Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: in the dock (used idiomatically: yes)
When suffering eye tests in the darkened cubicle at the back of his shop , almost the only thing Henry ever managed to see was the pitying smile on Beamish 's face as he flashed up smaller and smaller letter sequences , all of them probably spelling ‘ You are a fat shortsighted twerp’ ! Beamish , thought Henry , could be the fall guy . He liked to think of Beamish in the dock at the Central Court , his counsel blustering on about his client 's perfectly normal , acceptable need for heavy metal poisons ( ‘ But how do you explain , Mr Beamish , your ordering a quantity of thallium from a perfectly reputable chemist 's … ?’ ) He closed the book , replaced it in the cookery section of the open shelves , and walked briskly to the car . There was no time to lose .
Idiom: over the top (used idiomatically: yes)
Ten minutes later he was joined by the couple for whom he had been waiting . He stood , and with a great sweep of his hand , bowed , said ' servus ' , and drew out a chair for his lady guest . However over - the - top he may have seemed , it was a vignette I could not have envisaged in Prague . If first impressions mean anything , I was getting a sense of a city more amiable and self - confident . The drivers seemed less aggressive , even stopping to let you into a stream of traffic .
Idiom: twist someone's arm (used idiomatically: yes)
Well I could council to , if you could like lump it with the next year ' s. El e Elliel , Elliel said that er they could probably twist the council 's arm What 's that for Barry ? Well , this , you know we 're on about this money
Idiom: marching orders (used idiomatically: yes)
USA hooker Tony Flay had to be replaced following an ugly facial cut and a few minutes later replacement hooker Pat Johnson had his nose broken by a punch . Simon was lucky not to be sent off . His luck ran out for the French students against their English counterparts when , though captain , he was given his marching orders for , guess what , stamping again . Simon explains : ‘ As far as the USA game is concerned , we were not aware that there was a problem . No - one complained .
Idiom: once and for all (used idiomatically: yes)
The Department certainly gave Tom McCormack a send off he wo n't forget — and neither will his bank manager ! ! The event , held on 25 June , began with ‘ This Is Your Life — Tom McCormack’— a brilliant production by Russell Hunter — but where was Michael Aspel ? ? ISU photographs certainly disproved the myth once and for all— yes , Tom did have hair ! ! By 5 pm the drink was consumed and the body of the kirk was getting high on the spirits ! The crowd began to disperse but the dancing continued — do you call that dancing Neil ?
Idiom: bite off more than you can chew (used idiomatically: yes)
It has to be checked for any messages that could 've been left.’ Silas regarded her with a hint of mockery . ‘ Am I right in suspecting you feel you 've bitten off more than you can chew?’ Her brows rose as she bristled inwardly . ‘ You mean more than I can cope with ?
Idiom: pick holes (used idiomatically: yes)
( ii ) If t ε J is such that f(t ) = 0 ε J we call t a root or zero of f in J. We can now prove a result which is often stated and proved in a rather casual manner . It might be quite instructive for the reader to select an algebra text at random and see how many , if any , holes he can pick in the proof of the following theorem given therein . In this case deg r = 0 and r is ( again ) a constant polynomial . We leave the second part of the theorem to exercise 1 .
Idiom: bear in mind (used idiomatically: yes)
Yeah I suppose so , yeah . But even so I mean fifteen thousand pounds , it 's still a fair bit to live on . It is but bearing in mind the lifestyle that you 've got now , you 've got a very good lifestyle . Yeah . Yeah okay yeah .
Idiom: turn something on its head (used idiomatically: yes)
When we ask politicians to explain these deplorable results , they reply in unison : " It 's not our fault . " Recovery , goes the refrain , has been " derailed " by the eurozone crisis . But this is to turn the matter on its head . The eurozone crisis did not derail recovery ; it is the result of a lack of recovery . It is the natural , predictable , and ( by many ) predicted result of the main European countries ' deliberate policy of repressing aggregate demand .
Idiom: in my book (used idiomatically: yes)
Oh no no no you ai n't you you ai n't caught what I mean Yeah but then if he had to find anything then Yeah but , no but you think how many yeah but you think how many entries go in my book during the course of a normal year . So then if suddenly I have about a tenth of them entries . They 're gon na want to know why .
Idiom: for the time being (used idiomatically: yes)
( There was supposed to be a Mantegna . ) ‘ We travelled a good deal . When Mussolini took over in Italy , Anna decided that it was her duty to make her protest on Italian soil as an Italian citizen ( a not too vulnerable one for the time being , but she tried her best ) . So she allowed herself to return at last . Rome , of course , remained forbidden ground .
Idiom: in the long term (used idiomatically: yes)
As experience in the US or UK during the 1980s shows , a small state is not necessarily a weak state despite the rhetoric of claims that a limited state sector restores individual freedom and personal initiative . The Nakasone cabinet in 1986 , like the Reagan or Thatcher governments , was deeply involved with issues that are ostensibly private to individuals or families . For example , in underlining the need to reduce public welfare provision in the long term , the state upholds the family as the alternative centre of provision , with consequent implications for women 's domestic role in the care of children and the aged . So efforts to facilitate a painless reduction in one sphere requires the state to assist in the maintenance of the other . Reactions by pluralists to Marxist analysis of the Japanese state have rarely been characterized by rigorous argument .
Idiom: back to the drawing board (used idiomatically: yes)
Ooh I shall er do Countdown at four thirty . Mm . What are you going to do , go back to your drawing board ? Oh probably not . No ?
Idiom: break ranks (used idiomatically: yes)
He viewed all parliaments as swamps which suck down good and bad alike : " nobody can achieve anything in parliament or through parliament . " That comment , made shortly after the 1951 elections , is sufficient to explain the split which gradually developed between the RPF parliamentarians and de Gaulle . This split first became public in early 1952 , when a group of twenty- seven RPF parliamentarians broke ranks and gave a vote of confidence to the conservative prime minister Antoine Pinay . It culminated in May 1953 when the General severed links between the RPF and its deputies , and began to wind up the Rassemblement . In retrospect , this split was probably inevitable .
Idiom: take the plunge (used idiomatically: no)
One of the cows mooed as she passed their field . She reached the cliff and scrambled down the steps to the beach . The sea was so cold she had to force herself to take the plunge . She swam , as strongly as she could , twice across the cove . It was the perfect start — the real start — to the week .
Idiom: on the fly (used idiomatically: no)
Their interchange had been soft , not loud , and McAllister wondered how much Matey had heard , and whether she approved or not — and did not care . Full summer , the heat of late July was on Vetch Street . The dead flies on the fly - papers which hung in every room bore witness to that . Even so , one naughty specimen , avoiding the fate of its fellows , buzzed around McAllister 's head . She was engaged in dressing a doll for the bazaar which loomed nearer and nearer .
Idiom: over the counter (used idiomatically: yes)
A registry of these applications for cimetidine use during 1977–81 is available . The material consisting of 16739 patients who were given the drug for duodenal ulcer , gastric ulcer , gastritis / duodenitis or coexisting duodenal and gastric ulcer , and had neither a history of gastric surgery , nor a history of cancer , has been described previously . In 1989 , it was decided to change peptic ulcer drugs containing cimetidine , ranitidine or sucralfate in general use from prescription drugs to over the counter distribution . At the same time , the general reimbursement was cancelled for all peptic ulcer drugs . This meant that reimbursement again required an individual application to the National Board of Health .
Idiom: have kittens (used idiomatically: no)
‘ Arr ! Well , the thing is , Pop Will Eat Itself used to come down to my place when I first had it and absolutely f— the place up . We used to do speed and stuff and I could never get to sleep because they 'd always be in my bed — it was like having kittens in the house . F — in ' red wine on the carpet , that was bad , white wine on the walls so you get like a nice green tinge and they 'd been sick and broken the toilet seat and they 'd shit in the toilet and not flush it , fags in the coffee cups , I do n't let them come round any more … ’ Each member of EMF has read and understood Oscar Wilde 's The Picture Of Dorian Grey —truly understood it .
Idiom: come a cropper (used idiomatically: yes)
Because she played a character we liked . A gutsy but vulnerable underdog who swiped the prince and was still one of us at the end of it . Admittedly , it probably helped that in real life , she came a cropper over Keifer . Because a failed relationship is a great leveller — a universal experience . And it helps to know it happens to beautiful women , too .
Idiom: out and about (used idiomatically: yes)
Make sure you have all the breakfast options available — eggs , bacon , cereal , toast . Make a simple one - pot meal for Saturday evening dinner ( like a stew in the slo - cooker , so that you are not forever preparing the meal and forever washing up ) . A slo - cooker , of course , will allow you and your guest to spend the whole of Saturday out and about , without worrying about the preparation of a meal when you arrive home . If you can afford it eat out modestly over the stay ; have a pub snack , for instance , on the Saturday while you are both out shopping or sightseeing , and a roast lunch on the Sunday . Eating out ( particularly Sunday lunch ) gives you a break from cooking and gives your guest some variety of scenery .
Idiom: on the level (used idiomatically: yes)
' Was there a particular reason that caused you to look me up after all this time , James ? ' This was my cue but Alec was looking across at me with a grin that was too eager and I faltered . It suddenly crossed my mind that perhaps he thought I had come to see him on a professional level , that I was in need of spiritual help or whatever . This idea was too awful to contemplate . I hoped that my relief was n't too visible when Jill chose that moment to enter with the tea tray .
Idiom: on the carpet (used idiomatically: yes)
She felt bruised and her arms hurt . She looked about her . Two of the black lacquer cabinets had been opened and china lay in little piles outside them on the carpet . As far as she could see nothing had been taken but then she was not exactly sure of all their contents . Matthew came back into the room .
Idiom: over the top (used idiomatically: yes)
But I also care because of the high quality of the scripts . thirtysomething is to soaps what Hill Street Blues was to cop shows : sharp , irridescent and innovative . The writers take risks and every episode has something wacky about it : elaborate dream sequences ; an argument played back four different ways from the perspective of each of the participants ; the cast transported into the world of the Dick van Dyke Show . Occasionally and inevitably they go over the top — but that 's in the nature of risk . Besides , the fantasy moments are balanced by and anchored in an amazingly acute eye for detail , for the nuances of real relationships : in this sense thirtysomething produces the quality of the best feature films , week in and week out . That 's doubtless because originators Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick are writing about themselves and their friends : like Michael Steadman , who is at the centre of this universe , they are Jews in their mid - thirties married to non - Jews and with young children .
Idiom: out of this world (used idiomatically: yes)
His eyes were cold blue steel . ‘ There 's nowhere you could go that I would n't find you.’ Tightening the mainsail , he continued pleasantly , ‘ Just behind the old port there 's a restaurant that serves swordfish steaks with a herb and lemon dressing that 's out of this world . We 'll eat there tonight . It 'll save you having to cook .
Idiom: hold someone's hand (used idiomatically: no)
Still , she must have done . When they 'd finished their second cup of coffee her companion murmured , ' Time for one more thing . ' He rose and held out his hand . Of its own volition hers went into it like a homing pigeon while her mind was still saying , ' No way , signore . ' As he drew her to the canal 's edge a gondola slid from out of the shadows .
Idiom: on the run (used idiomatically: yes)
The alarm was raised 20 minutes later by a passer - by who spotted the rope . Similar escapes in the past — there 've been 16 in 2 years — have prompted officials of the Prison Officers ' Association to suggest video camera surveillance of the blind spot . 4 of the escaped prisoners were recaptured in Gloucester city centre within half an hour ; 2 others are still on the run . The Home Office say an enquiry is underway , but they ca n't discuss details of prison security . Police plan action against hippies in Worcestershire
Idiom: by the back door (used idiomatically: yes)
Managers of the service , supported by watchdog body the Mid Essex Community Health Council , have always been keen any merger should involve another locally - based trusts . However , there has been some pressure at health authority level for the mental health service in mid Essex to merge instead with its counterpart in north - east Essex , which is already a trust . Mergers of health authority - run services with trusts have been criticised by some opponents of the Government 's NHS reforms as obtaining trust status ‘ by the back door’ . The Department of Health told health authorities last autumn such mergers would only be allowed in exceptional circumstances . It later issued new guidelines on the procedure .
Idiom: curry favour (used idiomatically: yes)
Shortly afterwards he left the licensed dealer which then tried unsuccessfully to get him sacked from the stockbroker he had persuaded to give him a job . If dealers were discovered looking for jobs from other licensed dealers , they would usually get fired on the spot . Sometimes , another dealer tipped off a director as to the identities of miscreants , so as to curry favour for which he might reap a tangible reward like extra leads . Poor dealers were sometimes kept on by firms by being shifted into administrative positions , e.g. a dealer at one licensed dealer was made manager in charge of Personal Equity Plans ( PEPs ) . This shift in position marked a decline in status as well as income , but was preferable perhaps to being sacked .
Idiom: win the day (used idiomatically: yes)
From the little I knew of you it seemed out of character . However , I 'd been duped before … ’ ‘ So cynicism won the day.’ ‘ Mm.’ ‘ So , in the romantic setting of Bettystown beach , you reluctantly made it clear to your fair companion that it was goodbye and thank you .
Idiom: present company excepted (used idiomatically: yes)
When he stood in the middle of the road waving his arms it was only because he was hungry and wanted his dinner , now you 'll have to trundle him about in a wheelbarrow like a dead sheep , you 'll have no time for skirmishing . Do be careful . Nutty raised an army of smelly Brits while I was away ( present company excepted ) and I fear a civil war . Hopefully the legions will fight it while I get on with my knitting . Nero has ordered ten thousand hides as they get through a lot of shoe leather with all that clomping .
Idiom: off the hook (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ I should just let them get on with it,’ said Ellen lightly , ‘ so long as they do n't start sacrificing goats . On the other hand perhaps they should . Then the Animal Rights Activists can campaign against them , and let you off the hook.’ ‘ You 're not taking this seriously , Ellen.’ ‘ No.’
Idiom: turn heads (used idiomatically: yes)
' Are n't you ? ' ' No ! ' But she could see he did n't believe her , and she turned her head away in deliberate rejection , refusing to sink to pleading for his belief . For Maria , and perhaps even for Luke , the evening finally came to mean something when , having done his duty as an announcer , Florian Jones was called up on stage once more as the winner of the radio category in which he had been nominated . ' Not bad for a baby station . '
Idiom: have a few (used idiomatically: yes)
We had dinner one evening and although she did n't know it , I was recording everything she said . Because I like to keep a little record myself . I 've had a few copies made to be on the safe side : solicitors , banks … you know . If I come to grief , Hilary , then so will you.’ Ellwood waited , happy to hear the line humming between them .
Idiom: work to rule (used idiomatically: yes)
The union will engage in negotiations with the employers in an attempt to persuade them that the wage claim is justified . If this fails , the union can turn to some form of industrial action . For example , it may instruct its members to go - slow or work - to - rule or it may call for selective strikes ( in which certain groups of workers stop working for a specified time period ) ; or all the union members may be called out on a one - day strike . As a last resort , if the union believes that its members are being unfairly treated , it may decide that an all - out strike for an indefinite period is necessary . This is likely to be damaging to the workers ( who lose pay ) and the firms involved ( who lose output , sales and profits ) .
Idiom: tie the knot (used idiomatically: yes)
There are a few knots that we need to learn when we 're sailing . This particular one is called a rail turn and two half hitches it needs to be tight so that it does n't come undone when we 're out there . Okay Suzanne , now you had to slacken off the halyard to let me tie that last knot so if you could tighten it up again that will pull the sail up to the top of the mast . That 's fine , now all we 've got to do is to tidy up this end of the halyard and tuck it out of the way . You will see that most sailors are tidy around the boat particularly with loose ends of rope , and there is a very good safety reason .
Idiom: go up in smoke (used idiomatically: yes)
Well we can start . Yeah , we can get started on that anyway , sort of thing before we Erm should the house go up in smoke , Theresa across the road run to her Otherwise if erm if you desperately need us sort of thing if you ring the vicarage and then you can erm Alison or somebody will probably be in and come round for You what ?
Idiom: game on (used idiomatically: yes)
Date : Mon , 13 Dec 93 15:14:31 GMT Subject : Villa Match Does anybody know when you can apply for tickets for the Villa game on Jan 3rd . I assume this will be an afternoon kick - off as it is a bank holiday ? I will use the fax method to get ticks .
Idiom: rough and ready (used idiomatically: yes)
It is important to remember that a government 's power can and normally does quite properly extend to people who do not accept its authority . They are subject to its power partly because those who accept its authority are willing to obey its instructions , even when they affect people who do not accept its authority . In a rough and ready way we can divide the ways in which a government controls and influences people into three . First , some accept its authority and obey its instructions because they are binding on them . Second , the government can and does manipulate the environment , physical , economic and social , in which people live .
Idiom: from scratch (used idiomatically: yes)
The user has to drill two holes in the sides of the centre recess to fit a particular machine . Our initial impression was favourable . The all - important cost of £ 64 made the table cheaper than making a similar model from scratch , and the fence proved accurate enough for rebating and jointing . The cut - out can accommodate most cutters that would be used in a 6 mm collett . Disadvantages are a flimsy tool shelf below the table , and a sliding fence that may be vulnerable to breakage .
Idiom: on the trot (used idiomatically: yes)
Staff are hoping that the firm will be back to full production within 6 weeks . No doubt about the sporting achievement of the weekend … Nigel Mansell 's record - breaking fifth Grand Prix win on the trot . But while Mansell was taking a step closer to becoming world champion in San Marino , an Oxford speedway rider was mounting his own bid to become British champion . Robin Powell reports .
Idiom: get stuck in (used idiomatically: yes)
And it was Clay he 's dancing through here dancing through there and dancing back dancing back . He said I would have asked you if I had had any trying to find trousers awake . So he had to wear his and he do n't like doing that because it gets stuck in the locker . What time did you come down this morning then Bet ? Me ?
Idiom: pull a fast one (used idiomatically: yes)
Logic does n't often come into it ; sometimes the numbers reflect engine power , sometimes not . Occasionally a series starts this way , then veers off on a tangent to do with steering wheel size or some other imponderable . Often makers try pulling a fast one by giving a tractor a number that 's bigger than its actual horsepower . Mainly it 's a guessing game , with model series stored only in the heads of salesmen . Linkage lift depends on engine power and hydraulic capacity , and should be sized to give spare capacity over the heaviest item on the farm — allowing for extra wet - soil loading where appropriate .
Idiom: see the light (used idiomatically: no)
Osgood gives considerable regard and space to a paper by Brown and Voth ( 1937 ) on apparent movement , in which an experiment is described where four lights disposed at the corners of a square are flashed on and off successively , going round the square . Bartley ( 1941 ) also devotes some pages to this . According to these authors , when the interval between successive lights in such a set - up is around 150 millisec . , a single light is seen to describe a circle . ( Sylvester 1960 : 231 ) ( 87 ) He appears to be unaware of after - image phenomena and , so far as I can make out , puts forward an explanation , instead , which says that movement can be perceived when no object is seen to move !
Idiom: catch someone's eye (used idiomatically: yes)
No . No . If I do n't want anything I , I just go in there and I think well I 'll just go and see I may see something which catches my eye . And I go in there and I have lov , I can be in there an hour ! Just wandering around
Idiom: on the back of (used idiomatically: yes)
D'you hear me?’ Her voice had risen and the child now sat down on a low chair and quickly took off her shoes , then pulled her grey stockings down over her knees before , standing up , she asked , ‘ Will you unhook me , please?’ And Aggie , bending down , undid four buttons on the back of her dress . After the dress , the child took off two white petticoats , and Aggie noticed that the material was quite good ; and when it seemed that the shift was about to be taken off too , she said , ‘ I would keep that on , if I were you ; you have n't got a nightgown.’ ‘ Oh yes .