Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: spot on (used idiomatically: yes)
Thrilling stuff , lads — you 're playing stereotypical black roles without even acting . Yo ! Spot on Otto , but it 's even worse than you think . The real reason the normally rabid and vociferous DQ was such a wimp with Phil and Luke Gangsta has little to do with inverse racism . David was merely paying his social class dues — yes , you 've guessed it — Dave and the lads were boarders at the same minor Public School together .
Idiom: over the top (used idiomatically: no)
Did you see over the top ? What ? Overboard , not over the top , over board . Over the top . Wicked .
Idiom: have a heart (used idiomatically: no)
WHAT a contrast between compassionate Ian Botham and greedy millionaire Peter de Savary was highlighted at the start of Ian 's 546 mile Land 's End to Margate charity walk . While on holiday we had to pay de Savary £4.95 each to visit Land 's End , which he owns . It should be public property and would be so if the millionaire had the same heart and principles of Beefy . — READY FOR LOVE
Idiom: come to terms with (used idiomatically: yes)
( We are not , with deep respect to them , Hindus . ) I know that in talking frankly about death I have touched many a raw nerve here , and possibly even stirred up guilt and feelings of unease . Many of the people on my courses on dying , for example , had never really come to terms with the inevitability of death in their own lives , and many a time we had to stop to allow distressed and upset people to leave the room . I do not want to embarrass anyone or to moralise , but I feel that this is an area in which modern Christians have been caught in the net of secularisation without realising it . Too often , even if we are committed Christians , we are afraid of death and like secular society prefer to imagine that it will not happen to us or our loved ones .
Idiom: look the other way (used idiomatically: yes)
We confirm that it is . She then proceeds to whinge about how confusing it is that the Odeon Mezzanine , the Odeon Leicester Square and the Odeon West End are all situated within yards of each other . We nod politely and look the other way to discourage further conversation . We have more pressing matters on our mind . We look at our watch and note that Denice is now thirty seconds late .
Idiom: take the fall (used idiomatically: yes)
At the same time , on the other side of the range , Christophe Moulin , a 33-year - old guide from Briancon , set off for the first solo ascent ( and incidentally the first repeat ) of Jean - Marc Boivin 's Ballade Au Clair du Lune : a hooks - and - copperheads A4 on the south face of the Fou . This has received little attention since its ascent in 1983 , possibly because it contains such mind - blowing attractions as a 40-feet skyhook section . Christophe had already had one attempt at this pitch when he took a 60-feet fall and decided , understandably , to await better omens . At the more popular end of the spectrum of difficulty , controversy this summer in Chamonix when a seven - years - old girl climbed Mont Blanc by the Voie Normale . This is not , of course , a route of any substantial technical difficulty , but it does present many would - be suitors with severe altitude problems , ranging from headaches to full - scale nausea , and some people thought the idea of taking the girl to altitude was an unjustifiable kind of medical experiment .
Idiom: do the trick (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ Ah , diabetic!’ The diagnosis was almost certain . ‘ Then a shot of glucose should do the trick . Did she have any warning of this collapse?’ ‘ I do n't know,’ admitted the husband sheepishly .
Idiom: crystal clear (used idiomatically: yes)
They wanted to hug , cuddle , kiss , make daisy chains and watch the ducklings running on the surface of the lake , but one was told to grow up and pay back the beastly Jews who were wicked people and had put daddy Schicklgruber out of work , another that anyone who did n't enjoy riding bare back across Asia splitting skulls was a sissy , the third that all Mensheviks carried a knife up their sleeve and needed purging . As the trio grew up , so the hurts piled up until they were stacked upon them like old 78 records , each playing the same dreary old repetitive tune . We start not with the sins of the father within us , nor with the sins of anyone else , but as crystal clear water , into which dirty sump oil is poured . By the time we are grown we are a badly mixed solution , but if the water can resurface , where it rightly belongs , then we will be as we once were , before all those hurts arrived . The Centre does nothing magical , nothing unscientific , nothing really extraordinary , it merely helps you to start filtering off the oil and getting back to that crystal clear water .
Idiom: split the difference (used idiomatically: yes)
The Tote 's status is an arcane legal matter ( akin to that of TSB before its flotation ) and no - one knows who owns it or its assets . The declining fortunes of both racing and bookmaking came into direct collision when they tried to determine an appropriate levy for the next fiscal year . The bookmakers offered less , racing demanded more and the government - appointed members of the Levy Board , which distributes the money , failed to persuade the two parties to split the difference . An unusual fairy godmother — the Treasury — came to the rescue with a ¼ p.c . reduction in betting duty which enabled both sides to get something out of the negotiations and allowed the Home Secretary to please everyone , something which home secretaries rarely find an opportunity to do . But it is not wise to rely on fairy godmothers reappearing .
Idiom: go straight (used idiomatically: yes)
I still ca n't buy cos it 's only my first time bloody round ! Go for it ! You do n't , you just go straight for it ! So 's Phil innit ? We ca n't buy at the moment .
Idiom: up and running (used idiomatically: no)
Meanwhile , other callers have so much to say that they can talk for up to an hour and a half about common family problems ; about bullying , pregnancy , drug and alcohol abuse , bereavement and the most common subject of all sexual and physical abuse . Since Childline began nationally in 1986 , more than 215,000 children and young people from all over the country have been counselled . Childline North West , which will be officially launched later this month , is already up and running and receiving some 300 calls a day . And almost 30 % of its callers are from Liverpool . In charge of the Manchester operation is its director Elwyn Owens .
Idiom: join the club (used idiomatically: yes)
George jets for smiles BY George . Funny girl Pamela Stephenson looked like she 'd joined the smile - high club yesterday as she jetted into Britain with pop star George Michael . The pair were having a right old giggle as they walked through Heathrow airport , despite a tiring flight from Los Angeles . George , 29 , in baseball cap and trainers , and Pam , 41 , sporting a leopardskin outfit and dark glasses , shared the same Virgin flight .
Idiom: in business (used idiomatically: yes)
The 1987 budget raised the sum available to £ 125,000 . It should be noted that for a person obliged to retire from business because of failing health , the maximum relief can be obtained before the age of 60 ( given a ten year period as director ) . An individual must have been in the business for ten years or have retained shares throughout this period to qualify for maximum relief . The first part of the relief becomes available one full year after disposal of the shares , and the rest is available in equal instalments over the following nine years . Roll - over relief
Idiom: bear in mind (used idiomatically: yes)
Only Cuba holds out against the continent 's push toward democracy and open economies . Marx , however , is far from dead ; not least in Uruguay , and perhaps not elsewhere . Jorge Batlle , taking office as President March 1 , must bear this in mind . In last year 's presidential elections , Tabaré ~ Vázquez , the Left 's charismatic leader , easily won the first round , though not by enough votes to avoid a second round run off . Suspense gripped the country .
Idiom: rank and file (used idiomatically: yes)
It should be noted that these arrangements have important consequences for the distribution of power in congress . Seniority provides committee chairmen with an independent power base and helps to insulate them from control by party leaders and presidents . Even if a president and his staff are successful in obtaining the cooperation of party and committee leaders , there are no guarantees that they will be able to deliver the votes of rank - and - file members . This has become especially the case in the ‘ new’ congress of the 1980s , where congressmen and senators have become even more individualistic and less amenable to control than before . Since the 1950s and 1960s there has been a weakening of the norms of ‘ good’ congressional behaviour which , by obliging most members to conform , had in the past helped to bring some order into the legislature .
Idiom: night and day (used idiomatically: yes)
They can be quite startling , erm we have n't really established whether we 're going at night or day properly , have we ? We had a bit of a mixture , some would go at night and some at day . The important thing about night and day , most burglaries happen in the day time . Now that when most people are out .
Idiom: pick up the pieces (used idiomatically: no)
If the water authorities were presented as individual companies , they would be scrutinised , assessed and either bought or discarded , depending on their merits . But the Government is not prepared to allow this to happen . It has to privatise an entire industry and can not run the risk of the City picking up only the most attractive pieces . So the institutions are being dragooned into subscribing for a package of shares in all 10 companies . There is an option for institutions to subscribe for shares in individual authorities but that comes with the ominous warning that there is no guarantee the shares will be available .
Idiom: out of the woods (used idiomatically: yes)
jam seeds ? they 're not going in seeds , they 're all going to make pieces of wood . No , make seeds out of , out of , out of wood . They mix it up and put it in that ! Aye .
Idiom: on the ball (used idiomatically: no)
It fact , I think canon law prevents it . I 'll have to look that one up . He really seemed not to be quite on the ball.’ Wheeler did not add that for a man whose chief pleasure in the past seemed to have been in giving other people orders , a falling off of that activity boded ill . ‘ I do think , and I 'm sure you share my feelings on this one,’ Wheeler continued minatorily , ‘ that he needs our especial support at this juncture .
Idiom: pissed off (used idiomatically: yes)
I felt far more threatened now . My only pen had stopped working at the start of the walk ; in the rain my watch face went blank . ' I 'm getting a bit Pissed off with this ! ' I shouted against the wall of white noise to three deaf backs . The date was April the first and it did n't end a minute too soon .
Idiom: sit tight (used idiomatically: yes)
The barrister Anthony Hope Hawkins was walking back from Westminster Crown Court to the Temple on 28 November 1893 , having won his case , when the idea of Ruritania came into his head : Arrived at my chambers , I reviewed it over a pipe and the next day I wrote the first chapter . Though sometimes interrupted by law work , I sat tight at the story , sometimes writing as much as two chapters a day . I was only once seriously ‘ stuck up’ ; I seemed to have got ‘ The Prisoner’ so tightly shut up in ‘ Zenda’that it was impossible to get him out of it . But that difficulty was in the end surmounted and , on the whole , the writing was easy and pleasurable .
Idiom: far and away (used idiomatically: yes)
Even more important , a good pack can be constructed around first class players like Wainwright , Smith , Hogg and Macdonald . The Scots have four decent locks , although they failed to cope with John Eales ; but remember he is the best lock in the world . Kenny Milne is far and away the Scots ' best hooker and his injury robbed them of a great deal in both tests . Needless to say , David Sole will be hugely missed but the show must go on . The tour was disappointing but looking to the longer term future of Scottish rugby it was certainly not a disaster .
Idiom: buy the farm (used idiomatically: yes)
I will be 83 next week and just ca n't be bothered any more … I just love sitting and reading and doing NOTHING … a huge man came here the other day and practically THREATENED me if I would n't write my life story … offered me any money I asked for … but thank God I am well off now . I bought a little farm near Oakville some years ago at four thousand an acre … sold it two years ago at fifteen thousand an acre … wasn't that lucky! … after all the hard - up years I lived through … almost starving at times … it was Mr Workman who gave me your address for this letter … poor old Fred … he 's getting old like the rest of us … Briercrest is slowly dying … just a few old widows there now … not one living soul lives on the farms any more … all the old men are dead … but the old girls still have their little teas and their Ladies ' Aid meetings … have gardens and are happy as larks … I still watch Elwood Glover 's TV programme at noon … he sure keeps going and has a wonderful following … he is so tactful and pleasant while interviewing anyone , and women flock to his programme … so here I go to watch Elwood … and then to lunch … much love to all .
Idiom: pick up the pieces (used idiomatically: yes)
In France there had already been speculation , followed by disaster , when John Law persuaded the government to unite all the French colonies into a single vast Company for trading up the Mississippi and in the Indies , which was then used as the base for a wild expansion of the French currency . In the summer of 1720 the South Sea Bubble burst , and the dream that El Dorado might be found in the outside world faded a little further , though the Company went on endeavouring to use its Utrecht trading privileges for another thirty years . Legislation had been passed , at the height of the bubble , to stop the creation of new joint - stock companies , which ruled out one of the ways in which the British had organized their expansion overseas , Walpole , the Prime Minister who picked up the pieces after the collapse , was first of all concerned to make sure that the King and his government did not run into any more trouble , which meant a programme of no new taxes , no wars , no new assertion of authority , and much less expansion than either before or after . This was a sensible policy which would bring stability to Britain , and took it for granted that stability would mean that relations with the colonies would remain unchanged . Neither of the kings whom Walpole served as Prime Minister was firmly seated at the centre of political power in the way their predecessors had been .
Idiom: lose face (used idiomatically: yes)
bit of customer care , but really And , well we all , we 'll lose face with the patient Mm mm . because we int gon na , we have n't got ta worry about what she says about , but he sa , the hospital did n't wanna lose face , but I mean , the hospital said thank you .
Idiom: cut corners (used idiomatically: yes)
Margaret Stanhope . Jesus , that woman had turned out to be the biggest mistake of his life . All right , so she was an adequate fixer , she helped him cut corners , smoothed out the rougher edges of his life . But these days she was stepping way out of line , coming on like she had something on him , like she was something more than a two - bit secretary . Ever since York .
Idiom: move the goalposts (used idiomatically: yes)
After years of political repression , the education system has little credibility with those it is supposed to serve . Even for those who reach the last year of secondary school , only about 50 per cent pass the matriculation exam , and only a handful achieve the higher grade of ‘ matric exemption’ which is required for university entrance . The exam itself has been the subject of considerable dispute , with accusations that not only is the marking inconsistent and some of the markers corrupt , but that the DET and the homelands education authorities frequently ‘ move the goalposts’ by altering the pass levels year by year . The segregated nature of the educational system remains the same as ever , with only a few private schools taking pupils of all races . For example , with the white population growing at less than I per cent per year between 1980 and 1986 , many white schools have suffered dramatic falls in enrolments .
Idiom: rags to riches (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ Explain,’ she said , less angrily . Any man whose voice softened at the mention of his mother could n't be all bad . ‘ This must be the oddest rags - to - riches tale I 'm ever going to hear.’ He shifted his breech - clad legs , straddling them to keep his balance . ‘ Your reaction is refreshing,’ he said wryly .
Idiom: on the cards (used idiomatically: no)
All the fishing rods in those days were made of cane with a built - cane or green - heart top section . There were no fixed - spool reels and nylon was not invented . Hooks were tied onto substitute gut and we used ' Lincoln'brand silk lines which were on 25 yard cards . Nearly all of the rods , floats and rod rests ( idle backs ) were home made and I used to attend weekly tackle - making classes in the attic of the Royal Oak Hotel at the bottom of Cemetery Road in Sheffield . The man in charge of this Sheffield Amalgamated Society junior get - together was called Tom Johnson ( not to be confused with the old Sheffield United footballer of the same name ) .
Idiom: rock bottom (used idiomatically: yes)
Still to come on Central News … Struggling for survival Central South teams hit rock bottom . And , going back to the shires … harnessing horse power to clear the woods . Good evening ,
Idiom: go to town (used idiomatically: yes)
But now they cant even do that . Im getting extremely pissed off having my TV Licence money spent on Scum hype — and then not to be shown the goals . Im sure if they could manage to go to some obscure town on the borders of scotland last round , they could manage to ‘ waste ’ 10 seconds on Leeds . Bet your f*cking life , if we had lost theyd have shown extensive ‘ highlights ’ . Anyway , as usual Sky 's ‘ Goals on sunday ’ came to the rescue … although not completely .
Idiom: on your high horse (used idiomatically: yes)
Jean - Paul began to feel seriously alarmed . ‘ Wait a minute , hang on . Do n't get on your high horse with me . God — your temper , Edouard . You know I do n't want that .
Idiom: in the saddle (used idiomatically: yes)
His hand rested against her cheek . It was the first time he had touched her . He withdrew his hand and turned from her , standing in his saddle and looking out across the valley . They were at the highest point for twenty li about . To their backs and distant were the foothills of the Ta Pa Shan , but before them was only the plain .
Idiom: under fire (used idiomatically: yes)
One has only to read the letter of Robert Scott Macfie , a middle - aged company chairman with degrees from Cambridge and Edinburgh Universities , who stayed in the ranks as a senior NCO , when he wrote of an action on the Somme in 1916 : ‘ The want of preparation , the vague orders , the ignorance of the objective and geography , the absurd haste and in general , the horrid bungling were scandalous.’ There are numerous accounts of life and death situations , including Rifleman Clegg 's recollection of being gassed , in all its painful detail . No less vivid are accounts from the women — nurses carrying on bravely under fire , the ‘ Madonnas of Pervyse’ or Sister Brown in her hospital ship off Gallipoli . The munitions workers are not forgotten , including Joan Williams who wrote of her new job : ‘ It was nothing to leap out of bed at 5.15 on a frosty morning and I almost danced down Queen 's Road under the stars , at the prospect of the day 's work before me.’ The material , although expertly compiled by military author Malcolm Brown , is strangely lacking any reference to the 36th Ulster Division on the Somme .
Idiom: once in a blue moon (used idiomatically: yes)
It 's certainly an anomaly that two players dealt with around the same time end up serving their bans well apart . And that the one with the smaller ban ends up missing the senior inter - provincials as a result . The Ulster Branch recognise the situation — it only happens like this once in a blue moon — but finding an answer is n't easy . Guidelines have been laid , standards are set , and precedents have been established . And when all has been said and done , the fact remains that a player must serve his ban while his club still has games to play , be it in the league or cup .
Idiom: out of order (used idiomatically: yes)
and you know with violence and that and then as you work your way along there 'd be the sort of situation where there is n't any physical violence but there 's intimidation and fear Yep . fear of violence and I think that 's that 's definitely out of order . And then you get you work your way along and you get to the situation where erm the woman is pressured by feelings of embarrassment or social pressure not to say no . And that 's when I think it starts to get into into shady ground where where the woman has n't actually said no because she feels intimidated not by violence but by social pressure .
Idiom: come to grips with (used idiomatically: yes)
Reading through these lengthy reports and sifting out the very scattered references , sometimes token references , to the voluntary sector is hard work . Way back in 1979 the Timbury Report on services for the elderly with mental disability in Scotland endorsed the concept of joint planning involving both voluntary and statutory organisations . It failed really to come to grips with the contribution which voluntary organisations could make to a pattern of services . Vague and slightly patronising references were made to volunteers providing the companionship and neighbourly services for which health and social service workers have neither the time nor the responsibility " . It was made clear that the responsibility for actually managing real services should rest with the statutory sector .
Idiom: pick up the pieces (used idiomatically: yes)
I 'd better get on my way . ' ' Your piece box is on the table at the door . ' She picked up a small piece of paper lying beside her and began turning it over and over in her fingers . ' What IS that ? ' he asked , holding his hand out . ' You 've been playin ' with that for hours . '
Idiom: out of sight (used idiomatically: no)
‘ Look , you 're throwing shit everywhere . Just clear off.’ And then , as they mumbled and made half - hearted climbing - down gestures that he knew would probably stop as soon as he was out of sight , he opened up the door to the club and let himself in . The crush bolt made a dragging , trailing sound across the floor , once to open and again as it closed . The rough - cast stairway was dark , but there were lights further on down and he could hear the faint strains of the show tape playing over the speakers in the club proper .
Idiom: have someone's number (used idiomatically: no)
Fat people occasionally produce a low level , thin people sometimes a high one . But they are the exceptions and it has to be stressed we are looking at the patient in a wider context . Once a patient has his magic number , does it have any effect ? A study carried out in Alloa by Professor Hugh Tunstall - Pedoe , in charge of epidemiology at Dundee University , concluded that it did not . Levels for patients tested and then re - examined on a subsequent occasion remained the same .