Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: spend a penny (used idiomatically: no)
I would n't mind if I went out and spent it on myself , but I did n't ! I do n't spend everything single thing on myself ! I 'm not saying you do , but I have n't spent a penny on myself ! It 's all fo food or Peter or the house or something else ! How do you think I feel when I bring home three hundred a twenty quid a week , and all of it goes on fucking bills !
Idiom: green light (used idiomatically: yes)
He was not persuaded by the argument that the only way the inquiry could be properly conducted was to see the whole picture before making any final decision on an individual case . ‘ The mere fact that more than a thousand police officers know that their conduct is under investigation can , it seems to us , in no sense diminish the prejudice suffered by a particular officer against whom there was a prima facie case of the commission of a criminal offence at a very early stage of that investigation.’ Ms Brenda Dean , general secretary of Sogat ( Society of Graphical and Alled Trades ) said : ‘ The decision will give the green light to a small minority of cynical police officers , encouraging them to build in unnecessary delays when they are investigating their own.’ Brandenburg to reopen before Christmas . By Anna Tomforde and Michael Farr in Dresden
Idiom: have no truck with (used idiomatically: yes)
by Valerie Elliott Home Affairs Correspondent TORY leaders last night distanced the party from the maverick Conservative Sir Nicholas Fairbairn after he claimed Britain would be ‘ swamped with immigrants’ under a Labour Government . Mr Major , clearly embarrassed by the remarks , said : ‘ I believe we should have firm but fair immigration and I have no truck with any distinction between people of different race or colour . ‘ That 's always been the view I 've taken — it 's the Conservative Party 's view.’ The sidelining of Sir Nicholas was signalled by Lord Whitelaw , the former deputy leader , who immediately cancelled a planned visit yesterday to Perth and Kinross , the constituency held by Sir Nicholas since 1974 .
Idiom: up in the air (used idiomatically: yes)
A third Greek word ( meteorizomai ) means ‘ to raise’ or ‘ to suspend’when it is used literally ( as it is in the root of our modern word meteor ) or to raise a person 's hopes when it is used figuratively . When it is used figuratively , it can mean to soar or to lift oneself up , and so to be arrogant in spirit . Or else , because one is lifted up in the air , to be unsettled and therefore restless , anxious , tense and doubtful . It describes a state of mind which is the result of an awkward position . Many modern expressions capture this ambivalence , such as being ‘ up in the air’ or being ‘ hung up’ .
Idiom: spit it out (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ You should live in a little more comfort . -Do you have any wine?’ Athelstan gestured towards an earthenware jug and watched with delight as Cranston took a great gulp then , his face puce as a plum , went to the door to spit it out . ‘ God 's teeth , man ! More water than wine!’ he snapped .
Idiom: act of God (used idiomatically: yes)
And you think that you 're lucky to be alive in that respect , but I 've never really thought that I was specially picked out for some reason to carry on living . But then again in the future it might sink in that that there was a special reason for it , I do n't know . Obviously with so many having lost their lives on the disaster , you say that you do n't feel it 's maybe an act of God int hat sense , that you were picked to to be saved , but erm you do n't feel any guilt as such either , o that you were one of the ones and er so many others had been lost ? No I do n't feel guilty , I mean I would I would love to see everybody that was on the platform still alive . But then again I think I would I would be lying if I said that , I wish it was me rather than anybody else .
Idiom: take the bull by the horns (used idiomatically: yes)
But the you got ta expect , there 's bound to be a bit of apprehension . I understand that totally . But I think it 's take the bull by the horns Oh yeah , and I mean let 's face it you might not like it !
Idiom: close call (used idiomatically: yes)
there is no law saying that they ca n't drive that close to you you 're advised against it . Yeah , exactly and then it 's their their But then again yo you 're you 're advised against going over the speed limit that most people do , I do I I tell yo like I said I 'm not a saint cos like a couple of times when I was first driving , especially in my fucking sprint cos it was a quick car I used to drive up people 's arses and wait until I could overtake them and if they did slow down that used to incense me and I 'd fucking , I 'd go right up there arse and then probably try and cut them up when I went , overtook them and I s fucking learnt , I got a I had a couple of close calls like , people are slamming brakes on and stuff Yeah . and , I did n't so much I just thought that it happened to me
Idiom: up and running (used idiomatically: no)
On the other hand , while self help by its very nature is participatory , it has a strong middle class bias . Finch , in a study of preschool playgroups , found that for working class women self help was illusory , because taking turns in looking after other people 's children did not fit in with their life styles or with their aspirations . Finch argues that the setting up and running of self help groups is essentially a middle class activity , and she concludes that the promotion of self help is deceitful for three reasons : First , encouraging the women to run their own preschool facilities rather than seek an extension of statutory resources is deceitful because it promotes a form of provision which such women can not supply for themselves . Second , the idea of self help obscures the fact that what is being sought are facilities on the cheap , incorporating the unpaid labour c.f mothers themselves …
Idiom: take root (used idiomatically: yes)
Later on Adam wondered if his father had made all this up or if he really believed it himself . It was not a theory to be come across elsewhere . But the curious thing was that the idea had somehow and much against his will taken root in his consciousness . He did not believe it , he ridiculed it — to his sister , for instance— but it partially attained the effect Lewis aimed at . If Adam ever got as far as masturbating , and naturally he sometimes did , he always had the feeling afterwards that his teeth were loose .
Idiom: make waves (used idiomatically: yes)
' That 's where the main expense comes in . When I checked in Who 's Who I found that Jenner held down a post for several years at David 's old university . He 's got friends there who 've moved on to the staff , and he reckons he can pump them for information without making any official waves . Did n't you say you wanted it low - profile ? ' ' That 's right .
Idiom: once in a while (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ When I was in the Army I sometimes wondered if the young could forgive the grown - ups,’ said Joe , thinking the new lodger a beauty . ‘ For what?’ she smiled . ‘ For trying to kill each other every once in a while,’ said Joe . Her eyes opened wide . ‘ You are looking at me , Joe?’ she said .
Idiom: in the red (used idiomatically: yes)
She felt extraordinarily and ridiculously happy and could no]understand the reason for it . Life was the same as it ever had been . She had had Moorlake House and was in the red an"the Moorlake Secretarial School did n't have enough pupils , but driving along this morning , she felt curiously content . So must a butterfly feel as it rose towards the sun , so must a bumble bee feel as it slipped from nectar.filled flower to flower , so must Matthew 's foal as it gambolled beside its mother . She was twenty - three and could push down a house or build one , it was a glorious day and she was going to a party and sitting beside Matthew Preston .
Idiom: hands down (used idiomatically: yes)
There was no wastage of talent.’ But she saw the intellectual side of Ken as well . ‘ When we had a quiz , as often we did in the caravans waiting for filming to begin , Ken always won hands down.’ Indeed , not only was there a tremendous rapport between the members of the company , there was also a recognizable repartee between them , led by Ken , which was so fast that unless he actually knew the language , a stranger was in foreign territory . ‘ I spent a lot of time with Phil Silvers talking about his family away from the others,’ Anita Harris now recalls .
Idiom: run before you can walk (used idiomatically: yes)
If Computercraft achieves its target of a £ 200 000 turnover this year ( so far it has doubled every year ) , it will be well on the way to proving that its ideas work . It will also have learned a few lessons in how not to go about setting up a business . The first lesson was not to run before you can walk . ‘ It was a mistake to try to go too fast,’ says one of the founders , Richard Collings . ‘ We all gave up our jobs , so right away we had six wages to pay .
Idiom: for good measure (used idiomatically: yes)
OHE is not a ‘ front’ organisation for the pill merchants , but a proudly acknowledged agency , and is far and away the most successful PR exercise ( perhaps the only successful PR exercise ) which the industry has ever staged . Its function is ‘ to undertake research on the economic aspects of medical care’ , and to ‘ investigate other health arid social problems’ , and to ‘ collect data from other countries’ , and to publish the results of these wholly commendable activities . This brief has been fulfilled with distinction , and every three or four months for the past 20 years the office has produced an objective , well - documented , literate , and attractively presented booklet encapsulating the known facts about subjects ranging from suicide , rabies and heart disease , to the cost of running hospitals and what the public expects from the NHS , always adding a few percipient comments and conclusions of its own for good measure . This activity has earned the gratitude and , indeed , the respect of hacks such as myself , who have come to rely on the OHE 's booklets and fact sheets and other publications as accurate and marvellously convenient source material . George himself has deservedly achieved the status of a guru , and a year or so back was made a part time professor of medical economics at the City University .
Idiom: beat the clock (used idiomatically: yes)
The outcome , whether a journal article or a book or a commercial patent , has to be significant and recognized as such . First , it has to get past the gatekeepers , the publishers and the journal editors , the referees and reviewers . Secondly , it has to beat the clock . Particularly in the sciences , time presses heavily as research teams around the world struggle to be first to the finish , and then engage in priority disputes to determine just who was successful . But other areas are not without their temporal aspects : even philosophy has its intellectual fashions . )
Idiom: for Africa (used idiomatically: yes)
Isobel would enter the Church as a deacon , would tackle the domestic problems of Woodborough . If she had failed to love her mother , she the missionary , what must it be like for people who , without God , had not even got a Christian obligation to try ? Sometimes , in the years that followed , she longed for Africa , like a lost love affair . Yet she also knew that if she had succumbed to her longing she would not have been satisfied , knowing what she now knew of the terrible difficulties of love . She also came to see that , as a woman , she understood the psychology of this difficulty of human love better than most of her male colleagues who were often , she considered , almost callous in their disinclination to feel the emotional agonies in which some people laboured , shackled to delinquent children or senile parents or destructive marriages .
Idiom: dressed to the nines (used idiomatically: yes)
Picking up her handbag from the bed , she walked slowly from the room . ' You look a picture Katie . ' Evelyn was dressed up to the nines . She had on a bright green crimplene suit and a dark green hat . Her feet were encased in fur - lined ankle boots and she had a large brown handbag at her side .
Idiom: down the road (used idiomatically: yes)
Carver stood holding his executive case . He had paid off the taxi , had given the driver a generous extra to drop his suitcase at the Hilton in Park Lane . He frowned as he gazed down the road to where a black limo was parked . ‘ Could we talk in your kitchen?’ he suggested , turning back to her . ‘ Somewhere we can have running water while we chat?’
Idiom: blow a fuse (used idiomatically: yes)
The centre is also open to the public daily during June , July and August and the first week in September . THE violent thunder storms which interrupted the recent fine weather , brought problems to the Welsh highland Railway on the night of Thursday May 28 . A nearby lightning strike sent a surge through the local electricity supply system and this blew eight fuses and two diodes which control signals and points on the Welsh Highland . The line 's electrical department worked on the faults and the signals were back in use before the first train next day . The repairs to the points ' circuits took a little longer and the points were operated by hand for a short time .
Idiom: put a foot wrong (used idiomatically: yes)
And was she good again ? Yeah . Never put a foot wrong ? Well you know wha when I knew what she had to do , I thought well erm she had to walk on by herself to Annie . That 's right , it was an acting part was n't it ?
Idiom: lose heart (used idiomatically: yes)
But for Branson a quick death had become preferable to the prospect of prolonged agony . Event had become too much of a drain on both his time and the resources of the rest of the Virgin Group . ‘ We lost heart over it,’ he says . After four more months , and two more editors , Branson closed the magazine , with a sense of something like relief . The project had been wrong - footed from the outset .
Idiom: anything goes (used idiomatically: no)
These are just some of the aspects which they have found particularly useful to their operation : The system interfaces with their existing telephone set - up to ensure that no calls are lost and that intemised bills can be produced in the event of a dispute at checking out time . The system improves your service , keeping a record of the guest 's history so that you can identify where he spent his money last time he stayed ( by analysing his spending pattern ) , which room he stayed in , what his favourite drink is , whether he has to have special foods , and important facts like did he pay , did anything go wrong last time he stayed , and so on The risk of non - payment or bad debts is reduced . If customers have accounts at the hotel , the system keeps a track of all expenditure and payments .
Idiom: turn the corner (used idiomatically: no)
Then I ran the rest of the way just in case she 'd heard . The Calthorpe Arms at that time on a Monday evening was so busy and bustling that you could hear a beermat drop . l here were about a dozen customers , mostly middle - aged men sitting alone reading Evening Standards who only troubled the barman to the extent that occasionally he had to turn down the corner of a page of his Stephen King paperback . It must really be business that had brought Bunny here as it was n't his sort of pub . There were no women .
Idiom: behind bars (used idiomatically: yes)
' Would sir like another drink ? ' The men found this uproariously funny . Blake glimpsed the looking glass behind the bar and saw what they found amusing . His clothes were filthy , covered in dirt and blood . His hands , face and hair were stained with a peculiar sand .
Idiom: in black and white (used idiomatically: yes)
5 N.D.O. ( cont'd ) b)— Publicity Photographs — If any teacher would like to order any of the Eileen Langsley photographs cash / cheque is needed with the order and delivery would be October Q.T. day 10’ x 8’prints in black and white — £ 3 each colour prints — £ 5.50 each Copies of prints from earlier sessions for which we do not have the negatives , can be processed , but are usually more expensive . c ) Medau Quotes — Pat is planning to build up a bank of Medau quotes from 10 — 100 words each , she would like everyone to let her know what you write about YOUR class for Ad .
Idiom: play silly buggers (used idiomatically: yes)
She lifted her head as she did this , and seemed to look straight at him . Embarrassed , feeling too like a Peeping Tom for comfort , he scrambled to the floor . ‘ Let 's stop playing silly buggers,’ he said , striding back into his office . ‘ Show the woman in.’ Brian Everthorpe threw open the door of Vic Wilcox 's office and motioned Robyn across the threshold with a flourish .
Idiom: with a view to (used idiomatically: yes)
At the conclusion of the second world climate conference , held in Geneva on Nov. 5 - 7 , the 137 participating governments signed an agreement which recognized that global warming was a reality and undertook to take steps to limit it . This would be achieved by formulating a convention on climate change , to include legally binding protocols on cutting emissions of gases which contributed to global warming , and provisions for industrialized countries to provide financial and technical assistance to Third - World countries to help them achieve this without forgoing the benefits of industrial development . Negotiations on the convention were scheduled to begin in February 1991 , with a view to reaching agreement in time for the 1992 environment and development conference in Brazil . Agreement had been delayed by a reluctance on the part of major oil - producing states , led by Saudi Arabia , the Soviet Union and the United States to agree to set firm targets for limiting greenhouse gas emissions . Such targets had been advocated by the majority of Western countries , including Australia , Japan and the European Communities ( EC ) , which proposed a commitment to freeze emissions of carbon dioxide ( the single largest contributor to the greenhouse effect ) at present levels by the year 2000 .
Idiom: on the level (used idiomatically: yes)
It is questionable whether the " Agenda~2010 " itself will be able to generate enough momentum to kick - start the economy and boost growth , which in Germany is nowhere near the two percent needed to have a positive effect on the current level of ten percent unemployment .
Idiom: get wind of (used idiomatically: yes)
There was a time , at the end of summer , a hopeful time , when it looked as if a lot of would - be railway companies would simply vanish , like the mushrooms they were . Their directors , despairing of raising any money from the cooks and porters and pet dogs who made up the bulk of their subscribers , quietly ceased to badger . But then the lawyers got wind of it — the vultures of the money system . They knew that in every list of a hundred subscribers there were one or two with real money , and on them they descended in their raucous , black - gowned hordes . A list worth ( in theory ) fifty thousand could be bought for five hundred .
Idiom: second nature (used idiomatically: yes)
If we try to shoe or float a horse , and it decides to be uncooperative , and we retaliate with force and anger so that the horse becomes anxious and fearful ; the horse will remember that such a situation terrified it . Even if the horse was not hurt , it is part of its biological heritage to remember the fear , and avoid being in that situation again at all costs . Although some horses will travel in horse trailers as if it is second nature to them , even without having any previous related experience ; and some horses will stand perfectly and quietly for the farrier when they are being shod for the first time ; many will not ! It is those that will not that need a lot of preliminary experience building up to the Big Event . Otherwise , if the horse becomes too anxious and says ‘ No!’ , and we insist ‘ Yes!’ , and the horse becomes very upset and leaps and rears all over the place , we have just trained our horse to always become difficult and uncooperative , and possibly downright dangerous , in this situation .
Idiom: fall between two stools (used idiomatically: yes)
Although it is usual to model responsibilities in terms of a hierarchical tree there are bound to be overlaps between what appear to be different levels of the hierarchy . These shared or duplicated responsibilities are unavoidable and often in fact are desirable because the process is one of mutual monitoring which usually improves reliability . Occasionally overlap may have the opposite effect due to the ‘ falling between two stools’ phenomenon , two operators at the same level or at different levels may each assume that the other has taken a particular action which they both know is required . It makes for much neater charting to assume that there are no overlaps but this defeats one of the main purposes of the chart . Hence the most comprehensive and useful charts often have many irregular comments , asterisks , footnotes , directing arrows and so on , which at first sight detract from the clarity of the presentation .
Idiom: donkey work (used idiomatically: yes)
After an aircraft type has been established in service for some years , a searching ‘ mid - life’ review should be carried out by the manufacturer to the satisfaction of the certification authority when all aspects of the aircraft 's structural performance should be studied in the light of fleet service experience and current design knowledge . The accident Investigators It so happened that it fell to the lot of Geoffrey Holton and Chris Protheroe to do the donkey work in the Lusaka accident , but it could have been any of the twenty or so investigators in AIB . It was entirely fortuitous that the aircraft involved was a Boeing 707 and that Geoffrey had formerly been a BOAC Boeing 707 captain . It would have been too much of a coincidence to have expected Tony Cable to be the engineering investigator at the top of the go - team list since he had worked in Seattle for the Boeing Company before he joined AIB ( the ‘ Branch’ , as it is known by its members ) and his personal knowledge of that company 's products is obviously substantial .
Idiom: hold someone's hand (used idiomatically: yes)
It was starting to rain , so the three of us sat in a bus shelter . There was never anywhere to go . Helen was patient and attentive , holding my hand to calm me . Jamila said , ‘ What I 've agreed with myself is that it 's going to be tonight , at midnight , when I decide what to do . I ca n't carry on with this indecision.’
Idiom: get on someone's nerves (used idiomatically: no)
The cornflower - blue dress she had brought to wear at the finals had been slept on by Ethel and was impossibly creased , as was her face after two nights sleeping in the car . Her legs , not brown enough , were becoming bristly . She was miserably aware of getting on Perdita 's nerves , and , as all the fathers had rolled up , of the loneliness of being a woman on one 's own . She was almost abject with gratitude to Drew who 'd insisted she use his Land - Rover as her base , and who 'd come up specially that morning to invite her to lunch and to watch the match with him and Sukey . Among the Pony Club , Daisy noticed , Drew was a Superman .
Idiom: jockey for position (used idiomatically: yes)
I must n't forget my keys . No erm I mean that 's s but he 's he 's gon na feel like a right it 'll be funny today Sue . It will be jockeying for position . Ah but he is n't there yet is he ? What , today ?
Idiom: get stuck in (used idiomatically: no)
Right , let 's starts , let 's start . see that thumb ? You know where it 'll get stuck in a minute ! That thumb ! Ah !