Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: dead wood (used idiomatically: yes)
Yes , there are print - outs , but how labour- and time - intensive they are . The fact is that most computer stuff is still designed for people who like playing with technology . When that changes , ink and dead wood may indeed be threatened . Could it be that the success of Microsoft is due partly to the fact that Bill Gates is an avid reader of your newspaper , therefore winning the ‘ severe contest between intelligence , which presses forward , and an unworthy , timid ignorance obstructing our progress’ ? Just wondering …
Idiom: catch fire (used idiomatically: yes)
Tot alarm wire alert FIRE chiefs yesterday warned parents to check the cables of baby alarms . It followed two cases of toddlers being snatched to safety after alarms caught fire . Tests showed the cables were damaged , causing overheating . Mid - Glamorgan fire chief Don Williams said : ‘ Wires where they enter the appliance can become frayed with a lot of use.’
Idiom: out of line (used idiomatically: yes)
It 's already beginning to happen as retro - bolting increases ( see our Compass columns for an excellent example ) . Climbers with fewer scruples than those prepared to weight the issues , will place bolts on ‘ easier’ climbs , and we 'll be on an escalator that 's hard to stop . Maybe I 'm too cynical , but I find it difficult to accept Pete Gomersall 's faith in human nature and the view that climbers will not step out of line and place bolts in the ‘ wrong’ locations . What 's good about the debating is that people are talking about the rights and wrongs of bolting as a practice — and that has to be welcomed . Unless we talk we wo n't reach conclusions that are acceptable to the majority .
Idiom: on the trot (used idiomatically: yes)
On the eve of the home game with Bristol Rovers , a buoyant Lawrence said : ' I believe there will be one final twist in the tail . ' I do n't know whether or not it will involve us , but we must go flat out and hope Leiceser slip up . ' Leicester have won five games on the trot . If they extend it to seven they will deserve automatic promotion . ' I think Middlesbrough 's club record is seven wins on the trot .
Idiom: game on (used idiomatically: yes)
Now unless you 're a skinhead of the old school , or have been time - warped for twenty years , parkas are not exactly in when it comes to neat threads . If , however , you need deep pockets , a fleece lining and a hood because you know you could freeze your butt off on the back of a truck , they 're the business . If the parka also has USS Ticondcroga printed across the left breast and you won it in a backgammon game on San Francisco 's Pier 39 , then you have enough kudos to carry it off . I pulled out some money and laid it on the bar , followed by a pair of black leather driving gloves with the tops of the three middle fingers cut off the right hand , a tube of mint - flavoured lip salve and a metal hip - flask engraved with the words : ‘ I am not a diabetic ; in case of accidents please rush me to the nearest public house.’ Gross , I know , but it came in handy .
Idiom: kill the goose that lays the golden egg (used idiomatically: yes)
Between Wetherby and Thorp Arch , a 7,000 house settlement may be built . It 's possible to draw a comparison between York and the National Parks : some countryside campaigners feel that the city has over - promoted itself in terms of business opportunities and pleasant surroundings . If it develops too fast York may kill the goose that laid the golden egg and no one will want to live there — just as tourists are beginning to avoid Lake Windermere because of its commerciality and crowds of people . There is also increasing pressure on the country 's greenbelt areas . Fifteen greenbelts in England and five in Scotland cover 4.5 million acres of often prime land .
Idiom: left and right (used idiomatically: yes)
This symmetry of design comes with the nature of this style of dance and its historical development . Technically each movement emanates from and is circled round a centre line of balance . Therefore in daily training it is customary for each exercise to be performed to the left and right , forwards and backwards . But even if a choreographer breaks such regularity when setting a classical ballet he usually balances the pattern made on the floor in one enchaînement by another moving in the opposite direction . This balancing of floor patterns is also matched by the rise and fall of the dancers ' bodies , heads and arms .
Idiom: take root (used idiomatically: no)
I am proud to have had his friendship . The Man Who Influenced World Leaders and the Young by Sir Arthur Norman Chairman , WWF - UK To have influenced in one short lifetime fundamental changes in the attitude of hundreds of millions of fellow humans towards the natural world and to have seen his ideas take root and flourish all over the world , is surely the achievement of a very extraordinary and great man . Our grief at his passing , just a few days before we could celebrate with him his eightieth birthday , is only diminished by the knowledge that he left us knowing that the fruits of his inspired leadership and labours are imperishable . Tributes to Peter Scott continue to flow from all quarters of Planet Earth which he served so wonderfully well and WWF - UK has more reason than most to mark this loss of its Founder Chairman and main source of inspiration since its inception 28 years ago .
Idiom: keep someone in the dark (used idiomatically: no)
She slid a hand through her newly washed hair and her eyes rolled desperately from Dexter to his boss . ' I assumed the poor man already knew , you see . I had no idea he 'd been kept in the dark for so long . As it turned out , I was doing him a service . ' ' Doing him a service ? ' asked Blanche , her voice pitched high with incredulity .
Idiom: cut and dried (used idiomatically: yes)
Moreover , although a great cult may have brought in more than enough wealth to compensate for the damage caused by those fleeing from the king 's anger , that wealth could still attract the attention of would - be thieves . A major shrine was not an unequivocal blessing to its guardians . Episcopal power was not cut and dried , although the canons , the saints ' Lives and the epitaphs of bishops would like us to think that it was . The image presented by these sources is one of consensus , in which all was ultimately rightly ordered by divine forces . This vision is the creation of propaganda .
Idiom: game on (used idiomatically: yes)
What is going on in the Royal Family ? Song of praise RUGBY is about much more than the game on the pitch . It is about feeling proud of your team and your country . Nothing expresses that better than joining together to sing traditional and patriotic songs .
Idiom: right as rain (used idiomatically: yes)
He curses them , as young men do — but not young ladies — he pulls out the arrow roughly , then leaves the creature there where it lay down and died . — Amadé looks on the rat 's body with sorrow , she 's soft - hearted , you know that , when the rat wife come running out , eyes left and right , watching out , a red flower in her teeth , and she makes passes over the dead creature from tip of tail to tip of nose . Once , twice , three times until , yes , it goes and opens its eyes and gets right up , right as rain — ; She pauses , she is thinking of this scene ; Xanthe 's eyes widen . ‘ Go on,’ she orders with her frown .
Idiom: open someone's eyes (used idiomatically: yes)
Then there was another scuffle and I heard him go in a falling of bits of mud . I drew my feet out of the water . But I did not open my eyes until the firing had stopped . ‘ I was not alone in that shell - hole . Half in , half out of the water opposite me was a greyish mass .
Idiom: in the same breath (used idiomatically: yes)
So - called " ruler - portraits " nearly always turn out to be stereotypes : in the context of Carolingian group - identity , the precise point about images of Charles the Bald was the resemblance to Louis the Pious and Charlemagne , his father and grandfather . We have what sounds like an accurate personal description of Charles : " of middle height , good - looking , fit for all sorts of exercise , bold , generous , shrewd and good at public speaking " . In the same breath , the writer attributes identical traits to Charles 's brother . In other words , both kings are being depicted as kingly . Charles and his contemporaries did not appeal for authority to individual judgement or experience : instead they invoked shared role - models and peer - group pressure .
Idiom: anything goes (used idiomatically: no)
' She did n't want to discuss it on the phone , that 's all I know . First of all I had the most awful trouble starting this thing . We should never have got rid of the little Fiat we used to have which started first time every time and if anything did go wrong you could fix it with an elastic band or a bit of string , Gianluigi used to say , although personally I 'm hopeless with machinery . Anyway , when I got to the cafe where we were supposed to meet there 's no sign of her ! Well , you ca n't get near her flat , they 've closed the street , they 're turning the whole city centre into a museum , next thing they 'll be charging admission and closing in the afternoon .
Idiom: walk free (used idiomatically: no)
Ian Key A DRAMATIC revelation of a sex scandal halted the trial of a husband accused of plotting to kill his second wife yesterday . He walked free from court after after it was revealed that a detective in the case was sleeping with his first wife . The relationship came to light when a mysterious note was handed to a barrister at an earlier hearing . Businessman Timothy Tindell was cleared as police launched an investigation into the affair between Detective Constable David Weatherill and Tindell 's ex - wife Victoria .
Idiom: in the fast lane (used idiomatically: yes)
GEC Ferranti , British Gas , Procter and Gamble , Logica and Scottish Widows are just some of the major companies backing the courses . FAST TRACK In the year of the 25th Olympiad and the 90th anniversary of the birth of the legendary Olympic Gold Medallist Eric Liddell , athletics coach Margot Wells , whose husband Allan took the Olympic 100 m gold in Moscow , looks at life in the fast lane , in 1924,1980 and now . In 1924 most of the athletes in the British team were students or people who could afford the privilege of running for their country . Even so , they were still the poor relations when it came to wearing tracksuits or ‘ sweats’ as the Americans liked to call them .
Idiom: pick up the pieces (used idiomatically: yes)
We are alarmed by the British Government 's elaborate preparations for war — the reported printing of draft papers , for example,— and we will oppose any future government attempts to conscript people into a bloody war . We are particularly worried about the implications war holds for women . As proved by history , women are the ones who have to pick up the pieces in the aftermath of war . Meanwhile the Gulf crisis is already exploiting women to satisfy soldiers ' apparent ‘ needs’ . In Turkey , for example , women are being channelled into a sex industry for off - duty GIs .
Idiom: follow suit (used idiomatically: yes)
The Yanks are coming ! The entire railway freight business took note of Foster Yeoman 's radical decision to buy its own fleet of locomotives off the shelf from an American builder . An unshackled BR first seemed keen to follow suit , but then took the safer political option of ordering its own replacement machines from a domestic supplier . 1987 . It was a big year for electrification .
Idiom: on the carpet (used idiomatically: yes)
Rose and Sam looked at Evelyn who was staring straight at Miss Harker , utterly expressionless . Or maybe her shoulders trembled just a little also . Then the teacher let out a tiny fluttering gasp — like a goldfish finding itself spilled on a carpet — and sank down , defeated , on a crate with a hand over her eyes . ' Off you go , now , off you go ! ' Ma Bombie cleared the room in seconds .
Idiom: keep body and soul together (used idiomatically: yes)
I had to investigate her , and I diagnosed that she had cancer of the lungs . There 's someone out already . She came to see me a year later , total loss of weight , total short of breath , hardly , she 's struggling to keep body and soul together . She says to me , I can not continue , she 's dead already , I will never forget her face , never . Now what would have happened if her broker came to this convention and heard about their disease , and two years ago sold her a disease policy , that would have given her two hundred thousand pounds , on the diagnosis of the disease .
Idiom: in the flesh (used idiomatically: yes)
Now , we never missed Big Bill 's programme on the BBC if we could help it — it was just so tuneful . They were all there , including Buck Douglas and the Old Log Cabin , and the theatre was absolutely full . It was exhilarating because they were just as good in the flesh as they were on the wireless . By that time poor Uncle had no motorbike . It was just a brief spell of ownership ; the war meant petrol rationing .
Idiom: turn the corner (used idiomatically: yes)
England 's David Gilford had 65 while defending champion Ronan Rafferty from Ireland opened with a flawless 67 . Lawrie and McAllister have been working hard to strengthen their games , and the Aberdonian has struggled in early events this season , failing in four tournaments to get beyond the halfway cut . But he turned the corner by finishing 23rd in Valencia and 25th in Majorca last week . He had seven birdies in his best opening round so far , six of them in the first 12 holes , but had trouble getting properly aligned on his long shots . ‘ I had to ask my caddie to stand behind me to make sure I was aiming correctly,’ he said after pushing a 6-iron shot from the thirteenth tee then hooking wide of the short fifteenth green with the same club .
Idiom: in high dudgeon (used idiomatically: yes)
KENNETH CLARKE has always been disarmingly frank . Of course he would like to be prime minister ‘ one day’ . He also knows that of 13 British chancellors since 1957 , all but two — one of them John Major himself — have come to sticky ends : sacked ( as Norman Lamont was on May 27th ) , removed by electoral defeat , forced to resign in high dudgeon . Only James Callaghan , reshuffled after devaluation in 1967 , retained enough dignity to rise again to the top . As the cabinet 's toughest fighter ( and worst - dressed member ) , Mr Clarke knows how dishevelled he could look after grappling with a budget deficit forecast to be £ 50 billion ( $ 18 billion ) this year .
Idiom: on edge (used idiomatically: yes)
Every noon , and always the same bench - the least splintery one , on the edge of the park nearest the university .
Idiom: rule of thumb (used idiomatically: yes)
The ‘ Temptation to defect’ correspondingly starts to look like a more attractive option than the ‘ Reward for mutual cooperation’ . Needless to say , there is no suggestion that the bacteria work all this out in their nasty little heads ! Selection on generations of bacteria has presumably built into them an unconscious rule of thumb which works by purely biochemical means . Plants , according to Axelrod and Hamilton , may even take revenge , again obviously unconsciously . Fig trees and fig wasps share an intimate cooperative relationship .
Idiom: serve someone right (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ When you pinched my bicycle outside the chip shop and ran into the back of a lorry with it and buckled the wheels.’ ‘ You did n't worry about me all bandaged up , did you?’ ‘ It was a new bike and served you right , anyway,’ he said . ‘ You were as mad as a March hare.’ ‘ Only when I wanted to be.’
Idiom: one of those things (used idiomatically: yes)
No none whatsoever . Okay er have you thought about it ? I 've thought about it but erm it 's another one of those things I , I guess I keep putting off to the er a little bit later . Right . Sometimes it 's a difficult thing to explain er why you should start early with a pension but very simply what , what would you be looking for when you retire ?
Idiom: there's the rub (used idiomatically: yes)
After all , you do n't want to be rooted to the spot in front of a microphone — you want to perform ! The problem faced by manufacturers of this type of instrument is that of providing the world with the happy medium — a guitar that will perform both functions equally well . And there 's the rub : each dimension requires a differing approach as far as construction is concerned . In other words , quite often , the best we can expect is a compromise . Takamine have long since featured in the upper echelon of electro - acoustic manufacturers and this guitar enters the range in the mid to upper price bracket .
Idiom: out of the blue (used idiomatically: yes)
It 's actually been given to Les Stocker who runs St Tiggywinkles . I 've always loved the name Les , where did it come from ? It was just out of the blue really . After Beatrix Potter 's Mrs Tiggwinkle and er the St Bartholomew 's and St Thomas 's hospitals for humans , why not St Tiggwinkles for old hedgehogs . Well congratulations on your award .
Idiom: on and off (used idiomatically: yes)
Actually , turning it off causes more damage than leaving it on . That is true for all electronics . There is always a small surge of power when turning it on and off .
Idiom: on the level (used idiomatically: no)
‘ I 'm pleased,’ says Richard , ‘ that we 've proved that you can come out with a silly record and it does n't have to be your only silly record . You can make dozens of silly records.’ They also have this thing about being popular because most of their songs are about sex , but only on the level of innuendo and suggestion . ‘ They 're about flirtation and titillation,’ analyses Richard . ‘ When Madonna masturbates on stage , she does it as though it 's a serious business — ours is a silly , flirtatious sex .
Idiom: take someone to task (used idiomatically: yes)
Vincent replied by return of post , writing his answer on the back of Theo 's letter — but not , he hastened to add , ' with the intention of insulting you . ' Why then ? He defended himself vigorously , and took Theo to task for parroting their father 's words . Admitting the affront , he made capital out of certain phrases . That expression ' embitter and spoil ' was in reality ' a Jesuitism of Pa 's,'he pointed out , and so typical of their father , who said things like that when in fact he had no answer to the charge .
Idiom: on someone's mind (used idiomatically: yes)
The horse made another noise , more a groan than a grunt this time , and , as his stride faltered , Kelly knew that she had made a serious mistake . A split second later , the earth was hurtling towards her . Sheikh al Hassan had a lot on his mind . The price of oil was tumbling again , one of his most reliable brokers on Wall Street had just been arrested for insider dealing , the acquisition of a highly prestigious London hotel had been held up by a query as to who actually owned it and , back home , one of his sisters had just committed suicide , causing a tremor of scandal throughout the country . The death under somewhat dubious circumstances of a racehorse belonging to his son was frankly the least of his problems .
Idiom: nothing to it (used idiomatically: yes)
That Miss Bedwelty — she 's one of the green welly brigade , only think a horse is any good if it goes sideways and backwards — all that dressage lark —’(Mr Bean called it ‘ Dressidge’ . ) ‘ Manners , she says — but all you want is to belt across country for a couple of miles . Those horses , and four of you with guts — nothing to it.’ Nutty felt slightly more optimistic . ‘ You think?’
Idiom: off the hook (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ It seems likely that he was the radical charge in Susan Court 's battery . Workers’ Revolutionary Party , helped run a hand - out sheet called Arise ; that sort of thing.’ Culley wondered why she 'd decided to let him off the hook . If that 's what had just happened . ‘ He fits your theory better than anyone we 've come up with so far.’
Idiom: have words (used idiomatically: no)
So if you could phone up them and Yeah . And you 've already had a word with them ? And I 've already spoken to Right .
Idiom: grind to a halt (used idiomatically: yes)
A catastrophe occurred : The General Strike of 1926 . I was then eleven years of age . Caught between strike and slump , the tailoring trade ground to a halt . If people had money ( and few did ) there was no one left to produce their suits or costumes . By the same token , cinemas had no operators , and so few halls remained open .
Idiom: in the bag (used idiomatically: yes)
Did they ever mention to you or your father that they in fact got caught out by the weather ? Oh well sometimes yes they would be very wet when they would come . And when they would offer to no no they would n't they would have their own way of drying it in in their bags they would have another clean or or you would say clothes to put on but we never ever heard of them doing a washing . Mm . Or whatever .
Idiom: do the trick (used idiomatically: yes)
Clarke seemed momentarily to have the legs of Steve Norris , but as the Scarborough forward edged ahead Clarke used his arm to restrain him . Russell converted the penalty , Beasant ( and Chelsea ) going completely the wrong way . Football Round - Up : Thomas quick to do the trick By CAMERON KELLEHER ON a night of close finishes in Littlewoods Cup second round second leg matches , away goals ensured safe passages for West Bromwich Albion and Crystal Palace .
Idiom: from the cradle to the grave (used idiomatically: yes)
PARIS – It is usually easier to see the beginning of something than the end of it . Born in 1945 in post - war Britain , the welfare state met its end in Britain this week , when British Chancellor of the Exchequer George ~ Osborne repudiated the concept of the “ universal benefit , ” the idea that everyone , not just the poor , should benefit from social protection . The welfare state was described by its intellectual architect , Lord Beveridge , as a structure built to protect the individual “ from the cradle to the grave . ” This model came to dominate every West European country , with local traditions and local politics dictating the diversity of its application . By the 1960s , all of democratic Europe was social democratic , a combination of free markets and mass social protection .
Idiom: pissed off (used idiomatically: yes)
Who 's a student here ? I 'll do whatever I feel like when I 'm I was thinking when I 've left the school if anything else happens I 'll just feel really pissed off and I 'm gon na write a letter and say , you know , now I 've left the school I feel quite Yeah and I 'll say , I mean
Idiom: go public (used idiomatically: yes)
have the size and the consistency of bullets . ROMANIA Suddenly it 's gone public ; it rushed out into the light like a train out of a tunnel . People I 've met are faces in the government ,
Idiom: under the rose (used idiomatically: no)
Includes modern shrub roses and old - fashioned types like damasks , gallicas , rugosas and moss roses . Species roses . Sometimes listed under shrub roses ( although many are vigorous climbers ) these are natural wild roses , together with their variants and hybrids . Most have single flowers blooming in one concentrated flush , but also bear attractive foliage , stems or spines , and coloured hips in autumn . Many and varied uses for shrub roses
Idiom: serve someone right (used idiomatically: yes)
Her marrying Dad did n't screw me up like the other two . Red and Bibi have given her hell . ' ' Serve her right . ' ' She lost a kid , ' said Luke reasonably . ' Does she still miss Will ? '
Idiom: go without saying (used idiomatically: yes)
And it goes without saying that this is also true of Germany 's policy towards Africa .