Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: hear things (used idiomatically: yes)
When staying one Long Vacation at a friend 's place , ' at Hom Lacey in Herefordshire ' , he happened to leave his watch on the window - sill of his chamber . According to Aubrey , The maydes came in to make the bed , and hearing a thing in a case cry Tick , Tick , Tick , presently concluded that it was his Devill , and took it by the string with the tongues , and threw it out of the windowe into the mote ( to drown the Devill ) . It so happened that the string hung on a sprig of an elder that grew out of the mote , and this confirmed them that ' twas the Devill . [ Consequently ] , the good old gentleman got his watch back .
Idiom: game on (used idiomatically: yes)
The Kings Quest series is basically set in the mythical kingdom of Daventry , and revolves around the adventures of King Graham , his family and subjects . All the adventures have a strong ‘ fairy story’ feel and have varied enormously in graphic standard and level of difficulty . They do however share one thing in common , they are all quality products , and have always been high in the list of best selling computer games on all hardware formats . The story so far … 1984 — Kings Quest I : Quest for the Crown
Idiom: play games (used idiomatically: yes)
and er is it too late for Bob 's computer for Grant Bobby ? I do n't know . Do you want to play computer game ? Yes ! Leave it up to you .
Idiom: give and take (used idiomatically: no)
In years to come , the children will be faced with the reality that their first photo session showed them crinkle-faced , bawling , yawning or just bored . But they will always be cuties to their mums — and Hello ! readers . Here Jackie Annesley takes a look at the magazine 's preoccupation with tiny tots and gives some of this year 's best examples an ‘ ooh , aah ’ rating on the TODAY gushometer seen alongside their snapshots . MARCH 19 ISSUE NAME:Billie , adopted daughter of Lenny Henry and Dawn French .
Idiom: have a few (used idiomatically: yes)
At least two B.subtilis promoters , however , have been shown to form stable open complexes with σ A -RNA polymerase , namely the φ29 C2 promoter ( named G2 in ref . 39 ) , and the veg promoter ( 11 ) . The presence of the first two initiating NTPs could stabilize , at least to a partial extent , open complexes formed at the φ29 A2b and A3 promoters ( this work ) and at the φ29 C1 promoter ( 39 ) . In the case of the tms and citB promoters , however , stable complexes were not detected until the nascent RNA had a few more nucleotides ( 11 ) . Although the experimental approach used in each case was different , it is likely that the precise stage at which σ A -RNA polymerase forms a stable complex is different in each promoter . Considering that σ A -RNA polymerase can also form stable open complexes at some promoters , it seems that no general rule can be easily established , and that the characteristics of the different complexes should be expected to be a particular feature of each promoter .
Idiom: come of age (used idiomatically: yes)
It believes the award will give its distributors and installers competitive advantage in a marketplace where quality is very important . ITED skills training gets green light THE ITED approach to training comes of age this year as it goes fully operational after two years of pilot schemes . ITED — Integrated Training , Education and Development — is a tool that encourages individuals to create structured learning and development activities closely focused on improving both their performance and that of their business . It works by identifying the key skill gaps and providing a structured approach to the delivery of the training .
Idiom: come to a head (used idiomatically: yes)
The taxi bill arose after he opened an account for Nalgo with Mersey Cabs without authorisation and used it for his own personal use as well as official business . Mr Georges said that mobile phone calls Gavin made included many to race lines . Matters came to a head after relatives of the deceased employees did not receive the expected death benefits even though the insurance company had paid out the cheques to the fund . Gavin repeatedly tried to fob them off and one family had still not been paid . £ 231 fine for car tax fraud
Idiom: on a roll (used idiomatically: no)
He also got on well with the justices of the Jews and may for a brief period have enjoyed some sort of official position in the Exchequer of the Jews . There may have been a more sinister side to this friendly relationship with the justices of the Jews . Shortly after his death it was alleged that they had co - operated with him in altering entries on their own plea rolls at his house . These entries related to royal debts assigned to Elijah by way of compensation for debts pardoned by the Crown in favour of the abbey of Stratford , and the alterations allegedly had the effect of enriching Elijah at the Crown 's expense . These allegations led to the dismissal and disgrace of the two justices concerned ( Hamon Hauteyn and Robert of Ludham ) .
Idiom: catch fire (used idiomatically: no)
It overturned in the fast lane on the twin - track road on the other side of Stowerton . Their home was in London and Fanshawe must have been in a hurry . God knows how it happened , there was n't another thing on the road , but the Jag overturned and caught fire . Mrs Fanshawe was flung clear , the other two killed outright . Badly burned too.’
Idiom: bear fruit (used idiomatically: no)
Within two or three years these vines are ready for provignage or layering . In the late autumn or early winter one or two two - year - old shoots from each ‘ mother’ vine are buried six to eight inches deep , leaving the one - year - old shoots for production the following year . Suckers from the buried two - year - old shoots develop roots and within two years a ‘ new’ vine is bearing fruit . There are two variations of this system : Provignage à l'avance where progress forward is by one shoot per vine : and Provignage à l'ecart , a form of deflected layering where two or more canes progress forward . When a vine is five years old it is rested for a while before the practice of provignage is resumed , after which the layering process may continue for upwards of fifty years .
Idiom: time will tell (used idiomatically: yes)
Commitment and firm action are necessary in order to improve the standard of financial accountability in the public sector . Historically there has been too much reliance on ex post financial accountability in the form of audit reports and ad hoc investigations . Many of the developments outlined in succeeding chapters are relatively new , and only time will tell whether politicians , management and the public at large are , as a result , better informed on the activities of government . It is one thing to recognize the present weaknesses in financial accountability ; it is another to devote time , money and effort to remedying these defects . A major ( and fundamental ) reform of public sector accountability is long overdue and needs to start from the top down ; that is , with constitutional accountability .
Idiom: part of the furniture (used idiomatically: no)
These traditions are not readily associated with the same God as those of Near Eastern origin . Some forms of Buddhism appear to deny belief in the existence of any god , whilst Hinduism is often associated with belief in several gods ( polytheism ) . Moreover these gods are said to be more part of the world 's spiritual furniture than transcendent of it — perhaps more like the saints in Catholic tradition . It is also said that Hinduism believes in an impersonal rather than a personal Deity . In the case of the Near Eastern traditions I talked of images which compared God to a guide or shepherd or mother eagle or father , all of them personal ( or at least animate ) metaphors .
Idiom: come to grief (used idiomatically: yes)
Today , the USS Arizona and USS Utah still lay where they were sunk , as a lasting memorial to the servicemen who died on December 7 , 1941 . The Remarkable F4U Corsair ( Cord Video , 64 mins , colour / b&w , £ 16.95 ) is the story of Chance Vought 's famous bent - wing bird . Starting with a look back at early aircraft carrier landings , with a fair amount of aircraft coming to grief , the film includes interviews with the likes of Boone Guyton , Corsair test pilot and Don Jordan , Pratt & Whitney engineer . These two personalities , along with several others put the viewer in the pilot 's seat of the large naval fighter , giving a taste of what the aircraft was like to fly and go to war in . Recent film of restored airworthy Corsairs in America is also included , but the main source of interest in this video is the combat footage which has all been taken from official US Navy film archives .
Idiom: lie through your teeth (used idiomatically: yes)
You approve of her flying off with her ex - lover?’ Ruth let out an explosive sound of disbelief . ‘ You , Fernando Serra , are either lying through your teeth , putting on a brave face or you have the same loose sort of arrangement with your mistress as you accused me of having with Steve.’ ‘ Or I have supreme confidence in myself that she will return to me,’ he told her smoothly . Somehow Ruth felt betrayed in more ways than one .
Idiom: change hands (used idiomatically: yes)
He whispered something into the ear of my dishevelled companion , who produced a bundle wrapped in old copies of Pravda . It was a large pineapple . Roubles changed hands . My companion winked at me . ‘ Are pineapples difficult to get in your country?’
Idiom: belt and braces (used idiomatically: yes)
So , I , I do n't see this is a great problem for the Thank you very much it 's not really and it 's a , it 's a belt and braces because if the other form of paramixa virus did come in , it would affect the poultry industry . But when we how cow pest in the county last ? Ten years ago ?
Idiom: on the house (used idiomatically: no)
Another is the use of currency ‘ hedging insurance’ which is provided by the forward foreign exchange market or by the foreign exchange options market . A few intermediaries offer this facility on a limited basis but forward foreign exchange markets and the currency futures options market are designed for big players and the smaller customer would neither be welcomed , nor would he , or she , easily know how to gain access to these markets . The only real insurance , so far as foreign currency mortgages are concerned , is to cover the foreign currency mortgage with income in the same currency , and also secure the loan on the house in the same currency . For example , someone buying a French property which is the security for a French franc mortgage , who obtains rental income in French francs to cover the cost of his borrowings can sleep reasonably easily at night . Those who take out foreign currency mortgages secured on their UK ( sterling based ) properties are not likely to because of the exchange rate risk .
Idiom: rough and ready (used idiomatically: yes)
On the geographical point , if a party is to secure a seat it must have the best part of a quota of votes after transfers at the end of the count . If however support is evenly spread throughout a country or province but is insufficient in any one constituency to reach this threshold , a party may achieve a small but respectable proportion of votes over all constituencies without securing a seat . Such disproportionalities are marginal however and rough and ready proportionality normally occurs . The object of the system is to give effect to the expressed preferences of voters in terms of their personal representatives in the Convention ( or any analogous body ) , and the detailed rules for the conduct of a count are carefully drawn to ensure this result . These rules include provision for the calculation of a quota of votes which if gained by a candidate will ensure election and this has the effect of producing in each constituency a result in seats which is as nearly proportional as possible to the opinions of the voters .
Idiom: follow suit (used idiomatically: yes)
They were co - ordinated with a soft undulating movement of the arms . Ashton thus created a special style fur a particular character which summed up — as it were— her whole being , but which would have been unsuitable for any other ballet . B Once Fokine had demonstrated that mimed dance and danced mime were the best materials to use in ballets where individual characters had to stand out from the rest of the cast , and particularly when true love did not run smoothly , other choreographers . followed suit . Although in some ways twentieth - century romantic ballets resemble those of the nineteenth century , they more often originate in a drama which supposedly takes place in the world of reality . Moreover they nearly always end in tragedy because the protagonists reach out in some way fur the unattainable .
Idiom: confirmed bachelor (used idiomatically: yes)
PP 35 . Pickwick , Samuel , founder and general chairman of the Pickwick Club ; a retired businessman and confirmed bachelor , with bald head and circular spectacles , dressed in old - fashioned tights and gaiters . He sets out with three members of the Club , Tupman , Snodgrass , and Winkle , to observe the world and record their adventures . These begin as pure comedy , but later Pickwick 's innocence and high sense of honour have to survive a breach of promise suit brought by the landlady of his Goswell Street lodgings , and imprisonment in the Fleet debtors ' prison .
Idiom: go to town (used idiomatically: yes)
I 'll put the heating on Rudy . Yeah . Well Viv is stopping in , you 're going to town . Viv 's going up town with you . Viv 's got the money .
Idiom: come to a head (used idiomatically: yes)
He had thus had achieved the greatest practicable measure of independence without squandering resources on strategic missile development . Naval fears of the financial burden of taking over the Nuclear Deterrent and its effect on the size and shape of the Fleet were allayed by the unification of the Ministry of Defence and the centralization of the Defence votes , which were being studied at the same time as the Skybolt / Polaris crisis was coming to a head . After appointing Thorneycroft as Secretary of State for Defence in July 1962 , Macmillan decided that the time was ripe to take a further step in the gradual process of integrating the management of the Services . The tri - Service commands in the Middle and Far East were working well , and so he tasked Thorneycroft to apply the same principles to the Service ministries in Whitehall .
Idiom: out of order (used idiomatically: yes)
Communication breakdown compounds suffering The death and destruction wrought by the cyclone which struck Bangladesh on 29 April was tragically compounded by the total breakdown of the country 's communication system . The Bangladesh National Council of Churches — long - time colleagues of the WACC — wrote that all telephones , telexes and cables were out of order for a week . Roads and railways disappeared under the flood waters , cutting off vital supplies of food , water and medicines . ‘ We may never know the exact number of deaths .
Idiom: one of those things (used idiomatically: yes)
You could do with one . Alright ? It 's one of those things that you could do with really . If you 've got a birthday or something coming up and if somebody wants to know what to buy you that 's what you want ! You want one of these scientific ones .
Idiom: no man's land (used idiomatically: yes)
However , the Israeli High Court eventually endorsed the action and , in the early hours of Dec. 18 , the Palestinians were driven to the northern edge of Israel 's self - declared " security zone " in southern Lebanon and forced north into Lebanese - controlled territory . Lebanon , which had accepted 66 Palestinian deportees since the start of the intifada in 1987 , on this occasion announced that it would refuse to co - operate . Acting on the orders of their government , Lebanese soldiers prevented the Palestinians from entering border villages and ordered them back into the strip of " no - man 's land " separating the " security zone " from Lebanon proper . The Palestinians , after applauding the actions of the Lebanese troops , set up shelters using tents provided by the International Committee of the Red Cross . On Dec. 21 Lebanese troops pushed the deportees further south , back towards the " security zone " .
Idiom: head south (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ Did you say Roy Albion , Mr. Malone?’ ‘ Just listen . Car number B302 EAM is on the A256 heading south from Ramsgate . A green Renault 18 , it has just rammed a car at the junction with A253 . I have good reason to believe the occupants are terrorists .
Idiom: dead in the water (used idiomatically: yes)
William Lukin set course to the south , arriving in the search area at 0330 to find that the Nimrod had successfully located the casualty and that the Army Air Corps helicopter was attempting to winch the survivors off . At the casualty the wind was still Force 8 to 9 with a rough sea now running more than 9 ft and with a large swell estimated at more than 30 ft . The casualty was lying beam - on to the swell , and dead in the water with no engine power , so the helicopter 's attempt to lift the survivors had so far been unsuccessful . At about 0335 , with the helicopter floodlighting the area , the lifeboat made an approach to the port side of the casualty . The manoeuvre was attempted five or six times but was not successful because of the violent motion of the casualty in the heavy swell .
Idiom: sell like hot cakes (used idiomatically: yes)
Miss Bonet , who has already had her own television comedy spin - off , A Different World , was previously married to rock musician Lenny Kravitz , 30 , who has recently produced an album for Vanessa Paradis . Miss Bonet and Mr Kravitz have a three - year - old daughter , Zoie . THE Osaka , the fashionable Japanese strain of ornamental cabbage , ‘ is selling like hot cakes,’ a London florist says . For £ 2.50 one can buy a pot plant that will grow to 2 ft in diameter . Herman Funke , of The Flower House , Brompton Road , tells me : ‘ The trend for the Ornamental Cabbage , Brassica Oleracea , is a very exciting thing .
Idiom: behind bars (used idiomatically: yes)
It 's going in the right direction . Voice over The new style regime gives prisoners a kind of freedom behind the bars . A freedom to take responsibility for their lives , even though society still holds the key to their final freedom . Anne Dawson
Idiom: touch and go (used idiomatically: yes)
' You mean , you were n't sure ? ! ' Roirbak smiled . ' Well , you know how touch - and - go this stuff is . ' Leila gasped and ran her hands over Ari 's face . The girl was lying passively , blinking and swallowing .
Idiom: in business (used idiomatically: yes)
In particular , CBI compared the number of companies increasing ( or planning to increase ) their R&D spending with those reducing it . Earlier studies by the confederation 's NatWest technology unit showed that , between 1989 and 1991 , the excess of those increasing R&D spending on the new products fell from 40 to 16 per cent . The downward trend was confirmed by figures released in January by the Central Statistical Office showing a 4 per cent drop in business spending on R&D between 1990 and 1991 . In sharp contrast , the returns for 1992 showed an excess of 42 per cent of companies were spending more rather than less on R&D — 9 per cent higher than had been anticipated on the basis of previous declaration by companies for their planned expenditure for the year . ( Figures for R&D on new processes showed a smaller increase , from a balance of 15 to 18 per cent ; among non - manufacturing companies , the balance of companies spending more on product R&D increased from 10 to 23 per cent .
Idiom: come to a head (used idiomatically: yes)
They had sought help from the marriage counsellor a little late in the day . Their marriage had been under strain for some years and they had never been brave enough to admit it to a third party . Recently matters had come to a head . Barry became involved with another woman . It had happened in a way he never expected .
Idiom: anything goes (used idiomatically: no)
They allow people with different areas of expertise to question the candidate more closely than one general interviewer . ( b ) They are collectively responsible for appointments , making it less likely that one person will be unreasonably held to blame if anything goes wrong . ( c ) They reveal how well the candidate performs in the company of a group of quite senior people .
Idiom: cut corners (used idiomatically: yes)
Poor weather since late July has frozen ice cream sales leaving it with large unsold stocks . TYRE SALES TAKE A SLIDE The recession is forcing hard-up motorists to cut corners on safety . So says Tom Farmer , boss of Kwik-Fit , Britain 's biggest car tyres and exhaust fitter . Sales have slumped which , he says , means ‘ there are a lot of cars out there using illegal tyres , ’
Idiom: all over the place (used idiomatically: yes)
Even from where Taff and I were on the road it was obvious that the dead soldiers were German . I wondered if the third soldier had made it back to his own lines . The field they were in had British as well as German mines sown all over the place . As Taff reported to Brigade H.Q I made my way into the orchard , made a mug of tea , had something to eat , got into my trench and immediately fell asleep . ‘ You bloody Pipers can certainly sleep .
Idiom: in business (used idiomatically: no)
But then came the Balkans crises of the 1990s , culminating in the realization that only American military power could put a stop to Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic ’s ethnic cleansing of Kosovo . And then came the terrorist attacks of September 11 , 2001 , making the “ out of area or out of business ” choice seem a no - brainer . So NATO remains in business , and in Afghanistan . But NATO ’s repeated demonstrations of resilience should not blind us to the fact that it no longer provides a healthy basis for the transatlantic security relationship . As long as NATO ’s raison d’être was to keep the Russians out and the United ~ States in , NATO ’s internal dynamic of American leadership and European obeisance was both inevitable and appropriate .
Idiom: rewrite history (used idiomatically: yes)
Executed May nineteen sixteen . Dear oh dear . The families of those shot at dawn , still hope that Ministers who say they wo n't rewrite history , may yet change their minds and give every victim of the great war , the same respect . Mike Donkin , B B C News , The Somme . And tonight 's main news again , an Irish terrorist Patrick Kelly , has been sent to prison for twenty five years for plotting a bomb attack in Central London and attempting to murder a policeman who stopped the lorry packed with explosives .
Idiom: in a fog (used idiomatically: no)
This woman , she was so vague , so blind . But she could surprise you with moments of sharpness . She was like a needle in long grass , a knife in fog . The next morning he wheeled his bike out of the barn and into the winter sunshine . Lumberjack lay panting in the dirt beside him while he changed the oil , checked the tyre - pressures , adjusted the tension of the chain .
Idiom: on ice (used idiomatically: yes)
Super Herol FORMER British middleweight champion Herol Graham moves up to super middleweight to fight Midlands area champion Carlos Christie in Manchester on January 25 . Accola on ice PAUL ACCOLA , Switzerland 's alpine skiing world champion , will miss the Championships in Japan in February after surgery on his left knee , which he injured in training . Leeds deny Davies bid
Idiom: take the piss (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ What was he like?’ Barratt sighs . ‘ I know you 're all going to take the piss out of me if I tell you what I honestly thought.’ ‘ Do n't be silly,’ says everyone . ‘ Well,’ says Barratt heavily , ‘ I thought he was very nice.’