Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: under the table (used idiomatically: yes)
He spoke easily , spinning out his words , until Marnya had come softly up behind Deems and taken the councillor in her grasp . The arms that held Cley tenderly were strong . As Deems struggled fruitlessly , the MPRP weapon fell from his grasp and rolled under the table . ‘ You could have fired your drug at Marnya , Deems , and it would not have harmed her . Androids have no limbic brain , and no desires.’
Idiom: catch someone's eye (used idiomatically: yes)
There are 11 British survivors , with Joanne Hockley and Caroline Hall having led the way with aggregates of 157 . Hockley , an assistant in a bakery , was only three over par for yesterday 's round as she stood to her second , a nine iron , at the 15th . A moving spectator caught her eye as she swung and she hooked into sand on her way to the first of three successive bogeys . Hall , whose second round score was 79 , missed from seven feet at the first and from much the same distance at the last . But the putt she will take rather longer to forget was her seven - footer at the sixth .
Idiom: by the back door (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ Not like you , Ken.’ In the afternoons she would go and see Mr Rowse . She was allowed in by the back door . She did n't have to queue . ‘ I 'm a priority case,’ Rhoda said .
Idiom: follow suit (used idiomatically: yes)
Nonconformists were slower to attempt some degree of unity than the Church of England , which began the Lambeth Conferences in 1867 . It was not until 1881 that the world 's Methodists held their first Oecumenical Conference in London 's City Road Chapel : the suggestion had come from America . Ten years later the Congregationalists followed suit with their first International Council : the suggestion here had come from Australia . In 1904 the first Pan - Presbyterian Council was held and in 1905 the Baptist World Alliance was formed at Exeter Hall . If Nonconformists were slow to start , once they had they were eager to point out that while in England the Church outnumbered them ( as far as baptized members were concerned ) , in the Empire and America it was a different story as regards active members .
Idiom: touch a nerve (used idiomatically: yes)
But why ? Why did she suddenly start screaming and scratching , and swearing that she 'd get me ? ' ' You touched some nerve , I guess , ' Masha offered , shrugging . ' I tried to reason with her after , but she locked herself in the bathroom , crying . So I dressed and left .
Idiom: cap in hand (used idiomatically: yes)
VII CONCLUSION It was 50 years from the first signs of the rundown of the British Empire to our going cap - in - hand to the International Monetary Fund for financial support . If we do not invest our oil reserves wisely , for the future , we may not get off so lightly next time . It is up to government and industry , as well as those with resources in land and money , to make a concerted effort to secure our country 's wealth and heritage for the future .
Idiom: take liberties (used idiomatically: yes)
The mature reader , of whatever age , takes liberties with the text : ‘ Proficient readers can go directly to the meaning of the passage being read , only sampling the print for confirmation of the hypotheses they have made about the meaning intended by the author . In no way is the process conceived of as moving sequentially along the lines of print’(Chapman , 1987 , p.6 ) . The mature reader of literature knows when the author is taking liberties with him or her . The text needs to be watched closely for all may not be as it seems at first . Perhaps the author is being satirical , employing irony , allegory , or ambiguity .
Idiom: go places (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ I have tried all season to recruit new directors but the recession has hit businesses . ‘ Yet Darlington are in a healthier position than when I took office . Foundations are good , with an excellent youth policy , and a manager who is going places.’ Corden , managing director of a Middlesbrough scaffolding company , said business commitments had also influenced his decision to step down . ‘ I do n't have the time to do the job justice,’ he added .
Idiom: out of the question (used idiomatically: yes)
All three came in with two under par rounds of 73 over the Royal Lytham and St Annes on a day when only eight players bettered a demanding par . NO television replays were needed to separate the sides at Grace Road yesterday as Lancashire breezed into the Benson and Hedges Cup Final . Eight changes are out of the question for Lord 's next Thursday but England must do something to stop the rot before all hope of regaining the Ashes disappears for another two years . Fairbrother survives a trial by TV NEIL FAIRBROTHER admitted last night he was ‘ a bit jittery’ while waiting to learn whether television would give him in or out .
Idiom: run out of steam (used idiomatically: yes)
A large part of the world is notionally governed according to Marxist principles . Yet the people in those countries show little sign of believing in Marxism in the way that some Western intellectuals do . Globally , Marxism has run out of steam , persisting merely as sentiment and tradition , despite its conspicuous presence in parts of the Anglo - American academy . The dominance of right - wing ideas has done little to avert the decline ; to invoke Marxism against Thatcherism is to employ an obsolete weapon . The present generation of British and American literary Marxists remind me of the small boy in Joyce 's story , ‘ Araby’ , who got to the bazaar just as it was closing .
Idiom: out of order (used idiomatically: yes)
This effectively disallows any subject being discussed at an Apex conference . My branch submitted a motion to the Apex conference two years ago that sought to draw attention to unemployment amongst the white collar workers . It was ruled out of order by the Standing Orders Committee as it fell foul of rule A three , the subject was within the remit of Congress . Last year Manchester Central Apex branch submitted a motion highlighting the dangers of tampon related shock syndrome , arising out of the death of an Apex member . The Standing Orders Committee ruled it out of order under rule A three , within the remit of Congress .
Idiom: cast pearls before swine (used idiomatically: yes)
' The best Bordeaux . ' He filled a cup to the brim and handed it to Corbett . ' Now I know what Scripture means when it says : ' Do n't cast your pearls before swine ' . ' Corbett grinned as he sipped the rich red wine . ' Beautiful ! ' he murmured .
Idiom: behind closed doors (used idiomatically: yes)
And so it was , even on that somnolent day . The men who occupied the little boxlike houses were day workers , hired for the fields . Their women - folk shut themselves behind closed doors and windows to weave their cloth and sew their clothes . They had no time to chatter in the lane . No time to make concessions to the weather .
Idiom: lose face (used idiomatically: yes)
She draws a small rectangular mirror from her shoulder - bag and watches as the pus begins to consume the left - hand side of her face . She begins to scream and , running to the edge of the battlements , throws herself into the precipice . I chase each of the monks and nuns round the canopy until all have been similarly consumed and thrown themselves over the battlements ; for who can bear to lose face ? Edinburgh 1984 The minuet was not more measured .
Idiom: catch fire (used idiomatically: yes)
Monsieur Brisset arranged an appointment for us , and later that day Paul Ingouf , in his office , passed to us a typewritten page from the secret daily record that had been kept during the war ; listed there we saw : ( Wednesday 18 September 1940 . An English aircraft , no doubt hit by anti - aircraft fire , crashed on a house in the village of Bourbourg ( Tourlaville ) ; the house , demolished , caught fire , 7 civilian victims ) . This was the first and only news that we had ever had that Thomas 's aircraft had crashed in a built - up area , let alone on a house , and that seven French people had been killed . At the same time he also passed to us a folder containing photographs of the crashed aircraft .
Idiom: bear fruit (used idiomatically: yes)
This has led to the regazetting of boundaries and the diminishing of reserves . In this gloomy state of affairs , attention is being focused on the possibility of rehabilitation of habitats . This idea has borne some fruit in temperate countries , where spoil - tips , gravel - pits and other industrial eyesores have been returned to some sort of semblance of native vegetation with its associated fauna . What are the possibilities in the tropics ? 9.2.1 Soils
Idiom: on board (used idiomatically: yes)
While quantum mechanics — or ' weird physics ' as one called it — was generally enjoyed , other courses seemed tedious . As Richard , a final - year student at B , put it : I went to all the lectures and they 're easy to go to , because you 're spoon - fed , they do n't sit back and they do n't philosophize , a lot of it , it 's all material on the board , which can be a bit boring sometimes , but we 've done some big course like quantum mechanics and there have been a few other theoretical ones which have been really involved but the lecturers have been really good , you can see how excited they are , and it starts spilling over to you . The problem is not , however , simply one of boring lectures ; the few very bright students found studying physics challenging and stimulating . The problem was more one of having to absorb a vast amount of information in a short space of time .
Idiom: catch fire (used idiomatically: yes)
Where 's Maggie going to meet us — me ? But there was nothing in the shifting canyons of frozen carbon dioxide to tell her . Avalanches shook powder into the air ; it caught fire in the nascent sun and leaped into blushing fires above its opal roots . Spires of crimson and carmine and blood were the rocks , changing colour even as she watched the new day burn off their sugar - frost coating . The wind caught the spindrift and flung it as a jewelled and treacherous veil into the depths of the ragged sky that dizzied her when contrary winds ripped the clouds this way and that .
Idiom: in spades (used idiomatically: yes)
By Steve Howard THERE is something delicious about watching Hollywood turn on its own . Everyone gets it in spades in director Robert Altman 's wicked satire The Player ( Guild , 15 , out now ) . Altman , himself nursing a few wounds inflicted by tyrannical studio bosses , lays bare Tinseltown with the help of 65 stars including Bruce Willis , Cher , Nick Nolte , Jack Lemmon — you name 'em , they 've got a bit part . He gives us the archetypal wolf in Armani threads in script executive Griffin Mill — Tim Robbins — whose job entails dashing the hopes of thousands of writers each year and making a handful rich .
Idiom: out of sorts (used idiomatically: yes)
and er , but apparently they did a , they did a test and that was also a package where the stuff like that , transfer although those three may of been carrying weapons , they split open the policeman , but this does seem to basically at , well not no , not indiscriminately they did n't say that but they shot innocent people , I mean like I said well the I mean that 's got to kill in those streets and stuff the ricochet 's can go quite easily go through somebody but there , there was , there 's always been claims er , there 's no I R A gunmen there yeah apart from one Reverend the most Reverend Doyle or something and he saw one gunmen and he saw him fire a couple of shots and they told him to piss off out of sort of thing yeah so I mean if , if they caught one , they actually took a photo , managed to take a photo out of all those hundreds of people , look how many more were , were there , and it just seems like basically their not sure who fired first , obviously the Irish say it was the British them and the British say they were fired upon first and erm , on , on the strength of it , who , who would you rather believe I mean , somebody that 's been living in Ireland for twenty odd yea twenty years now with all that happening around him being able to be got at by the I R A or a British body who may , may be up on a murder trial , you know , the , at the end of the day its six of one and half a dozen of the other , they 've both got stuffed by a bleeding troop
Idiom: go straight (used idiomatically: yes)
Mum off teaching at some distant Employment Training Scheme . Dad At Work at the bloody Theatre — where else ? I went straight upstairs and stood in the middle of my bedroom . What to take ? My purple stripy barrel - bag — it was small , it 'd look as if I was going off to my gran 's for the weekend .
Idiom: jockey for position (used idiomatically: yes)
LIBRA ( Sept 24 — Oct 23 ) The reason you like people around you is so you can have role models to rebel against . Your close relationships inevitably involve one long process of jockeying for position . It 's only your ever - present charm that lets you get away with it . This month , you 'll be hard pushed to hide your obstreperous nature behind a veneer of benign innocence .
Idiom: behind closed doors (used idiomatically: yes)
I have watched her at the opera , where she glittered . I saw her at her father 's funeral , where her dignity was exemplary . But behind closed doors , only months after she charmed New York , she was allegedly pouring out a mixture of misery and banal chat on the phone to a male admirer . True or not , it is indisputable that the flawless public facade masked private despair . Her marriage was in trouble , her husband cold and unloving , her emotional and physical health eroded by bulimia .
Idiom: in cahoots (used idiomatically: yes)
This cosy arrangement upset a lot of people and an angry crowd gathered outside the palace . General Garcia then decided to back the vice - president , Gustavo Espina , who declared himself president . But Mr Espina has his work cut out to convince people that he was not in cahoots with Mr Serrano . The hopeful view is that the thwarted coup will strengthen Guatemala 's eight - year experiment with democracy and serve as a lesson for other would - be dictators in Latin America . But Mr Serrano , it seems , has learnt little .
Idiom: in the clear (used idiomatically: yes)
Was he genuinely attacked , because he blundered into murder ? That 's what the timing suggests , but that 's not the only thing it could suggest . The other is that he heard me following , and staged the attack on himself , with the help of some accomplice unknown — for it could n't have been done alone , could it?— to put himself in the clear , and immobilise me long enough for the other person to get away , and the body to be well downstream . Maybe someone bold enough to improvise like that would even take the risk of getting himself really knocked out and dropped in the water , knowing I could n't fail to find him in a few minutes.’ ‘ And knowing you,’ George added .
Idiom: take root (used idiomatically: yes)
SEOUL – South ~ Korea ’s incoming president , Park ~ Geun - hye , takes over a country that has been a global role model for economic development . But , with the economy slowing , it has become a model in need of renewal . The so - called “ Miracle on the Han ~ River ” took root with the reforms initiated by Park ’s late father Park ~ Chung - hee , the country ’s ruler for much of the 1960s and 1970 ’s . A measure of South ~ Korea ’s success is that it was the first country to make the transition from being a recipient of OECD aid to becoming a donor , with per capita GDP today exceeding $ 30,000 ( in purchasing power parity terms ) . But the growth formula that long underpinned South ~ Korea ’s success – a form of state - guided capitalism that focuses on export - led manufacturing – is no longer working for many South ~ Koreans .
Idiom: go hand in hand (used idiomatically: yes)
There is so much that we do n't know , and the HDRA organization does nothing but good for our knowledge and understanding . Fungal Pests Pests and diseases are different forms of life , but they often go hand in hand . In addition to , and apart from , susceptibilities built into some varieties of rose ( as a result of breeding for colour , habit , scent or whatever at the expense of vigour and resistance ) , growing conditions , cultivation and weather all have an important influence on the ability of the plants to withstand and ward off fungal attack . One of the basic factors we have to bear in mind about fungi is that , unlike insects , which make their attack at certain predictable times depending on their life cycles , fungal attack in one form or another is about and ready to take advantage of any weakness for much longer periods — in fact , at almost any time of the year .
Idiom: to the letter (used idiomatically: yes)
These excite detectors for letters consistent with the active features . The letter detectors in turn excite detectors for consistent words . Active word detectors mutually inhibit each other and send feedback to the letter level , strengthening activation and hence perceptibility of their constituent letters . Context also aids perception . Hence perception is fundamentally an interactive process .
Idiom: in a fog (used idiomatically: yes)
Do not use a hand held microphone or telephone when vehicles moving except in emergencies , you should only stick your fix or clip on microphone where it will not distract your attention from road , do not stop on a hard shoul shoulder of a motorway to answer or make a call however urgent . Driving in fog ; when driving in fog check your eh ? , check your what ? your lights you see you to do if you 're not listening
Idiom: pissed off (used idiomatically: yes)
What 's the nastiest thing you 've ever said ? I , I do n't know but , I ca n't remember I do n't think about but I 'm really , if I say like erm what did I say to and I just say things like I 'm , I 'm really pissed off with her keep coming with me to breakfast every morning Yeah . and coming to dinner with me every evening , being in the same room , walking to lessons with her , it fucks me off like hell , she 's really getting on my wick , you know ?
Idiom: against the grain (used idiomatically: yes)
There was praise in that statement somewhere but more for his son than the film . Hollywood did not especially like it . It was one of those pictures that went totally against the grain of everything that the movie industry believed it stood for . To generalize and say that it stood for anything at all was self - delusion and deceit . The truth was that they were just jealous they had not thought of it before and made all of that money .
Idiom: face to face (used idiomatically: yes)
Erm , Simon , there 's one that 's come up right field in the fact that we mention , I think you might have got it 'cos you 're responsible for the Q P five , which talks about interim reports , services . Yep . And that 's not what face - to - face call theirs currently . Erm , I 'm suggesting they 're going to call them interim fieldwork reports . Oh well , I 'd followed their suggestion and taken that out .
Idiom: catch someone's eye (used idiomatically: no)
Richie asked . ‘ A thousand pounds , which is four times their value and I had an advertisement in all the golfing magazines.’ Patrick caught Stevie 's eye . The doctor winked . The Chairman 's obsession about his stolen clubs was becoming a bore .
Idiom: at the end of the day (used idiomatically: yes)
I mean I think at the end of the day because we 're w going to have to basically in a sense your job I think even though at the moment you 're saying you know fine I 'm not gon na exclude anything , I think it 's actually going to be sort of , to try and eliminate most of this . I think so yeah . Because at the end of the day I think that a although it 's quite significant in terms of workload we might be able to address it elsewhere I mean I think the yeah . special needs thing can be addressed
Idiom: in the offing (used idiomatically: yes)
Within the BBC , music is confined to three national networks , Radios 1 , 2 and 3 , with a limited amount being featured on Radio 5 . In contrast , local radio is a mix of commercial and BBC stations . In the offing , with a probable start date of 1992 , are three INRs or Independent National Radio stations . Although the new Broadcasting Bill stipulates that these stations will provide a varied diet of programmes , the best bet is that one will feature primarily classical music , the second will have a pop / rock music base , while the third is likely to be an American - style ' talk ' station . As Britain 's only national pop music station at present , Radio 1 is most likely to interest aspiring rock and pop musicians , so I will explain its workings and policies in some detail ( although much of what is said about Radio 1 will also be applicable to Radio 2 ) .
Idiom: play into someone's hands (used idiomatically: yes)
The situation must now have been clear to Scott . Palmerston was adamant and either he had to produce a design which would accord with Palmerston 's idea of ‘ Italian’ architecture or resign . The attitude of Charles Barry and the classical delegation hardened Scott 's resolve not to throw away over three years ' work and play into their hands by resigning . He therefore decided to produce a design which would not only satisfy Palmerston , but also be true to his stated architectural principles . He was by now so ‘ thoroughly out of health’ that he retired to Scarborough for two months with his family to recuperate and consider what to do next .
Idiom: pull strings (used idiomatically: yes)
Set light to a car with a gang of others . He 's only seven . Francis pulled strings to get him out of trouble and into his old school , St something 's … ’ ‘ St Andrew 's.’ ‘ Oh .
Idiom: take stock (used idiomatically: yes)
In its place is a new rhetoric , an incendiary rhetoric , a rhetoric of vitriolic accusation . Today we are ‘ fanatics’ , ‘ extremists’ , or — the most frequently used verbal bomb , the one favoured even by the highest ranking public health official in the United States , Health and Human Services Secretary Louis Sullivan —‘terrorists’ . While it is important that we take stock of and combat the fraudulent ways in which we are being described by those who oppose us , we should not be unmindful or insensitive to what we are saying about ourselves , of how we are describing who - we - are . For the plain fact is , we are saying many different things . We are against cruelty .
Idiom: in a fog (used idiomatically: yes)
But that does not include commercial use and is subject to local by - laws . Fisherman Anthony Anderson had already had his conviction quashed . Death in the fog that will haunt every motorway driver over the Christmas holiday Richard Creasy SEVEN people were killed yesterday , victims of the fate that lurks in wait for every driver over this Christmas holiday .
Idiom: every last (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ Waited till tomorrow?’ But Morse was a man who could never abide the incomplete ; could never abide the not - knowing - immediately . One clue unfinished in a Listener puzzle , and he would strain the capacity of every last brain - cell to bursting point until he had solved it . And equally so , as now , in a murder case . Tomorrow was too far distanced for his mind to wait for the last piece of evidence — a mind so ceaselessly tossing , as it had been ever since Lewis — wonderful Lewis!— had mentioned that seemingly irrelevant item in The Oxford Times .