Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: turn heads (used idiomatically: yes)
Eventually he asked her out , and , even though she knew her parents strongly disapproved of the flashy young man from London , she disobeyed them and started sneaking out of the house every night when they were asleep , to meet him . ' After a few weeks he told her he was going home , and asked her to go with him . By that time he 'd turned her head so much with tales of the big city and the life they could have there , she 'd have followed him anywhere . That night she sneaked out of the house as usual , but this time she was carrying a case . William met her as they 'd arranged , and they quietly disappeared , like two thieves in the night . '
Idiom: pass the buck (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ There is still real hope that the Cammell Laird shipyard could be saved,’ said Mr Harrison . He added : ‘ Following the closure of Swan Hunter 's , the government has finally agreed to talk to the EC about getting the same subsidies for all British shipyards that we have been giving to our competitors in the EC for years . ‘ I hope this Tory government 's change of heart is genuine and that they are not just trying to pass the buck . ‘ I and my colleagues will do everything possible to ensure a proper case is put in Brussels.’ COURT DELAY :
Idiom: on the stump (used idiomatically: no)
Our refuse dumps are important feeding sites for them , and were they were once a rare sight in cities , they are now common . TROOPING CRUMBLE CAP A prominent fungus growing on tree stumps or nearby is the trooping crumble cap or fairy 's bonnet coprinus disseminatus . It 's a common sight in woodlands at this time of year , sometimes growing in groups of hundreds . It 's a delicate fungus with a pale to dark buff cap and white stem .
Idiom: go straight (used idiomatically: yes)
When he got up they was like that . What ? He had a tooth , that went straight through his bottom lip . Yeah you could see the tooth outside , I thought Ahhh ! Yorrible !
Idiom: think the world of (used idiomatically: no)
The natural history of the upas tree of housing as a social service , growing from the twin roots of rent restriction and indiscriminate subsidy , would be a fascinating subject for a long book . At each stage the vested interests — of protected tenants , of council tenants , and of local and national politicians — in the system , grew stronger and more complex , so that the wonder is not that it lived so long but that two men were found at last , in Duncan Sandys and Henry Brooke , of sufficient courage and determination to lay the axe to the roots and start hewing a way back to sanity . If anyone thinks my language exaggerated or highly coloured — and such there might well be , considering that no one here under pensionable age can have any recollection of a world without rent restriction or subsidised rents — let him recall another upas tree which we only managed to cut down in the nick of time ten years ago . It was growing from the twin roots of controlled food prices and food subsidies . Perhaps you have forgotten about the food subsidies ?
Idiom: do the right thing (used idiomatically: yes)
I 'm trying not to scratch , I do n't use perfumed soaps and always wear cotton underwear . Can you suggest anything else ? You 're doing all the right things but it may be that the source of the irritation is from within your vagina rather than just on the outer labia . You may have vaginal thrush or perhaps an ' anaerobic ' vaginitis , a very common infection which can be caused by various microbes , not necessarily sexually transmitted . My advice would be to telephone the genito - urinary clinic at your local hospital , or elsewhere if you prefer , and make an appointment for a check - up ( no doctor 's letter needed ) .
Idiom: in the hole (used idiomatically: no)
With the bolt in the hole , bring up the second part of the joint , and mark round the circumference of the bolt . 6 Drill the end of this piece with a ¼in diameter clearance hole to required depth . 7 Cross-drill on the mark , to about three-quarters of the total thickness , or right through .
Idiom: no can do (used idiomatically: yes)
Punch , in particular Bargepole 's column , is the only thing keeping me in England at the moment . PS How about a Bananaballs - style appeal to keep Punch in print ? No ca nt do They mentioned it on BBC TV yesterday . How terribly sad .
Idiom: out of sight (used idiomatically: no)
whom mother felt so sorry for . My father went into control and I listened , out of sight , to the jumbled rigmarole : someone was passing over
Idiom: take root (used idiomatically: yes)
Io ero tra color che son sospesi Hanging on the hours like heliotropes we have taken root where we set foot ; the sun favours our recreations and salt in the seawind glazes us over
Idiom: fair and square (used idiomatically: yes)
Sarfraz Nawaz was the first man I saw do it , but most Pakistan fast bowlers have the ability to swing the old ball . And let 's not forget that Waqar shot out the first four England batsmen in the second innings at The Oval with a new ball — and he was scarcely getting it off line . We won and we won fair and square . England should concede that bravely and be good losers . This is not good sportsmanship .
Idiom: pull a face (used idiomatically: yes)
No , thank you . Our future , thank Providence — and thank Rodet — is secure . But for Prance — ' She pulled a glum face . ' And the poor people . ' She shook her head sadly .
Idiom: moment of truth (used idiomatically: yes)
Her worst nightmare had come true . She 'd offered herself to him , offered her girlish hopes and dreams , everything she 'd kept bottled up for ten years . All of her sweet , loving nature that she 'd turned in on herself , waiting for this one moment in her life , this moment of truth , and it had all been for nothing . Shocked , frightened , and more than half scared by the desolation that threatened to consume her , she slid away from him . ‘ Kate?’
Idiom: in the dock (used idiomatically: no)
The Hawken and the Grenville families soon got together and repaired to Ince . The frightened Robert turned informer and the truth was out . John was soon to appear at Exeter in the court of which he previously graced the bench — this time in the dock . The judge pronounced that , as he was so attracted by the number four , he would be sentenced to sixteen years ' imprisonment , four years for each of his four ‘ marriages’ . Killigrew protested that his first marriage , at least , that to Mary , had been perfectly legal .
Idiom: out of sight (used idiomatically: yes)
They rose steeply and led to a fair - sized landing with a bedroom at each end , with a wash basin in each — bliss ! The landing itself was fitted with two large , double - glazed skylights in the sloping ceiling , which I now realized were responsible for the light and feeling of airiness throughout the upper floors . Looking over the oak rails , I could see the gallery floor and , further below , the ground - floor area , the spectacular chimney continuing upward and out of sight above the sloping - beamed ceiling . The walls not of stone had been plastered and whitewashed , with here and there a grey stone protruding where it had been too large or awkward to remove and cover . And that was it — only two bedrooms in all that space .
Idiom: under fire (used idiomatically: yes)
Newly - crowned Formula 3000 champion Erik Comas is to be Thierry Boutsen 's team - mate at Ligier next year . Comas has become the most successful driver in the history of the F3000 . With six wins from the last 12 F3000 races , Comas has shown great coolness under fire . The technological details of the 1991 Ligier - Lamborghini V12-powered chassis have yet to be decided . The chassis will be designed by Anglo - Brazilian Ricardo Divila , but Guy Ligier received a major disappointment recently when ex - Tyrrell aerodynamicist Jean - Claude Migeot turned down an attractive offer .
Idiom: live wire (used idiomatically: yes)
The review of services wo n't be complete until Novemeber , but already the people of Banbury are talking about organising a protest march to try to save their hospital services . An electic hairstyler has been withdrawn from sale after one began to produce sparks . Trading standards officers say the hot brush styler , made in the Far East has faulty insulation which has exposed live wires . The distributors say they 're prepared to give refunds for safety 's sake . Erika Barnes reports .
Idiom: put the cat among the pigeons (used idiomatically: yes)
( One of them was ‘ Sunshine 1950 Will Be Nifty’ ; another was ‘ Racing With The Moon’ . ) Once a girl was smuggled into the proceedings in her boyfriend 's overcoat . Removing the coat revealed her to be completely naked , which finally put the cat among the pigeons : they were banished ! All this coincided with the start of the coffee - shop movement , and many opened in Montreal . The Café André was one such place , near to the Students ' Union building .
Idiom: cut and dried (used idiomatically: yes)
You know it looks to me They said they 'd got it . they think that it 's all cut and dry , well they have n't got the then people will come round and investigate yet ! No . Mum that 'll come out on the tape !
Idiom: off the cuff (used idiomatically: yes)
However , when we become adults we tend to think we 've learnt everything we need to know in this area and stop practising . Then when we have a difficult relationship at home or work it 's easier to blame the other person than look at what we did . We have lots of off - the - cuff excuses for never changing the way we behave . ‘ You must take me as you find me’ means ‘ I 'm going to carry on and behave as I always do even if it does n't suit you.’ ‘ You ca n't teach an old dog new tricks’ means ‘ I 'm not going to change the way I do this.’
Idiom: bring home the bacon (used idiomatically: yes)
Brothers plan ‘ twin piques’ for Linfield LINFIELD fans should prepare themselves for a bout of double vision at Windsor Park next week . FC Copenhagen will have identical twins hoping to bring home the bacon when the Danes come to town for Thursday 's European Cup encounter . Michael Johannsen plays in midfield , his brother Morton up front , and manager Benny Johannsen ( no relation ) regards them as the jewels in his crown . ‘ I have high hopes for those two,’ said the manager today .
Idiom: sick and tired (used idiomatically: yes)
I was tired , very tired . I was also sick and tired . Sick and tired of stopping and starting , of going up banks only to go down them again , of being whacked in the face by the branches of trees that the dogs ran under , and of not knowing where we were going or why . Why were we in this bloody forest anyway ? Why did we not just stop and camp ?
Idiom: get to the bottom of (used idiomatically: yes)
Carrie 's daughter said , ‘ What were they scared of , her and Uncle Nick ? Just a few silly old trees!’ But when they got to the bottom of the Grove they were scared a little . The ruined house looked so dead in the sunlight with its blackened walls and boarded - up windows . There was the yard and the horse pond — and the dead house beyond them .
Idiom: face the music (used idiomatically: yes)
Lewis would have agreed with Oscar Wilde that our past is what we are . We can not rid ourselves of it . Therefore it was Adam 's duty to come home and face the music , even though this might be no more than a short blast on a tin whistle . But he had no precise idea where Adam was and he did not think Adam 's travel agent ( a personal friend of the young Verne - Smiths ) would tell him . Some excuse would be made for not telling him .
Idiom: put someone in mind of (used idiomatically: no)
It is vital to prepare a way round this question well before the interview itself . The interviewer is trying to find out if you left your last job for reasons which could pose similar problems if you came to work with his / her firm . For example , if you left because of a poor relationship with your boss or poor work performance it is going to put a lot of doubts in the mind of the interviewer if you come straight out with it . If there was some difficulty involved which resulted in your leaving a job , avoid referring to it , but do not resort to outright lying as this will rebound badly against you if you are found out . Instead , place the emphasis on the more straightforward reasons for leaving , after all few decisions are the result of just one factor but are usually the result of a combination of circumstances .
Idiom: go without saying (used idiomatically: yes)
This group would also include occupational pensioners who are people who have retired early , but are still eligible for benefits or national insurance credits . There is a good case for excluding these economically inactive people since they can not really be described as capable and available for full - time work . It goes without saying that it would also be desirable to exclude from the unemployment figures those who are employed but are making fraudulent claims for unemployment benefit or supplementary benefits . Since such fraudulent claimants are not actually unemployed , it is wrong that they should be counted as so . Unfortunately , it is very difficult to estimate the number of fraudulent claims for obvious reasons ) .
Idiom: cut and dried (used idiomatically: yes)
Perms from £ 28 to £ 45 . Klownz , Newcastle . Women 's cut and blow dry £ 15.50 . Men £ 33.50 . Perms from £ 40 .
Idiom: make a move (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ You 're forgetting , Miss Lea,’ he murmured in a soft voice that made her shiver , ‘ you invited me in.’ ‘ I 've changed my mind.’ She made a move to dodge past him , but his hand snaked out , catching her wrist in a vice - like grip that made her cry out . She tried to twist free , but in one deft movement he hooked his arm beneath her knees and , completely oblivious to her struggles , threw her on to the bed . Frantically Shannon tried to wriggle away , but he was too fast for her , his large body effectively pinning her to the mattress , and when she tried to slap him he caught her flailing wrists and held them fast on the pillow above her head .
Idiom: come to mind (used idiomatically: yes)
It loaned on little collateral to shaky banks . It announced its intention to stabilize the market – and that bearish speculators should beware . Ever since , whenever governments largely stepped back and let financial markets work their way out of a panic out by themselves – 1873 and 1929 in the United ~ States come to mind – things turned out badly . But whenever government stepped in or deputized a private investment bank to support the market , things appear to have gone far less badly . For example , the US government essentially authorized J.P .~ Morgan to act as the country ’s central ~ bank in the aftermath of the 1893 and 1907 panics , created the Resolution Trust Corporation at the start of the 1990s , and , together with the IMF , intervened to support Mexico in 1995 and the East ~ Asian economies in 1997 - 98 .
Idiom: rough edges (used idiomatically: yes)
It is a relational database which is rather like a filing cabinet in which not only the dividers have been removed but also all pieces of paper without words on them . Information is retrieved from this type of database according to its relationship with other data , rather than by its position in a file . Despite all this crafty programming , there are still a few rough edges that need to be shaved off the system . At the moment the computer tends to think out loud . It will come back with questions couched in the English query language which still exists beneath the Artificial Intelligence Language stuck on top .
Idiom: at the end of the day (used idiomatically: no)
Follow the same procedure with cheques marked ' please re - present ' . The only difference here is that any such cheque should be re - presented within the five - day period with a request for an immediate answer as to whether the cheque has been cleared or not . At the end of the fifth day do not delay . If you have n't been paid , commence action . The chances are that your customer is running out of funds and first in will be first served and maybe even the only one served .
Idiom: make waves (used idiomatically: yes)
SINGAPORE – The Chinese are everywhere . Or , more accurately , Chinese money is everywhere , thanks particularly to the China ~ Development Bank ( CDB ) and the China Export - Import Bank . As the two institutions responsible for all Chinese overseas financing , they are making waves around the world . According to The Financial ~ Times , Chinese lending in 2008 - 2010 surpassed World ~ Bank assistance by approximately $ 10~billion . By the end of 2010 , the CDB ’s reach extended to more than 90 countries , whose total indebtedness reached $ 141.3~billion .
Idiom: steal someone's thunder (used idiomatically: yes)
I mean , is n't it safer there ? ' Hawkins cleared his throat . ' You would n't dream of stealing a superior officer 's thunder , would you ? ' ' I would n't dream of it , sir . ' ' Well , to the point .
Idiom: in business (used idiomatically: yes)
Doing Poorly by Doing Good KIEL – The new catchphrase in business seems to be “ do well by doing good . ” In other words , undertaking socially responsible activities boosts profits . For example , Pepsi bolsters its bottom line by shifting to more nutritious , healthier food .
Idiom: pull the plug (used idiomatically: yes)
MICRON FRISC RISC CHIP EFFORT FLOUNDERS An effort by $ 500m - a - year semiconductor maker Micron Technology Inc to develop its own 64-bit superscalar single - chip RISC processor has floundered , taking with it the subsidiary built a year ago to house it . The FRISC chip , which also gave its name to the operation responsible for it , had reportedly reached working silicon and was being put on graphics cards and SBus accelerators for the Sun marketplace when Micron pulled the plug . The FRISC was apparently intended to go into systems eventually . A Micron spokesman said the company ceased investing and reassigned engineers to other projects last month because it was n't getting the ‘ best bang for the buck.’
Idiom: on the cards (used idiomatically: yes)
We have to rely simply on the speculation that we hear . If the informed sources in Beirut er have said through the Al , the prestigious Almahan newspaper , now this is one that er that rightly predicted the release of the American hostages , Frank Reid and Robert Polehill . They say that a release is on the cards this week er they make no mention of any ransom and they say Terry Waite is a priority for release ; he is at the top of a list of Western hostages about to be set free . So , so where is this ransom story come from do you think ? er The ransom story may , may have come from er a source er possibly a Hezbalar source er trying to latch on to the , basically to the er the , the thoughts of freedom and just to jump on the bandwagon .
Idiom: chickens come home to roost (used idiomatically: yes)
To return to the main question . The specific reason for the wave of nationalist separatism in Europe today is historical . The chickens of the first world war are coming home to roost . The explosive issues of 1989 - 91 are those created in Europe and , I am tempted to add , in the Middle East , by the collapse of the multi - ethnic Habsburg , Ottoman and Russian empires in 1917 - 18 , and the nature of the postwar peace settlements in respect of their successor states . The essence of these , you may recall , was the Wilsonian plan to divide Europe into ethnic - linguistic territorial states , a project as dangerous as it was impracticable , except at the cost of forcible mass expulsion , coercion and genocide which was subsequently paid .
Idiom: do the right thing (used idiomatically: no)
French banker I think Mr Arnold wanted to know why Maurice and Charles Saatchi were being paid such a ridiculously large salary when the state of the company was so absolutely dreadful . So ? Mr Maurice Saatchi who now gets three hundred and ten thousand pounds a year compared with six hundred thousand pounds a year two years ago replied I 'm quite satisfied that involuntary taking a fifty per cent pay cut I have done the right thing . Well . Well they 've lost their company they 've lost control of their company .
Idiom: in the saddle (used idiomatically: yes)
If I tense , my mount is encouraged to embark on the entertaining activity of backing into its path . However , if I slacken the reins a fraction and state hard at an object in another direction , he is disconcerted . When I turn in the saddle and point it out to him with vigorous gestures , his curiosity is aroused . Beejay suspects that I have spotted an alternative to misbehave over and can not resist a sideways look . Once he is distracted , I push on hard and he gives up the game .
Idiom: off the mark (used idiomatically: yes)
One night we had a crash landing , when a plane from another air field had to land at Bourn in a bit of a hurry , having been shot up rather badly on the way back from Germany . It finally came to rest near the caravan , at the start of the runway . During take - offs and landings , some Flying Control personnel would occupy a caravan placed near the start of the runway being used , and they would fire green or red flares to let the aircraft know if they were cleared to land or take - off , and on this occasion one of the men was very quick off the mark , saw the crash and was immediately on the spot , helping the crew to get out of the burning aircraft . For his pains he was highly commended and posted to another air field on the east coast , one of several which were used exclusively by crippled aircraft limping home and unable to make base . At these airfields , crashes were the order of the day and I do n't think this particular airman was any too pleased at this result of his unpremeditated heroic action .
Idiom: green light (used idiomatically: yes)
He may be great in the eyes of the world , with his property and wealth , but he has very few friends to attend his funeral and never achieves the only thing he cares about . Gatsby uses his money to try and attract Daisy , whom he was in love with as a young man , although she later married someone else . He buys a hugely expensive house for the sole reason that it has a view over the bay of a winking green light from Daisy 's house . He also holds large extravagant parties every weekend for five years , just in the hope that Daisy may come to one of them . He has planned his reunion with her for so long , that it almost ceases to become real by the time it actually occurs .
Idiom: for the hell of it (used idiomatically: yes)
Over here , everyone 's too influenced by everyone else to do their own thing.’ Bingo ! Likewise , when the Pavements and Mercury Revs farted around in their peculiar padded cells , the thought of getting hip to sway the record buying masses was way down on a list of priorities filled with stuff like , uh , paying the rent and , dur , making music for the hell of it . Bands like that are accidents waiting to happen in a world where 99 per cent of groups are casualties of their own blatant ambition . Rollerskate Skinny have witnessed such lethargic genius ‘ working’ at first hand by playing with Mercury Rev at The Grand in south London .
Idiom: in the saddle (used idiomatically: no)
The donkeys , the little white donkeys of Cairo , lay about in the road and on the pavement among the huge green stacks of berseem brought there for their dinner by forage camels . They were very rarely disturbed , at least by foreigners , since to hire a donkey cost a foreigner as much as a cab and pair of horses . But in their saddles of red brocade and their necklaces of silver thread with blue beads they looked very picturesque and the tourists loved to photograph them . For that , of course , they paid , and that , during the tourist season , was what the donkey - vous was all about . That , and conversation .