutally illustrated by the closeness of the vote , is over John Major 's leadership . When Mr Major learned the result , he acted as if he had seen Chelsea win the Cup rather than his own MPs come so close to humiliating him . He is not yet out of the woods . Not by a long shot . And if he thinks he is , it would be a fatally stupid misreading of last night 's result .
Idiom: over my dead body (used idiomatically: yes)
Her mother opened the door and took her in her arms , still in her thin nightclothes , and screaming . She still barred the way so the social workers could not get to her younger daughter . ‘ You 're not taking my children — over my dead body — there 's no way I can allow you to take my children’ she shouted . She was told they had a warrant and there was nothing she could do about it . The older girl cried ‘ Do n't let them take me , Mummy,’ and they stood together on the doorstep for several minutes , until a policeman gently reminded Mrs B that her daughter was getting cold in the dreary February morning .
Idiom: make a killing (used idiomatically: yes)
White beaked dolphins and three rare and protected northern bottlenosed whales were also killed in this year . In 1989 the reported kill figures were 735 pilot whales and 2 rare bottlenose whales . However , the Faroese government has just committed US$300,000 towards the improvement of two of its main whaling bays — to make whale killing easier . Until the 1980s the killing of 2000 or so pilot whales each year in the Faroe Islands was considered to be of far less significance than the slaughter of tens of thousands of the much rarer great whale species . After the ban on commercial whaling , however , the IWC is now turning its attention to other species , and international concern is focusing on the Faroes .
Idiom: make someone's day (used idiomatically: yes)
Invitations had been extended . Although Robert might not know the beau monde here , Lionel did . Enough of them to make their days and evenings full of distraction . Jewellery sparkled , all about the salle . Her own — so newly hers — shone from her head , her neck , fingers , arms .
Idiom: settle a score (used idiomatically: no)
The rebel soldiers were imprisoned and taken to Lisbon . The Revolution of 25 April 1974 was greeted enthusiastically in Madeira . There was a period of unrest and excessive zeal , of settling old scores and family feuds — all very mild , really . Some people left the island quickly in chartered planes to Brazil . Some have since returned and lead quiet lives .
Idiom: by and large (used idiomatically: yes)
The directive says that member states shall return ‘ cultural objects’ which have been unlawfully removed from the territory of another member state . It lays down definitions of what is a cultural object in terms of age and a value threshold . It also says that it has to be a ‘ national treasure under national legislation in the context of Article 36 of the Treaty’ , thus by and large respecting each country 's right to define a national treasure as it pleases . The directive also applies to objects not returned at the end of a lawful temporary export . It sets up a committee to advise the Commission on any revision of the criteria and enjoins member states to co - operate in seeking any illegally exported cultural object and in assisting in its return .
Idiom: make the grade (used idiomatically: yes)
But if he can leave all this behind , and wearing only ordinary casual clothes still keep up his peers ' belief in him , then the Town Boys are likely to accept him . Not only will he be accepted on the terraces but also as a drinking partner in the local pubs . Similarly , other Rowdies who have been shown to have given long service through organizing or chant leading might also have a chance of making the grade . Membership of the Town Boys represents the last promotion in the career of the football fan at Oxford and only the most committed are eligible . Having got this far they can rest on their laurels for as long as they wish .
Idiom: all along (used idiomatically: yes)
Typically , the Queen was reluctant to abandon or postpone her journey , but the then Home Secretary ( Sir William Harcourt ) , though feeling it might be a hoax , sought the advice of Sir George Findlay , LNWR General Manager . ‘ Tell Her Majesty’ he replied ‘ she may travel in perfect security , and I will answer for her safety . He then mobilised , with the co - operation of the other companies concerned , an army of platelayers and other company servants who were deployed within sight of one another , all along the 600 miles of railway between Windsor and Ballater ; every yard of the route was narrowly inspected , and every bridge , viaduct , tunnel , and level crossing was closely watched and guarded until the train had passed . In early 1985 , work started at Wolverton on two new Royal Vehicles built on MKIII underframes ; in answer to a question in Parliament in April of 1985 , Mr David Mitchell , Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport , stated ‘ Most of the existing fleet is old , and several vehicles contain asbestos . I have accordingly approved British Rail 's proposal for a programme of modernisation .
Idiom: from the word go (used idiomatically: yes)
A handful of poxy tents sold greasy lentil pilaf to the worst kind of industry lackey . Out front , it was even worse . From the word go the crowd ( badly dressed , smelly , blank - faced and radiating tragedy ) greeted the bands with abuse and bottles of cider which they had feverishly pissed in . There were some moments of grim humour . Both The Quireboys and Bonnie Tyler ( See !
Idiom: in the works (used idiomatically: yes)
Lazarsfeld 's own contribution lay in the study of voting choice and the studies on the effects of the mass media and , during the Second World War , collaborating on studies of Nazi propaganda and race relations , among others . These had a major impact in Britain and elsewhere and form the beginning of subsequent studies . Statistical analysis also developed apace making use of statistical theories which had their origins earlier in the century in the work of Pearson especially . Variable analysis welcomed , indeed required , an un- ashamed borrowing of regression and correlational statistics and , later , building these into causal models in which the weight of the effects of various variables could be determined . Of course , none of these developments took place overnight , but their growth to some maturity had much to do with the promise variable analysis held out that this was the route toward the scientific respectability of social research methods .
Idiom: come of age (used idiomatically: yes)
The image had been shattered . The virginal singer had , at least , lost her maidenhood on screen — and had loved every pulsating minute of it . Kylie had come of age and become a sensuous woman , just like Monroe , whom she had always loved being likened to . But what of those love - making scenes with Schlatter , the hunky 23-year - old New Jersey boy , much experienced in the art of film - making and a man of the world ? How had it felt for him ?
Idiom: on ice (used idiomatically: yes)
DUP Mid - Ulster MP William McCrea said Stormont minister Richard Needham called the Provos ‘ Fascist beasts’ . Yet the Government expected unionists to sit in the same council chamber with them . PETER Brooke , right , keeps internment option on ice , despite pleas from unionist MPs , including Ken Maginnis , above Baker wins a thriller to stay in race BOWLS
Idiom: call it quits (used idiomatically: yes)
FOR the first time in 15 years Jim Reilly will this afternoon be missing from Cavan 's championship side . The once great Cavan cross swords with Monaghan at Castleblayney , bidding to end a frustrating losing championship sequence . He said : ‘ You miss it coming up to the time , but I made up my mind some time ago to call it quits . ‘ The amount of travelling from my home in Dundalk to Cavan for training and matches was simply too much . They were the worst roads in the country and there was n't much enjoyment in it .
Idiom: seal of approval (used idiomatically: yes)
FILM thirtysomething produced by the Bedford Falls Company / MGM For once this is going to be a personal review , since I ca n't really stamp an official seal of NI approval on something which is so removed from our normal territory . I 'm also well aware that for all the people who take thirtysomething to their hearts , there are at least as many who ca n't abide it . For those who have n't yet encountered it , thirtysomething is a weekly US TV show which has reached the end of its second series .
Idiom: on the face of it (used idiomatically: yes)
Berowne 's resignation remained mysterious . Dalgliesh had already sent while at Bramshill for the reports of the inquests on Theresa Nolan and Diana Travers . On the face of it there was no cause for concern . Theresa Nolan , after having a medical termination on psychiatric grounds , had left a suicide note for her grandparents which they had confirmed was in her handwriting and which made her intention to kill herself plain beyond any doubt . And Diana Travers , after drinking and eating unwisely , had apparently herself dived into the Thames to swim out to her companions who were messing about in a punt .
Idiom: in tandem (used idiomatically: yes)
Greenpeace is deeply concerned that this development will lead to monopoly control over genetic resources and an even greater dependence on herbicides . Plant Genetic Systems , the company which is developing the herbicide - resistant crops , has made a deal with the Hoechst chemical company which gives the latter the right to exploit the patent on crops resistant to Basta , which is in fact one of Hoechst 's own products . Greenpeace says that farmers will thus be tied into an agricultural system dependent on chemicals by making it attractive for them to buy herbicides in tandem with resistant crops . There is also a danger that the engineered crops will transfer the gene that makes them resistant to wild plants via pollen , which would force farmers to use ever stronger herbicides , with serious implications for the environment . Independent 30 December
Idiom: see the light (used idiomatically: yes)
This may , or may not be true ; and true or not , it might not be a bad thing if many leading corporations were socialized , just to see if our needs were better served . But there is no hope of that occurring in the foreseeable future . Short of the holocaust , when everything will be blown away on the wind of oblivion , there is no reason to believe that we will see the lights going down on capitalism in our lifetime . Would it really be justifiable to turn away from such carnage and pillage ? Maybe liberal reformism is something to be contemplated today , even by those waiting patiently for the revolution tomorrow .
Idiom: go under the hammer (used idiomatically: yes)
We were spurred on by great support Programme fetches £ 500 A RARE 1966 World Cup Final programme autographed by the England team went under the hammer for £ 500 at an auction this weekend . A spokeswoman for Lacy Scott Auctioneers , off Risbygate Street , Bury St Edmunds , said the programme had been expected to fetch several hundred pounds . Bidding at the antiques and collectors items auction had been lively and the programme was bought by a man from Chelmsford , she said .