Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: do me a favour (used idiomatically: no)
Not just because of what you 've said , that wetted our appetite , that intrigued us , that aroused our curiosity , but we believe it because we have seen and heard for ourselves and we 've recognized his authority . We 're gon na sing now . Arnold , would you do me a favour please ? Could you slip out and retrieve our pianist ? Thank you .
Idiom: look the part (used idiomatically: yes)
We will vigorously defend it.’ Let 's face it , make - up is old hat IF you want to look the part in the nineties , do n't wear make - up . Bleached hair , false eyelashes and fake nails are old - hat , according to the latest health and beauty survey . More than half of women questioned by Gallup said they never wore make - up , and nine out of 10 claimed they 've never owned a padded bra .
Idiom: point the finger (used idiomatically: no)
Loss - making tenders , in the hope of earning larger fees through selling other services to the client , are an abuse , he said . ' If that kind of abuse gains headline attention , then I believe there would be a tide flowing that would be very difficult to hold back . So , in their own interest , the firms should be very careful that the finger is not pointed at them , that they are not seen to have acted in a way that abuses their power and cuts across their independence and integrity . ' Pat Brenan : Loss - making tenders are an abuse ETHICS
Idiom: get a grip (used idiomatically: yes)
Bob … ’ A deep intake of breath he clearly heard over a thousand miles away . ‘ Bob,’ she repeated , ‘ I 've got a grip on myself — and I am sitting down . Just tell me.’ Calmer now , self - controlled .
Idiom: have it easy (used idiomatically: yes)
I swing out of the room and into the kitchen . The other punk does n't seem badly hurt . I think they 've had it easy so far . You have to remember they came round here to kill me . We 're letting the kettle go off the boil .
Idiom: once in a while (used idiomatically: yes)
I 'd create an extra note and I 'd just laugh at myself and think , ‘ I never should have written this song!’ You have to get back really fast for that E chord in the rhythm part … ‘ Yeah , and that E chord should really be on the bridge pickup , but I could never get it and every once in a while I 'd be thinking , ‘ I 'm gon na try it … Nooo!’ Up until the solo I just had to think constantly as I was playing .
Idiom: pick up the pieces (used idiomatically: yes)
Victorine had become busy with dustpan and brush . Madeleine interrupted Thérèse with a sharp cry . No , imbécile , pick them up piece by piece . Just in case it 's worth mending . No , with your hands , not with the dustpan .
Idiom: go to ground (used idiomatically: yes)
Which he did , a good two feet clear of the gaping open ditch which lay on the blind side of the hedge . Lord Deverill , having watched in silence , seeing his daughter was safe , popped his big horse over the gate and galloped on to the covert where hounds had checked , and so too finally had Buttons . ‘ I think the fox has gone to ground , Papa,’ Artemis said breathlessly , pointing into the woods . ‘ In that hole over there.’ ‘ Fair enough,’ her father replied .
Idiom: rare bird (used idiomatically: yes)
Jean Ritchie ( Mrs Patterson ) specialised in Radiotherapy ( D. M. R. T. ) and was for three years Consultant Radiotherapist in Singapore . After marriage she took a break while her two children were small , returning later to a fresh specialisation as Research Fellow at St. Mark 's Hospital , London ( gastroenterological/ coloproctological diseases ) She has M.R.C.P. ( London ) 1950 and D.M. 1971 . Among her leisure occupations is birdwatching , and she admits to being invariably the oldest of the few women ‘ twitchers’ on the scene when a rare bird is reported . Our only non - biological scientist was Elizabeth Stewart ( Mrs Fyfe ) who returned to Aberdeen to marry in 1943 and later emigrated to Halifax , Nova Scotia where her husband became Professor of Anatomy . She herself did not continue scientific work but raised a family of four and has enjoyed many interests , though less actively since a stroke three years ago .
Idiom: take it from me (used idiomatically: yes)
I would n't know what ter do.’ I was frightened . I do n't believe she heard me because she yawned , handed me the key and told me to hang it round my neck so that no one could take it from me . I was very honoured and proud to think she could trust me . Another afternoon she took me with her to deliver the knitted garments .
Idiom: small print (used idiomatically: yes)
Such a conclusion would be a pity . Statistics are a convenience and if properly used allow a mobility between one set of numerical data and another that is not otherwise possible . But , to pursue an analogy from the motor trade , the small print should be examined , arid one should be careful of the person from whom one buys a second - hand statistic . The student should look underneath to check that the basic framework is sound , but not be surprised if the framework varies from one source to another . After all , the construction of one motor car may differ from another without affecting its performance .
Idiom: give and take (used idiomatically: no)
( The substance of these complaints will be dealt with elsewhere . ) There are other reminders of where formal control lies . Constables know that all radio messages are taped and that the time they take to arrive at calls is recorded , which is often unnecessary , given the competition to beat other stations and colleagues by getting there first , although stories were told to us of instances where people were transferred for failing to respond to a call . Punishment transfers , known as ‘ dirty moves ’ and ‘ big transfers ’ , further remind rankers of what happens when formal rules are seriously breached , as does the frequent requirement to sign registers and books concerning equipment and duties . A further reminder is the complaints procedure which members of the public can initiate against police officers .
Idiom: foot the bill (used idiomatically: yes)
The row over the 4p increase has now led to a public inquiry . It 's costing a least £ 50,000 . And the bridge owners will have to foot the bill . He says they 're bound by the law and if someone objects , there has to be a public inquiry , even if it costs £ 50,000 . But for some local businesses an extra 4 pence is well worth fighting over .
Idiom: toe the line (used idiomatically: yes)
He was shrewd enough to appreciate that here was someone who needed to be coaxed , not coerced . ... Alex loved a verbal fight … but he was generally canny enough not to go too far . He knew that , ultimately , he had to toe the official line because , like any other player , he could n't afford to be put on the dole . ' Chapman himself was not averse to playing a trick or two on his lively player , like the time he arranged a winter ' cruise ' for him . James turned up at the docks expecting a luxury liner , only to find a cargo ship and a deck - hand 's job waiting for him .
Idiom: on board (used idiomatically: yes)
The people on board thrust their way toward the rear exit .
Idiom: all along (used idiomatically: yes)
This is a city very much all of a piece , its chief delight for visitors lying in its completeness , in the hands - off self containment of its torpid , shuttered streets . Looking for tourist highlights in Montepulciano is , to change a crumbling analogy , rather like looking for elephants in the African bush . It is only when you stop scanning the horizon for monumental shapes that you realise they have been looming unnoticed in the foreground all along . Wandering with pleasure along the Corso , the knobbly spine of the town , we eventually open the guide book , to find we have failed to focus on seven modest palaces . These , however , do not include that of the 18th - century antiquarian Pietro Bucelli , who decorated the base of his mansion with unmissable eclat , using bits of Etruscan cinerary urns .
Idiom: foot the bill (used idiomatically: yes)
Public investment is defined solely as LDDC grant , thus excluding equally important Enterprise Zone allowances and Department of Transport funding for roads and new railways . LDDC figures also omit the £ 400 million or so that was spent by local authorities and government in the area prior to the inauguration of the LDDC . If these are taken into account the ratio falls to 4:1 , and will fall further , as new rail lines like the £ 1 billion Jubilee Line are largely paid for by government , and as government foots the bill for the £ 600 million Docklands Highway , a four lane motorway from East to West Docklands . Thus , pump - priming has turned into a bottomless pit for the Treasury , in spite of the reinvestment of large receipts from land sales . Even this latter source of funds is now drying up as the property market slides into an ever deeper slump .
Idiom: to the letter (used idiomatically: yes)
I found it my calling to be the one in the NME office who flinched at the very sight of their wibbly - wobbly figurines and pretend four - track album which was really 12 tracks , the over - educated jessies ! But that was then , and this is … the future . It 's Jon 's drums that drag me in initially — precise , soft - stick , cymbal - heavy , to - the - letter and oddly hypnotic . Fingers of light poke about in the back of the hall , casting Spiritualized 's five members ( plus Will Gregory on sax ) as shadow puppets in an incredibly static play . Slow and hefty strobes challenge the eye , the incredible heaving breast of a number like ' Medication ' or ' Shine A Light'lifts and separates your ( all too bloody sober ) mind .
Idiom: in the running (used idiomatically: yes)
Decisions about the allocation of space , funds , and resources are often not the editor 's responsibilities . In fact , newspaper editors sometimes do not even exercise control over large sections of their newspapers . Executives may play a major part in the running of the paper . It is through the setting of objectives and the process of resource allocation that control can be exercised on branches of the media and that control remains with the proprietors . However , it is unlikely that such proprietorial power will be exercised without reference to commercial considerations or marketing considerations .
Idiom: have a few (used idiomatically: yes)
On the bright side , the area is attracting sizeable foreign investment , particularly from Japanese and Korean companies , and has a strong core of business and local government leaders fighting to pull it up by its bootstraps . But , as everywhere in the UK , raising funds for community investment is becoming more difficult . ‘ We have a few big employers who are always asked for money , but they are suffering from donor fatigue,’ says Paul Johnson , regional director for Business in the Community . Northern Electric , British Telecom , Northern Rock Building Society , Scottish & Newcastle Breweries and Barclays Bank are among the regulars which help to finance local community projects . But the brokers between the private sector and the community , such as BITC , say these sources may dry up in the recession .
Idiom: keep mum (used idiomatically: yes)
People Today WHO 's this strolling down London 's fashionable King 's Road ? The grinning skull on the back of the mystery woman 's jacket is keeping mum . Despite the hat pulled down over her face , below , the smile is unmistakable . Katy Kass , 20 , not only has the looks of her mother Joan Collins , left , but also her approval for her choice in men .
Idiom: have words (used idiomatically: yes)
But the basic thought is the same in both cases . It does not say that the Spirit or the Son begs the Father to give us what he otherwise might not . The usual word for ' ask ' is not used ; instead , we have this strange , rare word which literally means ' to be around ' . Is that , perhaps , significant ? What higher confidence could a Christian have than to reflect that in heaven the risen Christ in his ascended manhood ' is around ' on our behalf ?
Idiom: cut and dried (used idiomatically: yes)
They also have a ' stand by ' appointment scheme , where you can ring in at certain times at half an hour 's notice , where prices range from £ 4 to £ 7 . Men 's cut and blow dry is £ 8.95 . Perms range from £ 18.50 to £ 22.50 , not including cut and blow dry . Browns of Durham Cut and blow dry from £ 7.50 to £ 17 . Perms from £ 16 to £ 26 , not including cut and style .
Idiom: drag your feet (used idiomatically: yes)
Come with me and meet the other teachers . They are waiting for you . And do n't drag your feet . I 'll tell you now no pupil of mine drags their feet when they walk.’ Endill was still recovering from his journey in the basket lift and he followed behind the Headmaster without a word .
Idiom: in the saddle (used idiomatically: yes)
In his despair , he began to see the truth about himself . He lived a very wilful life , and the fear of chaos had always haunted him from childhood . That was why he always had to be in the saddle , controlling everything within his reach with great brilliance and clarity of mind . He had always been able to anticipate the actions of others , especially his rivals . It was only when he was confronted by God , broken and forced to give up his pride , that he began to see clearly for the first time the vast difference between living a self - directed life and living for God .
Idiom: below par (used idiomatically: yes)
Within this trickle of a song , Morrissey defends his much maligned plagiarism with a comical air of one who considers himself , quite rightly , to be above such charges . Side two opens with the singles , ‘ Big Mouth Strikes Again’ and ‘ The Boy With The Thorn In His Side’ . I have to disagree with Adrian Thrills in the NME who labelled them as weak and below par . The damage to The Smiths ' run of singles was done , not by these two , but the previous 45s , ‘ Shakespeare 's Sister’ and ‘ That Joke Is n't Funny Anymore.’ ‘ Vicar In A Tutu’ was pure Carry On camp , an unashamedly silly romp , throwing the listener off balance and hardly in a fit state to take ‘ There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’ , the true pinnacle of the album and the track that , if Mr Shankly had had his way , would have been a classic single .
Idiom: stick to your guns (used idiomatically: yes)
What I want you to practice doing is to try and get yourself saying over and over again regardless of how the other person tries to ask you questions to get you out of it , and then swap over . Okay what I ask you to do as with being assertive , first of all be clear about what it is that you 're going to try and do , be clear about what it is and what the situation is , explain it to the partner and then try it and let 's see how it doing . Okay , working with anybody , just just for just for a few minutes each it 's just because what I want you to experience is what it 's like to continually go over the same thing , I want you to experience that , to continually stick to your guns just experience that okay ? Alright off you go . Okay , let 's swap over , what I want you to remember is it 's not a conversation it 's not the try not to get into a conversation what we 're trying to do is we 're trying to stick to one person 's trying to stick to their point the other person 's trying to take them off it , okay ?
Idiom: put paid to (used idiomatically: yes)
His anxiety for equal terms in the nuclear club was echoed a few months later by , of all people , Aneurin Bevan , who urged his fellow left - wingers at the Labour Party conference not to vote for Britain to give up nuclear arms with the famous plea : ‘ Do not send the British Foreign Minister naked into the international conference chamber!’ He spoke for a large part of the population . ‘ It 's OUR H - Bomb!’ screamed the Daily Express headline after the British test at Christmas Island , which put paid to the still lively hope that the nuclear club would not extend beyond the two super - powers . Amour propre ensured that France would emulate Britain ( its first test in the Sahara came in 1960 ) . Simultaneously the Chinese waxed more belligerent .
Idiom: pull a face (used idiomatically: yes)
All Spaniards , and all those who sheltered them , he declared , were to be put to death . Nevertheless , the O'Rourke of the day offered hospitality and refuge to Captain Francisco de Cuellar and his crew , survivors of the wrecked galleon San Pedro . It must have been a strange sight in a land of Celtic war chiefs , dressed in Highland - type garb , to see the proud , aristocratic De Cuellar in fine Spanish attire , pulling a face as he sipped the O'Rourke potheen and thought of his native wine . De Cuellar returned safely to Spain , where he wrote an account of his Irish adventure . Like Humbert 's French of later times , he regarded the Irish as well - disposed ‘ primitive people’ .
Idiom: in light of (used idiomatically: yes)
The general election of 1945 was in some ways only a consequential recognition of the revolution which took place under , and inside , the Coalition Government at the height of World War II , and was announced to the outside world by a cloud of White Papers — on planning , social insurance , employment , a national health service — much as the election of a new Pope is first evinced by the smoke from the burning ballot papers . But not only does the framing of the existing social services date back twenty years already . The conditions in the light of which those services were then framed were the conditions of the inter-war years — the only available peacetime background for the wartime revolutionaries to use . If the Plowden Committee had referred therefore to ‘ the social changes of the last thirty years ’ instead of fifteen , they would have been guilty of no inaccuracy . Those thirty years span some of the sharpest changes of trend in modern history , from persistent deflation , for instance , to persistent inflation , or from unemployment averaging 10 per cent to unemployment averaging 2 per cent , as well as a rise of at least one-third in national income per head .
Idiom: first up (used idiomatically: yes)
Not long afterwards , when the visitors had left , Chola fetched the rugs from the inner room and the family lay down around the fire and slept . Dawn came , a thin band of light as clear and colourless as water . Kāli was the first up . Still half - asleep , she began collecting the flowers she 'd arranged the night before . The roof was littered with charcoal , debris from the fire ; the flowers , scrunched and trampled under many feet , were pale and wilted .
Idiom: bear in mind (used idiomatically: yes)
Similar pressures might be felt by some people today — to fight , or to risk injury in certain situations , and so on . On the other hand , the extent to which judicial decisions can influence patterns of social behaviour must remain an open question . Physical sports would probably be widely accepted as an exception to restrictive rules on consent , but two points must be borne in mind . First , there has been a growing number of prosecutions in recent years for injuries resulting from organized matches of Association and Rugby football . It is accepted that not every ' foul ' committed in breach of the rules amounts to a crime , and it seems to be assumed that players do , and may lawfully , consent to physical force over and above the minimum permitted by the rules .
Idiom: say cheese (used idiomatically: yes)
That fellow behind me has got one too . I told him you always had to declare your cheese at customs . Say cheese . I hope you do n't think I 'm being enigmatic , by the way . If I 'm irritating , it 's probably because I 'm embarrassed ; I told you I do n't like the full face .
Idiom: laughing stock (used idiomatically: yes)
It 's because , it 's because , no it 's because of what you did last week . No well I said to them I mean You 're just a laughing stock at the moment . Who me ? Yeah .
Idiom: on board (used idiomatically: no)
‘ I have already told Sergeant Fraser what happened . I was in the house the night you came back , and I watched you try the french windows , and then go round to the back to find the kitchen window locked , too . Possibly this made you uneasy , or possibly , with the storm blowing up , you did not want to take your boat across to the mainland again , so you decided to let things alone , and not risk taking any stolen goods on board . I watched you make off along the cliff path , as if you were making for Otters ' Bay . The lawyers had told me that the cottage was let to a girl , who was here alone .
Idiom: with a view to (used idiomatically: yes)
Dutch tolls to pay for transport The Netherlands government is planning to introduce a toll system on the nation 's roads as part of an effort to reduce traffic congestion . Money raised by the tolls will be directed towards improvements in public transport , together with investment in the rail and canal network , with a view to encouraging both passengers and freight to find alternatives to the road . One of the projects which will be supported is a new rapid rail transit system , the Randstad Rail , for the country 's capital , The Hague . The tolls are likely to be restricted to particularly congested areas , and busy times such as rush hours .
Idiom: on the carpet (used idiomatically: yes)
On fine china , we 're already the largest fine china , fine bone china manufacturer in the world . We might make the odd selective acquisition but not vast amounts of money going on acquisitions there either . In oil services , in the future there could be further major acquisitions but er , over the past three years we 've er , undertaken a whole series of acquisitions and er , and for the moment I would n't see anything er , in the , in the major line there , although you never know if some , even sometimes opportunities you are n't capable of creating erm , er , because the er , situation is not right er , do occur and I would n't rule it out but erm , er , we have n't erm any major acquisition er , on , on , on the carpet there at the moment . Erm , on entertainment , we 're spending a lot of money on organic growth and have done over the past two or three years and er , it 's very well spent but again , we 're growing our businesses , erm , er , rather than acquiring them . Alton Towers clearly is an exception but again , you have to pay a lot of money for it and it takes quite some time to get the return er , back and , and I would say that erm , many of Michael 's erm , er , organic erm , er , expenditure will , will erm , provide er , a really good return rather quicker but in the long run we think Alton is good .
Idiom: break cover (used idiomatically: yes)
It 's thick woodland there south of Leicester , but well managed , as the roads go these days . And we had five good lads aboard , we never thought to run into any trouble we could n't handle . A couple of wretches on the run , skulking in the bushes on the lookout for prey , would never have dared break cover and try their luck with us . No , these were very different gentry . Eleven or twelve of them , with daggers and bludgeons , and two wore swords .
Idiom: in spades (used idiomatically: yes)
She had n't realized how much she had missed Donna . ' I know you do n't like him ' ' In spades ' ' — but he 's all right . ' ' He 's all wrong for you , Alexandra Maitland .
Idiom: go west (used idiomatically: no)
Hunters opened the scoring by unfortunately popping the ball into their own goal , but they later equalised . In the first period of extra time , Alex Brown put Dynamos ahead and then Nick Crook made it 3–1 with just five minutes to go . West Meon went down 2–4 to Timberland in division three . Scorers for Timberland were Mike Travers , Ian Cain , Mark Scorey and Dave Evans-Turner who notched up his first ever goal . Martin Norris and ‘ Mack ’ Edwards replied for West Meon who had to play the first 40 minutes with only ten men .