Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: nine times out of ten (used idiomatically: yes)
Best be quick , Ellie , he 's much sought after . He has a great deal of land , his fingers in numerous profit - making pies , owns racehorses — and , of course , the added bonus of being extremely attractive to women . And , although I 'm not so bitchy as to suggest women want him only for what they can get , nine times out of ten it 's probably the truth.’ Her face reflecting her disgust , and horror as she stared at the other woman , Ellie turned to glance at Feargal to see how he might be taking this insulting piece of arrant mischief - making , and was astonished to see that he looked not angry , but almost sad . Because the poison inside his sister hurt him more than her accusations ?
Idiom: take it from me (used idiomatically: yes)
How about , have you ever had frog 's legs ? You put some gravy on that No , but they 're very nice you can take it from me Snails eat snails , escargot I 'm , I had , I used to
Idiom: follow suit (used idiomatically: yes)
“ I want to be clear , ” Clinton noted . “ Our reorientation toward Asia is not a withdrawal from Europe . ” The US , according to Clinton , hopes that Europe will follow suit , so that Asia is seen not only as a market , but also as a focus of common strategic action . But , beyond that , as the US and Europe seek to ensure their global roles , cooperation between them is more important than ever . So now is the time for a bold initiative : the launch of a US - European ~ Union free - trade agreement .
Idiom: have a ball (used idiomatically: no)
HAVE you noticed how the Chancellor is sounding more and more like England football manager Graham Taylor . His latest excuse — that the recession is masking the success of the economy — is the equivalent of ‘ we only lost because they scored more goals ’ . Future excuses could be ‘ our name was n't on the cup ’ ‘ we had possession but we could n't convert ’ or ‘ the ball would n't go in the net ’ . Fragile face of a child-woman By Jane Gordon
Idiom: put the boot in (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ He really knows his Oxford!’ he thought we thought , while every enthusiastic word and expansive gesture in fact revealed that the poor bugger had n't a clue about the place . The gathering was a complex affair , socially . A representative sampling of Osiris Management Services ' clientele was there , beefy ballocky blokes who prized the rugby scrum of life as much as an opportunity for putting the boot in as for winning the ball . To them , the occasion was just another hospitality tent , an opportunity to claw back some of Thomas 's fees by consuming as much of his food and drink as possible . They ganged together round the buffet , whingeing about business and interest - rate hikes , doing gamesmanship numbers on each other , exchanging racy stories and tall tales and laughing fit to bust their considerable guts .
Idiom: crystal clear (used idiomatically: yes)
But such knightly combats , whether chivalrously conducted or not , were in fact only a very small part of war . As Henry 's army advanced towards Mantes it burned and looted everything which lay in its path . What"this meant is made crystal clear by the description of an army on the march in the Chartson des Lorrains : The march begins . Out in front are the scouts and incendiaries .
Idiom: over the top (used idiomatically: yes)
It 's well flash though , it really is . It 's like I said you you can lift up the cover and change four while one 's playing . It 's only the one that 's got like the bit over the top of it . What 's this ? A Technics carousel for the C D.
Idiom: go straight (used idiomatically: yes)
She knows where she is with a wart . But she did n't flinch . She turned away from Tracy Johnson and went straight to the woman in the chair . ‘ O Lord!’ she said , speaking extra loud to drown out Tracy mumbling on about her womb . ‘ O Jesus , who made the blind see and the lame to walk , look down on this woman!’
Idiom: lend a hand (used idiomatically: yes)
The Pack hurried back to the dressing - tent to change out of their old - fashioned uniforms . Angela had a look round the stalls , made a wish at the Magic Pool , bought an ice - cream , and watched a play performed by two Packs from another part of the county , then presently heard a voice through the loud - speaker telling competitors to get ready for the fancy - dress parade . She hurried back to the dressing - tent , where her mummy helped her into her Gnome outfit , around which was swathed a broad white band on which was printed in big letters the Brownie Guide Motto , LEND A HAND . Beegee popped her head into the tent . ' Why , Angela , you look marvellous ! ' she cried .
Idiom: get the picture (used idiomatically: no)
It will be great to have you . A draft copy of the conference programme is enclosed and what we are attempting to do is : 1 ) Under the theme ' It 's time to right wrongs ' we hope to ' unpack'the ' Statement of Commitment ' , to help the local organisers attending the conference to get a more up - to - date and accurate picture of the role Christian Aid seeks to fulfil . During the weekend we will be examining some of the key concerns of the statement . 2 ) We hope that you , Ingrid and Mauricio will play a full part in the conference , but we would specifically ask you to be responsible for
Idiom: on ice (used idiomatically: yes)
It recovered , struggled to its feet and galloped away up the canyon , riderless , trappings flying . As her eyes grew more accustomed to the hellish gloom , Tallis could see how many of these forlorn corpses were gathering on the north bank of the river . They ignored each other in death , though sometimes they crouched no more than an arm 's reach away from each other , even touching as they slipped on the ice . They had eyes only for the journey downwards , now , and battle - fervour , love and pride had long since been sucked from them , leaving them soulless husks : in bronze , or leather , fur - cloaked or bright trousered . Helmets gleamed , some with tall plumes , others decorated with animals , others plain .
Idiom: spot on (used idiomatically: no)
Dosage and timing need to be carefully monitored . Doctors sometimes consider adjusting the hormone balance in girls with long - term persistent acne , using a chemical which blocks the action of male hormones in the body , combined with the female hormone oestrogen . Over - the - counter medicated skin cleansers and washes can help to control superficial grease but as the problem acne bacteria are inside the follicle , they can not get rid of spots on their own . It 's not dirt that causes acne . Dirty faces are no more prone to spots than clean faces , say dermatologists .
Idiom: out of your mind (used idiomatically: no)
‘ Please , Leon . Just forget it . Put it out of your mind.’ ‘ You could . You have that capacity , do n't you ?
Idiom: brass monkey (used idiomatically: yes)
Maggie arrived at Charing Cross to find Natasha already waiting for her . The two of them were bound for Templeton 's Christmas dance which was being held in the St Andrew 's Halls . ‘ God , it 's cold enough to freeze the proverbials off a brass monkey!’ Natasha greeted Maggie , clapping her gloved hands together . Maggie winced as an icy blast swirled up the bottom of her dress and coat .
Idiom: life and limb (used idiomatically: yes)
The fact that the beer has been produced in a different way does not mean that it is therefore harmful , and so on . Thus there may be no grounds for refusing to import it . If , however , in some instances considerations such as danger to life and limb can legitimately be invoked to block imports then the need to harmonize can not be avoided . But harmonization will now concentrate on the essentials — the peripherals will be left to a process of mutual recognition by states . Mutual recognition of national supervisory standards is also proposed in respect of banking .
Idiom: go to town (used idiomatically: yes)
Oh . You should 've phoned me up . Well , I went to the town earlier on with Debbie . I 've not got your number . And you ?
Idiom: bread and circuses (used idiomatically: yes)
One by one , colonial powers imposed taxes that were only payable in hard cash , and the way of life of the gatherer - hunter , the nomad , and the pastoralist was immediately and fatally unbalanced . Dependence was imposed and the rest is history and green beans , cotton tee - shirts , patronage , and serfdom . In the old world continual distraction has become the major weapon of control — bread and circuses — or the modern equivalent : football , royalty , and fashion . And fashion is , perhaps unexpectedly , the most powerful of these devices , as it permeates every aspect of daily life via advertising and the media . Is it Martinique or the Seychelles this year ?
Idiom: on the rocks (used idiomatically: yes)
I walk down the steep path to the harbour . The small fleet of Amantani boats with their distinctive green plumb - line idle there . I sit on a rock and listen to the water lap and the boys whistle as they pull their tin boats across the long sweep of the stony bay . When I climb back up to the pueblo there 's a meeting in progress . The square is full of islanders , the men in trilbies or baseball caps , the women with embroidered black shawls round their shoulders or over their heads .
Idiom: play games (used idiomatically: yes)
Wear a tough shirt Yes . Playing a tough game tomorrow . What are you playing tomorrow ? Croquet .
Idiom: game on (used idiomatically: yes)
Just for a few minutes . Ah ah ! Yes , I know you once you get games on machines . Stop it my Lord ! Want some more tea ?
Idiom: err on the side of (used idiomatically: yes)
Such authority ( given to others ) weakens the disposition program by indiscriminate use of the non - record label and can result in the loss of valuable records.’ The records management staff could no longer only involve themselves in the review of paper records they should also safeguard electronic records from inappropriate destruction . The Court stated that the Defendants should err on the side of preservation for two reasons ; the difficulties of deciding what was a record and then whether it should be retained ; their duty to preserve records for historical purposes . The overall message from this case is that internal and external e - mail messages in context constitute records . The context can be in terms of receipt and transmit logs and distribution lists which will be held separately from the actual message .
Idiom: make tracks (used idiomatically: no)
Ideally , Barnes wants a Paul Gascoigne-style free reign to help England qualify for the 1994 World Cup finals . He explained : ‘ Gazza would not have been able to function the way he did against Turkey without Paul Ince and Carlton Palmer because they had a very important job to do . ‘ It 's about time England adopted the attitude of : Why make Gazza track back and defend , when we could have other players to do that and let Gazza do what he 's good at . Creative ‘ That approach will benefit any attacking player if there are hard-working ones to complement them .
Idiom: laughing stock (used idiomatically: yes)
Tennis : Jones fears second lightning bolt From Our Correspondent in Tokyo WHEN Sara Gomer , Clare Wood and Julie Salmon collapsed to a 2-1 defeat to Indonesia in the first round of the Federation Cup in Melbourne last December , they were the laughing stock of the tennis world , writes our correspondent from Tokyo . Tomorrow at the sprawling Ariake Tennis Centre here a changed , but not new , British team will face the same opponents , desperate to restore some of their lost pride . Wood remains , but Jo Durie replaces Gomer while Anne Hobbs will take over from Salmon .
Idiom: under the table (used idiomatically: yes)
The contract with the child must hold firm and the parent can not deny that the child did behave well for that one item of behaviour . A mother of three children aged 3 , 5 , and 6 years found meal - times unbearable . They would kick each other under the table , take food off one another 's plates , throw food on the table , shout and scream at each other . She had tried separating them to eat in different places but it had not worked as they tried to run around while eating . She agreed to try a behaviour chart and identified that each of them should sit in their own chairs , eat their own food quietly , and not interfere with each other .
Idiom: no man's land (used idiomatically: yes)
Could the laws of war be further developed to address the nuclear weapons question more directly and explicitly ? Forty years of extremely limited progress in the sphere suggest that optimism would be out of place . There may even be some good reasons for keeping out of this no - man 's - land . Among some people who have been involved in negotiations at Geneva on laws - of - war matters there is a genuine concern that any neat set of rules limiting the use of nuclear weapons in one way or another might have the unfortunate effects either of weakening deterrence ; or else , contrariwise , of seeming to legitimise such uses of nuclear weapons as are not covered in any agreement ; or else of being nothing more than a paper accord , which would be of little real value in a conflict . The implicit assumption here is that it may be best to leave nuclear weapons in a partial legal limbo , with an extremely strong presumption against the legality of their use , but with no formal and explicit rules turning this presumption into treaty language and adding detail to it .
Idiom: clutch at straws (used idiomatically: yes)
Throughout human history , disabled people have constantly confounded the low expectations of others , and how much better it would be for special educators to raise the expectations of disabled children and their families by giving them an understanding of this , by helping them to accept their disabled identities with pride , by helping them to understand their place in the world and their rights as well as giving them the practical skills to deal with these issues . Of course , in order to do this , special educators would need to understand these issues themselves . Finally , it is sad but understandable that the parents of disabled children should clutch at the straw of conductive education as a means of resolving their own problems . To have a handicapped child in a society which has developed a fetishism for normality and which fails to even acknowledge the needs of these parents , let alone make any provision to meet them , is clearly a profoundly disturbing experience . But accepting the fetishism of normality can never even address these problems , let alone resolve them .
Idiom: come unstuck (used idiomatically: yes)
Though inter - industry trade is higher within the region than among developed countries ( Erzan , 1984 ) , this could be merely the result of good communications and cheap transport ( Grimwade , 1989 ) . The record of negotiating — and sticking to — regional specialisation in basic industries has not been impressive . A recent example of how plans have come unstuck is the fate of the Japan - backed ASEAN plan for automobile components , where Indonesia 's intransigency has put plans for regional specialisation back on the drawing board . Bilateral agreements may hold out more promise , if only because they are easier to administer . For example , Brazil and Argentina are developing a free trade agreement , due to be completed by 1994 .
Idiom: go to ground (used idiomatically: yes)
Mr Palmer did n't feel he was playing good enough at that time , so he told Tony Lema about me . Tony was the most relaxed sort of guy . We went down to the practice ground and had a round and that was it . I says , ' Are you going out again ? ' He says , ' That 's enough for me .
Idiom: go with the flow (used idiomatically: yes)
He was kneeling beside her now , looking into tear - stained eyes that reflected ice - blue in the torch light . ' What do you mean ? ' asked Rohmer , now taking an interest in the proceedings . ' The thing about nightmares , ' replied Jimmy , ' is that you 've got to go with the flow . When everything around you is just plain bloody crazy , you 've got to look for the crazy answers . ' ' What are you talking about , Jimmy ? ' echoed Cardiff .
Idiom: go it alone (used idiomatically: yes)
No prices were given . 3COM TO PARTNER CASCADE AS A WAY INTO THE WIDE AREA NETWORK MARKET Rather than going it alone , 3Com Corp , San Jose has picked Cascade Communications Corp to help it enter the Frame Relay market . 3Com is to combine its routing expertise ( in the form of its NETBuilder routers and Boundary Routing System Architecture ) with Cascade 's Frame Relay STDX switches to help customers build large multiprotocol wide area networks . Although Frame Relay interfacing is by no means a difficult task , Nigel Oakley , 3Com 's UK product marketing manager , says the advantages of the link - up are manifold .
Idiom: piping hot (used idiomatically: yes)
I was disappointed when my snails arrived already out of their shells — part of the pleasure for me is digging them out of their homes- but perhaps this is Chez Gerard 's gesture to British sqeamishness . The snails themselves were as they should be — and the steak tartare was a melt-in-the-mouth savoury experience , served up with a crisp green salad and a mound of frites . Chez Gerard boasts that it does the best steak frites in town — and judging by the quality of their thin , crispy and piping hot chips , I 'd be inclined to believe them . On the wine waiter 's advice we ordered Chateau Rousset 1982/3 Cotes de Bourg ( £15.75 ) a smooth Bordeaux that was gutsy enough to cope with our food . The dessert trolley ( £3.25 per portion ) was tempting , but I 'd recommend the cheese trolley loaded with all the French cheese you 've heard of and more that you have n't .
Idiom: on the game (used idiomatically: yes)
Derek Williams , who beat Hughroy Currie for the vacant European heavyweight title on Tuesday night , wasted no time yesterday in throwing a gauntlet in the direction of the British champion , Gary Mason . ' He gets all the press coverage but right now he is the No2 in Europe and I am the No1 . ' JIM COURIER and Pete Sampras ( top ) lost their opening round - robin match against Darren Cahill and Mark Kratzman in the Nabisco Masters at the Royal Albert Hall yesterday , but they are tipped to make an impact on the doubles game , writes Martin James . As juniors the two American teenagers were mentioned in the same breath as Andre Agassi and Michael Chang , but neither has made the same impact as yet . Sampras will finish the year in 81st place , Courier 24th .
Idiom: go downhill (used idiomatically: no)
They are more than equal to thrusting uphill the light mass in front of them . Rabbits can go fast uphill . In fact , they have so much power behind that they find going downhill awkward , and sometimes , in flight down a steep place , they may actually go head over heels . On the other hand the man is five or six feet above the hillside and can see all round . To him the ground may be steep and rough but on the whole it is even ; and he can pick his direction easily from the top of his moving , six - foot tower .
Idiom: rock bottom (used idiomatically: yes)
In another example from MEW , W45 was indicated as equalling $ 28,000/day . Lloyd 's List later cited a deal whereby the Pacific Valour was to shift a cargo of 240,000 tonnes from the Gulf to Japan at W37 , apparently a fairly durable rate , as the same publication reported W37 - 40 as the range over which discussion occurred for a voyage from Kharg to Japan in 1984 . In another report , Texaco fixed a ULCC of about 320,000 tonnes out of the Gulf at a rock - bottom rate of W20 . Lloyd 's List had earlier reported the Kharg / northwest Europe voyage as particularly profitable : a VLCC at current rates could pick up $ 3.7 million at W40 which would yield a 25 per cent profit , compared with W27 a month earlier which would have earned just $ 1.5 million . ( b ) In the course of the Norbec hirings , one particularly low VLCC voyage rate was agreed from Yanbu ' to Brazil at W23.5 .
Idiom: asleep at the wheel (used idiomatically: yes)
do you know what I reckon happened ? What ? I reckon the teacher fell asleep at the wheel . No . Why ?
Idiom: carry the can (used idiomatically: no)
' Of course . ' Manville nodded . ' If that opinion proves to be wrong , I do n't carry any cans . The buck stops firmly with you . Do I make myself clear ? '
Idiom: on the rocks (used idiomatically: yes)
Police sealed off a road leading to the coast and mounted patrols on the cliffs to stop the looting . Officers even stopped one man cycling towards Plymouth carrying the ship 's compass tucked under his arm . The 500 ft Demetrius was driven ashore and broke its back on the rocks in a Force 11 gale as it was being towed to port the week before Christmas . The tiny village of East Prawle has enjoyed a tourist boom as visitors turned up to view the wreck — and take home a memento . Coastguards fear it is only a matter of time before a sightseer is injured in the hazardous scramble down rocks onto the ship 's deck .
Idiom: time will tell (used idiomatically: yes)
Step forward , Howard Kendall . The former Everton manager is swapping a reign in Spain for the pain of a reign at Maine . Time will tell which ended better . Statistics show that bringing in a new manager tends not to be a pancea . Last season there were 35 changes of manager in the League .
Idiom: know the ropes (used idiomatically: yes)
So did I for that matter . Then at the end of the scene we noticed the Indians were n't doing what they normally did which was stick their poles in to stop the raft . They were just poling away and Matt shouted ‘ Hey , fellers , cut’ but they did n't take any notice and I remember thinking maybe they 're testing the rope to see if it works , and Matt and I turned at just the same moment and saw where the Indians were heading us — straight into a pile of rocks and foaming water — and I knew the rope must have broken or something . We shouted but what with the noise of the water and not knowing their language of course it was n't any use and then we were in the water . I thought of you as we capsized , Pippa , honest I did .
Idiom: pull the plug (used idiomatically: yes)
The timing of the decision to close the firm has put other precarious property companies on edge . They fear that bankers may now reckon to get a better return by selling off firms ' assets quickly than by keeping debtors alive . Barclays says it has no plans to pull other plugs . It will manage the Speyhawk properties under the receiver , rather than sell them soon . Its three big domestic rivals do not intend to cut and run either .
Idiom: lose face (used idiomatically: yes)
The danger with trying to shoehorn the IRA into this category is that the criminal justice system has had to be stretched almost to breaking point to accommodate them — Diplock courts , the abolition of the right of silence , rigged inquests , detention without trial , and so on . If the IRA are common criminals , why all these uncommon provisions to deal with them ? It is hard to see how the system can be deformed further without losing both face and more cases at the European Court of Human Rights . On the other hand , Major 's strategy so far has been to initiate a secret review of intelligence gathering in Northern Ireland . As part of this , MI5 has made a bid to adopt a more proactive intelligence - gathering role in dealing with the IRA ( now the cold war is over , it has to find something else to do ) .