Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: on the back of (used idiomatically: yes)
And I looked out and there was this enormous caravan parked outside , closing off the light through Trevor 's window . He said , ‘ Give you one guess whose that is,’ and I said , ‘ It 's Mr Brynner 's,’and he said , ‘ Yes , it is.’ There was this veranda on the back of the caravan which Yul Brynner had got from somewhere , and he was sitting on this veranda in his black shirt , black boots and black trousers and smoking a big cigar . And Trevor said , ‘ That bastard ! We 'll see about this.’
Idiom: on and off (used idiomatically: yes)
After that I will approach the Australian tour management with a view to speaking to David Campese . ‘ This is exactly the kind of behaviour we want to keep away from rugby . Good sportsmanship both on and off the field is vital for the good of the game . ‘ It is an individual and collective responsibility of all Welsh rugby fans to behave in a courteous and acceptable way.’ Eagles swoop to take spoils
Idiom: new blood (used idiomatically: yes)
This year Farnborough skateboard club is reformed again with Doug Cameron as the main man co - ordinating the years comp . Kevin Stabb from the USA was over in the jam , or was it an illusion ? More new blood was emerging . This was the time when a younger Jason Lunn and Pete Dossett would have been seen skating at Farnborough . 1986 was also the year of more TV coverage .
Idiom: break someone's heart (used idiomatically: yes)
It was finally out , the declaration which he had never thought to make to any woman , after Angela , but the huddled figure on the sofa was not placated . ‘ No , you ca n't love me.’ Her voice , muffled by the cushion in which she had hidden her face , was so despairing that it almost broke his heart . ‘ You ca n't love me . I want to love you back … and I ca n't , I ca n't , I 'm so afraid … and so ashamed.’
Idiom: by leaps and bounds (used idiomatically: yes)
She praised me , saying my English had improved by leaps and bounds .
Idiom: true to form (used idiomatically: yes)
They say help from the department of trade and industry was invaluable . Today , Graham Sale was a speaker at a top level conference in Oxfordshire aimed at encouraging more firms in the region to step up their export effort . And true to form Graham Sale lost no time in capitalising on an opportunity presenting Douglas Hurd with his own clock . The message to other businessman is the market is enormous . If you 've got the time , they 've got the money .
Idiom: get the boot (used idiomatically: no)
' Hey , you ca n't do that , Glemnitz . ' ' How shall we know our own boots again ? ' Personally I should have been quite glad to get someone else 's boots . Mine had been letting in sand and water for some time . ' Another atrocity , gentlemens , ' said the Feldwebel , walking up and down the corridor .
Idiom: brass monkey (used idiomatically: yes)
As the kettle came to the boil she heard the back door open and popped her head into the scullery to see her friend Pat Johnstone kicking snow off her shoes . ‘ Get yourself in , Pat , I 've got the kettle on.’ ‘ Oh , Sar , it 's brass monkey weather out there tonight!’ Coming into the kitchen , Pat dropped into an easy chair by the fire . She looked around the kitchen , impressed .
Idiom: see the light of day (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ The thing that people do n't know is that there was a horrendous gap in between . The first album came out and nothing happened ; we were n't sure whether to go on the road and everybody was very depressed . ‘ There was nice stuff written during that era but it never saw the light of day . So basically there were two years between those two albums , and an enormous transformation from a group of naive songwriters to a fully - fledged band . There was some nice material which is gold - dust to the devout Genesis fans .
Idiom: in the red (used idiomatically: yes)
' New bulletins . Ye can see through the back . It 's … it 's printed in RED ! ' ' Aye , look , ' yelled Wull in excitement . He threw his cap in the air and whooped for joy .
Idiom: over the counter (used idiomatically: yes)
In particular , a Papal encyclical of 1968 explicitly proscribes any action which either before , at the moment of , or after sexual intercourse , is specifically intended to prevent procreation . Nevertheless , the climate of public opinion has moved in the direction of making contraception available , in spite of legislation , which varies from country to country , aiming to restrict various aspects of the practice . In Britain , condoms are available over the counter and from slot machines , so that anyone wishing to purchase them can do so . However , oral contraceptives for women require a doctor 's prescription , while other contraceptive devices need to be fitted in a clinic ( Caroline Berry , The Rites of Life , 1987 ) . Even though there are valid medical and technical reasons for this state of affairs , it can lead to difficulties for women and girls .
Idiom: go to town (used idiomatically: yes)
David Riccio was a good man . He worked hard , and he helped me — so of course I liked him . Your father did not work — he went out to the town every night with his friends , and drank . And then one night , your father came home . The death of David Riccio
Idiom: up in the air (used idiomatically: yes)
Or 98 metres up in the air to be more precise . That was where the rotors of 14 new wind turbines started turning , passing a milestone in the history of wind power : with the commissioning of the new wind park in Lower ~ Saxony in the late summer of 2002 , the installed capacity of all the wind power stations in Germany crossed the 10,000 megawatt ( MW ) mark .
Idiom: word of mouth (used idiomatically: yes)
Reacher said : ‘ When Cloughie first came to Forest , several clubs tried to touch him up , but he honoured his contract . ‘ I 'm prepared to honour it now . He has a signed contract until the end of this season , and a word of mouth agreement for another year . ‘ I certainly expect him to see this season out . I do n't think he 'll run away from it .
Idiom: dig deep (used idiomatically: no)
Likewise , I 've never trusted anyone who says he can turn one over with a piece of plastic or a credit card . In the old days , before machine - made doors and draught - excluders , maybe , but not these days . I use an old and trusted nail file , one of those ones with the curled end for digging deep into the cuticle . It 's well - worn now , mainly due to being pushed in and out of locks , but you ca n't be arrested for carrying it . And if you have the knack and a light enough touch , you can just about ease back the spring enough to release the tongue .
Idiom: cut and dried (used idiomatically: yes)
Pasture for horses , cattle , sheep , pigs , geese and ducks was very important , and any ponds would probably have held fish . However , as implied for Mendip , digging took place for stone , sand , gravel and clay , for building and other purposes , and minerals like iron and coal were extracted if they were available . Turf and peat could be cut and dried for fuel and building materials , rough wood was used for firewood and construction , and reeds , rushes and bracken were gathered for bedding , roofing , flooring and building . The term ‘ waste’ applied to such areas gives the wrong impression , and the tidy enclosed appearance of many of these former landscapes today makes it difficult to appreciate their importance to earlier people . Like woodland , such areas have their own archaeology — and their own characteristic field monuments .
Idiom: know the score (used idiomatically: yes)
I think my last League game for Scarborough was in early March against Halifax . ‘ It has been a frustrating season for me at times , because of the brilliant form of Pears . But I knew the score before I moved to Ayresome Park last summer.’ Manager Lennie Lawrence said he was not throwing Ironside to the wolves at Molineux . Lawrence added : ‘ Ironside is 28 , not 18 , and has played a lot of games .
Idiom: in the clear (used idiomatically: no)
There they lay in a small , smooth pond in the middle of the desert . When Rain Cloud had finished crying , he was a beautiful pure white cloud , just like his friend . Together they floated away and played in the clear , blue sky . INTERNATIONAL GAMES Birds , Giants , Gnomes ( Greece )
Idiom: on edge (used idiomatically: yes)
God love her ! Do all those men have the ? You pull the chain down really low and pee on the edge of them . if you ca n't afford to get behind here . Right ?
Idiom: all over the place (used idiomatically: yes)
I remember everything to the very last moment . This sequence could not occur in The Possessed — a dangerous thing to say about a very long and diverse book , but true . Despite the fact that spiders are all over the place in Dostoevsky , not just in Svidrigailov 's dirty bathhouse vision of Eternity , and that urban potted plants go back to the beginning in Poor People , we are here firmly inside Crime and Punishment in its abandoned first-person narrative form ( ‘ I am on trial and will tell all ’ ) : Petersburg evenings and their hanging summer light , noises from below , happy workmen , blessed ‘ living life ’ elsewhere , a lonely man in pain passing through gates , over thresholds , slipping up and down staircases , the buzzing By of Raskolnikov 's dream and his awakening , intense time-consciousness alternating with time-oblivion . ‘ At Tikhon 's ’ has strayed out of a metropolitan novel into a provincial one which wo n't accommodate it . To take one 's finger off the bounding narrative pulse of Crime and Punishment and to open The Possessed — to open it anywhere — is to find oneself out in the sticks once again : the ‘ our town ’ of the novel and the voice relating its affairs bring back the ‘ we ’ of convict life in The House of the Dead and the more sketchy collective of that remote Siberian community outside the prison walls .
Idiom: heart of gold (used idiomatically: yes)
He grew up among poor people , and he has been called their poet . But he did not like the poor . When he started writing , it was the fashion to pretend that they were happy shepherds and shepherdesses , who were always dancing , or anyhow had hearts of gold . But Crabbe knew the local almshouses and the hospital and the prison , and the sort of people who drift into them ; he read , in the parish registers , the deaths of the unsuccessful , the marriages of the incompetent , and the births of the illegitimate . Though he notes occasional heroism , his general verdict on the working classes is unfavourable .
Idiom: open someone's eyes (used idiomatically: yes)
She tried to stand up but Roman brought his other arm across her , making her his prisoner . ‘ I agree , and I intend it shall be , but what has Dana got to do with the gown you 'll wear for our wedding?’ Claudia opened her eyes wide , unable to believe she had heard him say ‘ our wedding’ . He was looking at her with such tenderness and love that she thought she would faint from sheer happiness . ‘ I do n't understand,’ she said fearfully .
Idiom: dead and buried (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ You should have waited till the morning , then we could have seen her together . Do n't worry , man , when you get back to the West Indies , you can forget her . Think of her as dead and buried . Now , doctor , is Mason ready to be moved ? I have a carriage waiting outside .
Idiom: out of the woods (used idiomatically: yes)
A table for two had been set in a sort of bower beneath a canopy of spreading palms . But beyond that intimate corner was a wall of translucent glass , giving an uninterrupted view of the mountains . Lights were already beginning to diamond out of the shadowed pine woods on the lower slopes . She stifled a gasp of pure pleasure . Marc seemed unaware of the effect of this spectacular setting .
Idiom: come to think of it (used idiomatically: yes)
We did , of course , over the years of working closely together come to have some very frank exchanges , but the afternoon I am recalling was still early in our relationship and I can not see even Miss Kenton having been so forward . I am not sure she could actually have gone so far as to say things like : ‘ these errors may be trivial in themselves , but you must yourself realize their larger significance’ . In fact , now that I come to think of it , I have a feeling it may have been Lord Darlington himself who made that particular remark to me that time he called me into his study some two months after that exchange with Miss Kenton outside the billiard room . By that time , the situation as regards my father had changed significantly following his fall . The study doors are those that face one as one comes down the great staircase .
Idiom: hold court (used idiomatically: no)
In Rockingham and Whittlewood they appear to have been discontinued after the time of Charles I , and in 1789 the Rt . Hon . Frederick Montague gave evidence to the Commissioners that no Court of Attachment or Swanimote had been held in Salcey Forest since he became Ranger , ' and I doubt whether such Courts have been held ever since the Rangership has been in my Family , which is about 120 years ' . No swanimote was held after 1769 in Bere Porchester Forest : in that year the court could not be opened because no verderers attended . There had been an attempt , through Acts of Parliament , to revive the election of local Forest officers and the holding of local Forest courts in some forests ; these measures were intended to preserve the forest woods and to increase timber production by enclosure of the forest wastes .
Idiom: under the microscope (used idiomatically: yes)
There is also a good chance of diagnosing gonorrhoea , if present , on this first occasion , unlike the case in women . If syphilis is suspected , a ‘ dark - ground’ or ‘ dark - field’examination may be performed on serum from a sore or rash . For this the sore is gently scraped and any fluid that exudes can then be looked at under the microscope . The sores are usually relatively painless , and this procedure , like the urethral investigation , need give no cause for alarm . Following the genital tests and examination , there may be a general examination and a blood - test will be carried out .
Idiom: rest on your laurels (used idiomatically: yes)
The Japanese , of course , are past - masters at this . The more you make the running in this critical phase , the more you need to become sensitive to future technological and quality advances , because if you do n't the other guy is going to leap - frog you . You can never rest on your laurels . After having been in the thick of the battle for a number of years , Haslam found the transition to main board director in 1974 somewhat difficult to adjust to . After running a substantial international fibres business , it came as something of a cultural shock to find himself sitting in ICI 's headquarters with only a secretary to command .
Idiom: make ends meet (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ MOST OF your articles seem to be about very physical hobbies , would you be interested in hearing about one that isn't?’ asked Rosemary Gardner who works in Harwell 's Market Intelligence Service , part of Business Strategy Unit . Of course ! Since having to give - up a dolls - house as a small child to help her mother make ends meet , Rosemary Gardner has always yearned to walk into a little world of her own , now , 40 + years later , she has done just that ! Re - kindled From ribbon roses and tapestries to a triptych , Rosemary has always had craft projects of one sort or another on the go but her interest in the world in miniature was re - kindled when her brother , mindful of the dolls - house she had lost years earlier , bought her a one - twelfth reproduction Georgian eight - roomed ‘ des .
Idiom: open someone's eyes (used idiomatically: yes)
She turned to crawl back to her bed . A billowing wave of darkness rose up and sucked her to its depths , and she sank to the floor . When she opened her eyes it was daylight . Her son was lying on the floor beside her and peering into her face . ‘ Why are you sleeping on the floor?’ he asked seriously .
Idiom: know the score (used idiomatically: no)
Mr Moran resisted what must have been considerable temptation to rebuke Grobbelaar in a manner similar to Mr Souness 's outburst after the recent defeat at Sheffield United . Instead , he left Grobbelaar 's critics in no doubt that there will be no dramatic changes in that department tonight . Soccer : Smith knows the score By Brian Oliver SHOOTING and shouting will be the key factors for Portsmouth at Villa Park tonight as they attempt to finish with a bang in a season which , after promising so much , could end in double disappointment .
Idiom: take stock (used idiomatically: yes)
Labour , however , is a minority in Scotland in the same way the Tories are in Britain . Both get their main support from specific areas and confuse the interests of their base with national interests , and thus , party and nation . What lies behind Tory ‘ taking stock’ is just as confused a set of assumptions . The Tories argue that only a vote for the SNP is a vote for change . This makes the Tories a part of a majority Unionist coalition .
Idiom: on the run (used idiomatically: no)
It all fell into place nicely . ‘ I 'm on a short lease but I 've never discussed in personally with the prince at any stage . ‘ I 'd like to stay on here when it runs out , though , because I think of this as my home now . ’ Adjoining the house is a stable block which houses a hunter and three ponies . They belong to her daughters Emma , 15 , Victoria , 13 , and Rose , nine , who are weekly boarders at a convent near Lechlade , Glos .
Idiom: have words (used idiomatically: no)
Not just you . Pardon Any way have a word with Mrs have a word with Mrs look on the market for any thing uhum . I 've got a tee shirt uhum . I 've just got to start to get my school uniform now .
Idiom: see stars (used idiomatically: yes)
The night was warm . He could see stars . He 'd never seen stars like he 'd seen them around here , cold and diamond - sharp and so many . He walked barefoot around the reception building , on the new tarmac for the first few strides and then onto the beaten earth pathway that would lead to the back , his flashlight beam ranging over the ground as he moved . There was silence , no regular chug - chug - chug of the working generator , which meant that it had to have stalled .
Idiom: go public (used idiomatically: no)
The investment , he knew , would be no problem . His French and Swiss bankers had already indicated their eagerness to participate in any expansion of the company . His chief financial adviser , Simon Scher , a young Englishman who , after Cambridge , had trained at the Harvard Business School , was urging him to go public . ' If we floated shares in de Chavigny on the open market tomorrow , ' he told Edouard , ' you would be over - subscribed four times over . The money is there ; the confidence is there ; it 's the fifties now — the recovery has started . '
Idiom: over the hill (used idiomatically: yes)
JTR made merry at Gress where breakfast was waiting and congenial company took him along the coastline to caves that , because of lack of stamina on my part , were never redrawn . He was into his pastoral bit again with literary references for every pretty female encountered . He found ' a Shiella ' and with her ' bounded over heath and rock , over hill and vale , barely conscious of the sloughs when marshy ground met us … ' His ' good friends ' were most likely the MacKinlays who rented Gress Lodge from 1874 to 1876 from Sir James Mathieson , the island 's proprietor . David MacKinlay was a Lewisach born and bred , educated at Stornoway who made good in the outside world .
Idiom: turn heads (used idiomatically: yes)
' You 're to come to my lord Isambard in his own chamber . You may walk with me like a civilised man if you care to , but I warn you there 'll be an archer behind to keep us in view , so 1 would n't advise you to try any tricks , they 'd do you no good . ' He waved the men - at - arms in the ante - room imperiously out of his path , and led the way out without even turning his head to make sure that Harry was following . ' Look blacker , fool , ' he said out of the corner of his mouth as they stepped into the cold darkness of the outer ward , ' and drag your feet . You 're not going to your wedding .
Idiom: off the shelf (used idiomatically: no)
Child Protection officers are worried about the image it presents . Oxford City Council which runs the Tourist Office say they 've withdrawn the video because of public fears . WH Smith 's and Dillons have also taken the video off the shelves . Up until this afternoon , it was on sale at HMV , but within the last few hours , they 've stopped selling it too . The producers , Rook Films , from Ewelme in Oxfordshire say the angle taken is the last impression they want to give .
Idiom: go public (used idiomatically: yes)
On this occasion , we got straight down to business . I think I must have expressed dissatisfaction with the ' Poetry and Propaganda ' article , because , like others that I had submitted to him up to that point , it was never to appear . In those days there seemed so many vistas ahead that I did not mind when I began to go public : it was sufficiently gratifying to feel that Eliot wanted to print some of my work in his good time and in mine . I had already made my debut in Scrutiny , however , and he may have felt that this made it appropriate that I should have something equivalent in The Criterion . These were after all the two leading literary journals .
Idiom: by the book (used idiomatically: yes)
The Small Person 's Highland Games at the Duke of York 's Headquarters in aid of the Malcolm Sargent Cancer Fund for Children . Shopping Bazaar Sue Crewe travels by the book , banishes cigarette smoke and uncovers a cache of delicious lingerie Young England , 47 Elizabeth Street , London SW1 ( 071–259 9003 ) sells very special children 's clothes . The enterprise was started early this year by Victoria Wilson who owned and ran the famous kindergarten of the same name ; it is managed by former Royal nanny Barbara Barnes .
Idiom: behind bars (used idiomatically: yes)
My generation was forged by protests and police truncheons , by the hopes generated not only by the Prague Spring , but also by the Polish student movement that March , the Paris events of May , and the first signs of Russian democracy voiced in the early books of Sakharov and Solzhenitsyn . For those of us imprisoned in Poland , the Prague Spring was a harbinger of hope . Even Poland ’s communist newspapers , read behind bars , somehow conveyed news of the great changes taking place in our neighbor to the south . So I remember my shock when I learned about the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in August , and the trauma that lingered long after . On the tenth anniversary of that invasion , Václav Havel , Jacek Kuron , and I , along with other dissidents , met on the Czech - Polish border .
Idiom: keep a lid on (used idiomatically: yes)
From 1982 onwards , Romania 's Western creditors found themselves faced by a baffling response from Bucharest to their offers of further credit . It was unwanted . The Western banks regarded Romania as a good risk : cynically , they judged that Ceauşescu would keep the lid on the pot in Romania in a way that Gierek had manifestly failed to do in Poland . Whatever his faults from the perspective of Amnesty International , those very same blots on his reputation were what made Romania much more credit - worthy than many less brutal regimes . But independence is indivisible , so Ceauşescu thought , he should not have let Romania become dependent on Western credit any more than he had let it fall under Soviet political control .