Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: anything goes (used idiomatically: no)
Fagin did not wait to hear any more . He gave an angry scream , ran out of the house and hurried through the streets until he reached Bill Sikes ' house . As he climbed the stairs , he thought , ‘ Well , Nancy , if there 's anything going on here , I 'll find out about it — however clever you are.’ Nancy was alone upstairs in her room , her head on the table . ‘ She 's been drinking again,’ thought Fagin .
Idiom: in the lap of luxury (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ At the end ? What about all the years ? Let me tell you , Monsieur Lemarchand , that , while you and your mother were living here in the lap of luxury with my father , my own mother was forced to move constantly to cheaper accommodation . I had to discard my friends , my teachers and my life over and over in order to move . You seem so settled here .
Idiom: on the game (used idiomatically: yes)
In 1955 we played 34 first - class matches of which we won 27 and lost seven . We lost the toss 23 times in those 34 games . His career record of 506 wickets and 3,882 runs does not convey his impact on the game because he was not concerned with his own performances — the team came first . Probably the last of the true amateur captains , his decisions were not controlled by monetary or vested interests . He was his own boss .
Idiom: to die for (used idiomatically: yes)
Before the Americans were irrevocably committed , however , and before the French positions on the Chinese frontier were overrun , they could conceivably have strengthened non - communist national forces in Vietnam to the point where they had a better chance of competing with the Vietminh or even , biting on the bullet , the French could have tried to negotiate a settlement , no matter what alarm that prospect might have caused their American allies . Given the importance of the French holding their part of the line in Southeast Asia the threat of a settlement was itself sufficient to elicit renewed US support . If it was n't exactly political pessimism of the order of ‘ mourir pour Danzig’ it must have been alarming for Americans to hear from High Commissioner Pignon 's diplomatic adviser of the feeling that French interests were not important enough to die for because the country was being given over to the Vietnamese and when the war was over French influence would have disappeared . According to this argument French troops had to see that they were fighting for something and , moreover , they needed the feeling that their actions were approved . For the French , who declared that old - style exploitation of colonies was a thing of the past , all that they said was necessary were economic and social programmes to dissipate ‘ the racial hatred that was drummed up by immature political leaders’ .
Idiom: behind bars (used idiomatically: yes)
He slid the key into the lock and pushed open the door . Rain saw the spare furnishings as he had described . Four heavy screens , one behind the other , were held in a recess behind a locking bar . The front screen was unmarked , but she had anticipated that . The one she insisted on inspecting was at the back .
Idiom: on paper (used idiomatically: yes)
7 With your fingers dusted with icing sugar or cornflour , mould the balloon into shape and pinch in four gentle ridges , spaced evenly apart and pointing downwards . Keep the balloon to one side on non - stick paper . 8 Gather up some fondant trimmings and colour them brown .
Idiom: hate someone's guts (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ No further plant investment in the UK.’ ‘ I suppose Mueller saw to that,’ Mark said sarcastically . ‘ He really hates our guts ! God help the British plants under the new regime!’ Muldoon shook his head .
Idiom: behind bars (used idiomatically: no)
He suffered massive head injuries in the accident on the A5 at Milton Keynes , Bucks . His pal , also six , helped drag him to safety . Drunken police escort end up behind bars Rob Perkins TWO police officers who set out to pick up a prisoner ended up behind bars themselves , a court heard yesterday .
Idiom: make the grade (used idiomatically: yes)
Even then , she had been wilful , determined . Today her soft , dark features concealed a tough obstinacy . That was why she was making the grade as a jockey . And that was why she was allowing herself to become sucked into a whirlpool of corruption which could destroy her career , or worse . ‘ Does the term ‘ conspiracy theory’ mean anything to you?’he asked softly .
Idiom: free rein (used idiomatically: yes)
His mind was in turmoil . He wanted to get away somewhere and think in peace , but experience had taught him that it would have achieved nothing because he was incapable of sustained logical thought . The best he could hope for was to give his thoughts free rein , to recapture phrases , images , notions , and play with them , allowing them to make patterns in his mind . While reading the anonymous notes the glimmering of an idea had come to him but he could not sharpen the focus . It was like trying to recall a dream .
Idiom: in the bag (used idiomatically: no)
It was difficult to believe that the Birdman ( I never did learn his name ) was the same man I had watched earlier in the day catching puffins on the cliffs beyond the village . He was perched precariously on the very edge of the precipice waiting for puffins to fly past , and when one came within reach he swung his long - handled fleygastong ( which is like a landing - net on the end of a four - metre pole ) to intercept the bird . If he was lucky and the bird ended up in the net , the Birdman would extract it and , with a deft flick , break its neck before adding it to others in a canvas bag carried round his waist . But , sitting in the wood - panelled living - room of the Birdman 's house on the little island of Mykines , listening to his tales of the sea and of the exploits of the Faroese fowlers of old , I could think of no reason why he should be considered any more hard or cruel than anyone who has ever eaten a chicken joint , a hamburger — or even a fish - finger ! It was late August and the first south - easterly gale of the season was blowing strongly over Mykines , crashing into the rocky ' geo ' which is the island 's only landing - place .
Idiom: wear the trousers (used idiomatically: yes)
' Hi , how ya doin' ? ' Then there 's Neneh herself . Flip - flopping off the porch in battered Air Jordans , wearing voluminously baggy , clown - size trousers , a white body , and over that a faded green Adidas track top . Her hair is knotted into careless plaits , she 's got no make - up on , and she looks great . Yet , hardly like a pop star .
Idiom: on the rocks (used idiomatically: yes)
GETTING hitched was sheer bliss for Nigel Longmore and Susan Lansley . They tied the knot suspended 40 ft up a cliff - face . Then Susan , 32 , who dangled from ropes wearing gown and boots , joked : ‘ They say our marriage is already on the rocks.’ Climber Nigel , 28 , and best man Patrick Rafferty abseiled to a tiny ledge near Leek , Staffs . As a guest played Here Comes the Bride on his portable keyboard , the Rev Keith Haywood started the service .
Idiom: cost the earth (used idiomatically: yes)
The final icing on the cake is the beautifully - cut brass nut which looks terrific against the sunbursting . And with this spec we get straplocks . So , up - to - the - minute styling and first - class performance , combined with that irresistible whiff of exclusivity does n't have to cost the earth , as these three fine examples most assuredly demonstrate . PATCHWORK Marshall JMP-1 Get the cheque book out , dust off the credit card or prepare to attack that porcelain pig with a mallet ! Marshall 's JMP-1 is here and I think you 're going to want one …
Idiom: fight shy of (used idiomatically: yes)
in real terms . However much Labour may talk about public expenditure , it normally makes such a mess of the economy that there is little benefit to be found in the longer run . The House ought to be given the opportunity to see another document : the document that sets out Labour 's programme , and presents the alternative that Labour Members are well able to encapsulate in amendments to motions but always fight shy of actually producing . That document will tell us Labour 's spending priorities , and how it will balance those priorities . Up and down the country , Opposition Front - Benchers have come out with protestations about what they will give this , that and the other interest group ; the document will make clear the order of priorities , and will begin to explain how the expenditure will be paid for .
Idiom: in the red (used idiomatically: no)
But one Moscow designer , at least , has been able to look at the familiar with a fresh eye and use the symbols of Soviet power with wit and imagination . Yelena Khudiakova 's exhibition of ‘ high fashion using imagery from behind the Iron Curtain' opens at the Birch and Conran gallery in London 's Soho today . Ms Khudiakova herself may , from time to time during the week of the show , model some of the 20 outfits — a red silk skirt patterned with the heads of workers who look as if they are marching when you walk in it , a red evening dress decorated with a swath of flowers reminiscent of the relief on a pavilion in Moscow 's Stalin-era Exhibition of Economic Achievements . The latter dress shows something of the influence of her education at the Moscow Institute of Architecture in the early Eighties : ‘ We studied sculpture , graphics and composition as well as architecture . It was a good grounding for an artist . ’
Idiom: set eyes on (used idiomatically: yes)
She stiffened in his arms , tried to get away . ‘ Let me go!’ ‘ I 've wanted to make love to you since I first set eyes on you.’ ‘ Let me go!’ Her panic was rising .
Idiom: hand to mouth (used idiomatically: yes)
3 to give practice in changes in intonation : Teacher A bird in the hand . Student A bird in the hand ? Teacher To live from hand to mouth . Student To live from hand to mouth ? Teacher Every cloud has a silver lining .
Idiom: in the long run (used idiomatically: yes)
Are you er hopeful that this is , is the start of something good ? Oh , I 'm absolutely sure it is , as , as I say there will be a few months of real suffering in , in eastern Germany and it may be a year and a half to two years before East Germany begans to , begins to show up plus figures , er on , instead of minus figures on the national statistics . But in the long run , it 's bound to strengthen Germany 's economy tremendously , in fact some people think it 's going to strengthen it a bit too much , because it 's , it 's strong enough er already . Now there was some dispute over whether Berlin or Bonn should be the capital , they 've come down on the side of Berlin , but is that dispute settled now ? Not really , they 've put in their treaty that er Berlin is the capital of the United Germany , but that the seat of government will be chosen by the newly elected all - German parliament , which has got to be chosen early in December , and they could still say ‘ well we have the capital in Berlin , but the seat of the government will remain in Bonn , and up in Berlin the president will have his office and some meetings will take place , but the ministries and foreign embassies and so on , and all the traffic jams that go with that , can jolly well stay in Bonn’ .
Idiom: catch fire (used idiomatically: no)
SALMON v. SEAFARER RESTAURANTS LTD [ 1983]3 A11 ER 729 ( HC ) The plaintiff , a fireman , was injured by an explosion on premises occupied by the defendants , a fish and chip shop , when a fire in the premises melted a seal on a gas meter , thus allowing gas to escape . The fire was caused by an employee of the defendants negligently forgetting to extinguish a gas flame under a chip fryer before leaving the premises for the night , with the result that the oil in the chip fryer continued to heat up until it caught fire . The plaintiff brought an action in negligence against the defendants , contending that , because the fire had been started negligently and because he had been injured as a result , he was entitled to recover damages from the defendants . The defendants denied liability , contending that an occupier 's duty of care to firemen attending his premises in the course of their work was limited to protecting the firemen from any special or exceptional risks over and above the ordinary risks necessarily incidental to a fireman 's job , and did not extend to protecting firemen from such ordinary risks which , on the facts , included an explosion of the kind which had taken place on the defendants ' premises .
Idiom: with a vengeance (used idiomatically: yes)
17 Dec-4 Jan ; UK tour ( 071–837 3133 ) . VIDEO Thelma & Louise — driven to distraction by their oh - so - ordinary lives , Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon hit the road with a vengeance . Close My Eyes Chancer star Clive Owen and his sister ( played b Saskia Reeves ) get a little too close for comfort . Danton Depardieu as the colourful and charismatic French Revolution leader .
Idiom: one of those things (used idiomatically: yes)
In the context of claims for personal injuries , it is clear that ignorance of the law dissuades potential claimants from seeking advice , and most people only seek legal advice after first obtaining advice from other services , which may be ill - informed and thus cause a person with a claim not to pursue it . More generally , the Marre Committee was convinced by the evidence which it received that ignorance was a major cause of people not seeking legal advice when it was appropriate . An aspect of the problem related to ignorance is that of apathy in the sense that a person says ‘ it 's not worth pursuing it’ or ‘ let 's just forget about it’or ‘ it 's just one of those things.’ the Oxford Study shows that apathy is a major reason in explaining why people do not seek legal advice . The Marre Committee suggested that the solutions lie in four areas .
Idiom: go begging (used idiomatically: yes)
At first , the Sisters themselves tried knocking in a few nails or propping up walls with staves . When that did n't halt the disintegration they got a few able - bodied men from the village to help , but after a while it was obvious that much more radical repair was needed . It became clear that if the Community 's work was to continue , they would need money and thus the Sisters went out begging in other villages , and visiting the gentry in their mansions scattered about that part of the Moor . When Topaz arrived at the residence of Lord Oswin Lovat she did n't hold out much hope of prising his purse open . He was known to be a bad - tempered recluse , avoided by everyone in the area .
Idiom: at sea (used idiomatically: yes)
The little blond Adonis was watching television . Since school , which was n't long ago , he 'd worked as a butcher , ‘ squeezed a heart in a sink and got blood all over -sickened me’ , and latterly as a — guess it — hairdresser . This was his first job at sea . Naw , he would pack it in once they got back to Pee'erheed . The second mate had just finished preparing breakfast .
Idiom: at a canter (used idiomatically: no)
By the end of the Ordovician they had already radiated into many of the niches they occupy today . Their story from then on is one of slow , but steady , increase and diversification . Bivalves seem generally to have evolved at a slow canter rather than a brisk gallop ( see ammonites pp . 73–6 ) and some living bivalves have a very long ancestry ; the small sized genus ( Nucula ) has relatives in Ordovician rocks not very different from Recent species . But the ancestors of many of the modern bivalves arose during the Mesozoic , and unlike many of the animals in this book the bivalves were affected in a much lees dramatic way by the Mesozoic - Tertiary extinction events that extirpated so many other major elements in the marine fauna . In spite of their general conservatism the bivalves did produce some short - lived , bizarre forms with no living survivors .
Idiom: make a move (used idiomatically: yes)
True Blue Funny , Campbell did n't show any interest in joining the ' number one team ' this time last year — when Glentoran were champions . Coyle signs up another Scot DERRY City manager , Roy Coyle , made another bold move into the transfer market for the third time in 10 days to gain the services of yet another Scottish player . Ian McConnell , a 19-years - old striker , formerly with Dundee , arrived in Derry today and he 's expected to be part of the panel which takes the field against Dundalk tomorrow afternoon . ( Kick - off : 3.30pm ) .
Idiom: close to home (used idiomatically: yes)
You spoke to no one and tell your sister the same . ' They then bundled him out of the car and left him on the road . The place was fairly close to his parents ' home and possibly had been chosen for that reason . He soon recognised the locality and walked to it . Joan Waters immediately telephoned Dysart Police Station .
Idiom: make history (used idiomatically: no)
In two days ' time ( 7th May ) , it would be the forty - fifth anniversary of the final German surrender in the Second World War though the cease - fire was not to take effect until midnight on 8th May. With the unification process underway ( it happened at midnight on 2nd October , 1990 ) , the anniversary of the European war 's end had special significance in Germany . Back in my room I watched a devastatingly well - made history of European Jews from 1933–1945 . It took as its title the poem by Paul Celan , Death Comes as a Master from Germany . A good deal of the historical footage I had already seen over the years and some of it , such as the dreadful footage of the Warsaw Ghetto , was only too familiar .
Idiom: put a foot wrong (used idiomatically: yes)
In front of them to one side were the CEGB representatives , led by Lord Silsoe with streamlined efficiency . He was reported to be paid £ 2,000 per day for his efforts — as much as some objecting organizations were likely to spend in total . His three supporting barristers were well briefed by the CEGB machine and rarely put a foot wrong . A stream of other officials walked in and out regularly to give advice , pass on information or carry in the heavy wooden boxes full of papers which surrounded them like a stockade . On the other side was the team from the Consortium of Opposing Local Authorities ( COLA , which by this time had twenty - one local council members and a budget approaching £ 1 million .
Idiom: go it alone (used idiomatically: yes)
Mr O'Connor said the campaign so far had taken a lot of time and effort , with mixed results . ' Initially everyone was extremely co - operative , but soon we were n't sure whether we had the backing of our district council . It seemed a bit lukewarm , and we felt we had to go it alone . ' The MP came out to see what the scare was . He was the only one who came out .
Idiom: spring to mind (used idiomatically: yes)
Politicians , diplomats , aid workers and journalists of almost every nationality have all been dragged into the confusion and misery that are the aftermath of the Vietnam war and the American bombing of Cambodia . Politics aside , the Vietnam industry is a profitable one , not least because many of the correspondents who covered the war — and there were literally thousands over the ten - year period — have remained obsessed with it . Among names that immediately spring to mind are those of Sydney Schanberg , the former New York Times correspondent who was in Phnom Penh at the time of the fall , and whose subsequent search for his Cambodian assistant , Dith Pran , was documented in Roland Joffé 's film The Killing Fields , who arrived in Indo- China at the age of 21 and was there from 1970 to mid-1975 , first with Agence France Presse , then as a stringer for The Sunday Times — when all the other journalists were getting out , Swain was either brave or foolhardy enough to fly back into Phnom Penh in time for its fall ; William Shawcross who , along with many others , covered the Vietnam war for The Sunday Times and who subsequently became obsessed with the fate of Cambodia , an obsession that resulted first in Sideshow , which exposed the role of Nixon and Kissinger , and then in The Quality of Mercy , a study of the work of the Red Cross in Cambodia ; John Pilger , the British - based Australian journalist whose work on Cambodia may have had little concrete effect but has at least helped to ensure that the tragic country will never disappear into oblivion ; Philip Caputo , who went initially to Vietnam in March 1965 as a 23-year - old Marine officer with the first US combat group sent to Indo - China and returned in 1975 as a correspondent to report on what was left of the war . In 1977 Caputo published the superb Rumour of War which documented his own combat experiences in Vietnam ; subsequent novels by Caputo revealed as much about his own problems in leaving Vietnam behind as anything else . Another writer who is inseparable from the Vietnam war experience is Michael Herr who spent just under a year there from 1967–1968 for Esquire .
Idiom: come to mind (used idiomatically: yes)
' Major Nash , ' she said , ' I 've kept your room all this time because I felt sorry for you . But you owe two months ' rent now and I 'm afraid I must ask you to find other accommodation in a week 's time if this is still outstanding . ' Eleanor 's invitation came almost instantly to mind , but only to be instantly rejected . He knew that he still had certain assets on which he could raise cash . His late mother 's gold watch was one of them .
Idiom: run out of steam (used idiomatically: yes)
Travis was transferred to another area and the life of the signal box returned to normal . Then , in the late 1940s a series of incidents happened that have no logical explanation and caused distress and horror . At dawn one spring morning a heavily loaded freight train , headed by a pre - war 2 — 8 — 0 locomotive , was running out of steam owing to a badly clinkered fire - bed as it approached Brook End signal box . The signalman , knowing that this train had been in his section for some time and was overdue , set his points and signal from the up main to the up goods loop to allow the up passenger train , following the goods , to run past without any unnecessary delay . As the freight train came slowly to a halt at the loop stop signal near the box , the fireman told the signalman of their problem who in turn reported the incident to the train control .
Idiom: on the back of (used idiomatically: no)
By contrast , in the interwar years poisonous international politics combined with global economic imbalances to create the Great Depression and set the scene for World ~ War ~ II . Now consider recent financial innovations . On the back of the new computer and telecommunications technology , a giant market for derivative instruments was built . Collateralized debt obligations ( CDOs , mainly tied to mortgages ) made a new population of aspiring homeowners supposedly creditworthy by enabling the originating banks to sell " sub - prime " debt to other investors . Before securitization , banks typically held mortgages ; now they could get them off their books .
Idiom: nice as pie (used idiomatically: yes)
It struck him as convenient the way women placed such reliance on their emotions . She 'd offered to lend him the money to have the bike fixed , and when he accepted she said , ‘ I 've broken something precious , have n't I?’ and knelt in the street among the bits of glass , looking up at him as if she understood it was more than a lamp she had smashed . He forgave her , and then a week later he and Keeley came home from the Beaux Arts Club to find her sitting on the basement steps , smiling nice as pie . Fooled , he let her in , and she ran straight to his jazz records and whipping off her court shoe brought the heel down on his favourite Blossom Dearie . This time it was because her feelings told her he did n't love her .