Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: on edge (used idiomatically: no)
European authorities rejected my plan in favor of the LTRO . The difference between the two schemes is that mine would provide instant relief to Italy and Spain . By contrast , the LTRO allows Italian and Spanish banks to engage in a very profitable and practically riskless arbitrage , but has kept government bonds hovering on the edge of a precipice – although the last few days brought some relief . My proposal is to use the European ~ Financial ~ Stability Facility ( EFSF ) and the European ~ Stability Mechanism ( ESM ) to insure the European ~ Central ~ Bank against the solvency risk on any newly issued Italian or Spanish treasury bills that it may buy from commercial banks . This would allow the European ~ Banking Authority to treat these various T - bills as the equivalent of cash , because they could be sold to the ECB at any time .
Idiom: on the house (used idiomatically: yes)
Old drain pipes can be hidden by planting climbers , such as an ivy . Made in the UK from maintenance - free weatherproof plastic , each unit measures 12″ square by 6″ high . It will fit most traditional downpipe grates on houses built between 1900 and 1982 . Available in Stoney Grey and Terracotta , they are £ 9.50 each , plus £ 2.50 p&p . As a special launch offer there is only one p&p charge for any quantity ordered .
Idiom: nine times out of ten (used idiomatically: yes)
But that do n't make it , and it 's it 's still a built up area . I mean , they make it thirty and people will travel at forty anyhow . Nine times out of ten . Is it X - Ray department scan department ? Yeah .
Idiom: turn someone's head (used idiomatically: yes)
campaign with your local council to improve public transport facilities in your area . Rainforests Beady eyes glimmer through the foliage , now and again bright shafts of sunlight penetrate the thick green canopy and hundreds of flowers turn their heads towards the source . Hot and steamy , the smell of moist decay pervades the air . Trees 160 feet high thrust their crowns above the canopy , their trunks buttressed by strange outgrowths , and clothed in exotic plants .
Idiom: in the hole (used idiomatically: yes)
Another larva provides evidence for the next step in vertebrate history . The rivers of Europe and America contain animals that look like the lancelet , though they are somewhat larger , up to 20 centimetres long . They , too , live in holes in the mud and filter - feed . They are jawless , blind and without fins except for a fringe around the tail . For many years they were thought to be adult creatures , given a special name , ammocoete , and classified as obvious relatives of the lancelet .
Idiom: with a view to (used idiomatically: yes)
The demand need not be personally served on the debtor , but the creditor is under an obligation to do all that is reasonable for the purpose of bringing the demand to the debtor 's attention and , if practicable in the particular circumstances , to cause personal service of the demand to be effected . Where it is not possible to effect prompt personal service , service may be effected by other means such as post or insertion through a letter box ( Practice Direction , 18 December 1986,(1987 ) 1 All ER 604 ) . The demand may be advertised in one or more newspapers if the demand is for payment of a sum due under a judgment or order and the creditor knows or believes that the debtor has absconded or is keeping out of the way with a view to avoiding service and there is no real prospect of the debt being recovered by any enforcement action . If the demand is advertised , the time limited for compliance runs from when the advertisement first appeared . For the form of advertisement set out in the Practice Direction , 18 December 1986 ( ibid ) , see Appendix C , form 6 .
Idiom: serve someone right (used idiomatically: yes)
And somebody was gon na go and review the relevance to this organization , so that we could determine what we did about it . Mm . And our feeling , if if my memory serves me right , was that we felt that our site safety courses were adequate and gave Correct . a reasonable training .
Idiom: hit the headlines (used idiomatically: yes)
It is an amazing success story for a company which has known good times — and bad . Rover began life in the late 1800s , producing first bicycles and then motorbikes . In 1904 came the first car , and in 1920 Rover hit the headlines when its Light Six saloon raced the Blue Train Continental Express 750 miles across France — and reached Calais 20 minutes ahead of the train . During the Second World War , Rover employed 21,000 people building everything from aircraft wings to tank engines . In 1967 the Rover name almost disappeared when it merged with Leyland Motors .
Idiom: to say the least (used idiomatically: yes)
I remember them well ; they were blue leather and had four spikes and I was the proudest youngster alive in possessing them . I took them to school for Sports Day and decided to try them out by sprinting across the school gymnasium , and I spiked up the wooden floor rather badly . It was not an auspicious start to my time there and the physical education staff were , to say the least , not well pleased ! Henry Compton was a good school , and I was a reasonable pupil — no cherub , but no devil either . The mix of black and white was , as at Canberra , about even , but there was no racial tension .
Idiom: by the book (used idiomatically: no)
In Guildford I saw for the second time the travelling exhibition ' Architecture in Context ' , staged by the RIBA 's South East Region . Earlier it had been on view at 66 Portland Place , and it will shortly complete its run in Folkestone . Judging by the visitors ' book , it has already been seen by several thousand members of the public and potential clients — including visitors from most European Countries and from as far away as Brazil , Alaska and South Korea . An impressive variety of practices is featured in the exhibition , from the one - man band to the big , quoted companies . But , if I were to identify a trend , I would do so on a retailing analogy .
Idiom: turn heads (used idiomatically: yes)
The conversation is ended or the speaker has changed his or her mind . There are many uses for this turn , particularly when dancers are conversing in ports de bras . One of the most beautiful is probably that of Odette in the Act II pas de deux of Swan Lake when , overcoming her fear at being captured , she turns her head and deliberately looks into Siegfried 's eyes . A study of how people react in real life when affected by any kind of emotion and mood soon reveals how the movements of the whole body can change . Sometimes they are perceived only by those in intimate contact , yet sometimes they can make everyone in a large crowd aware of individual feelings .
Idiom: have a heart (used idiomatically: yes)
Former Guisborough Town defender Gary Hinchley will make his debut at Bradford today after two second - team games . Hankin is confident the former Darlington junior will not let him down . ' Hinchley has a big heart and we need battlers in our current situation . ' I will be more than happy if we play as well as we did against Stockport County , providing we get a little luck . ' Luck was not on our side against Stockport .
Idiom: tongue in cheek (used idiomatically: yes)
Travelling the world on a handsome expense account , bedding the babes , the latest in technological gadgetry at his disposal — all in the service of Queen and country . What an absolute cad ! The fourth in the series , Thunderball , was notable for its underwater effects , tongue - in - cheek humour , the unveiling of Bond 's moon buggy and the spin - off merchandising the movie cultivated . Thunderball was third in the 1965 box office stakes , pipped only by The Sound Of Music and Doctor Zhivago . 1966 — THE CHASE
Idiom: mean business (used idiomatically: yes)
SAM RUTIGLIANO / NFL Coach of the Year 1980 Voice over They 're mean … they're tough and they mean business … the Oxford Saints are on the march . This season they 're in the top division of the British National Gridiron League and they 're out to make their mark . American football is the sort of sport where you can do yourself a serious injury before the match has started .
Idiom: pull the wool over someone's eyes (used idiomatically: yes)
Does the Minister agree that agriculture would be given higher priority and better consideration if it were dealt with by a Minister in this House ? Mr. Forsyth I hope that the hon . Gentleman did not try to pull the wool over the association 's eyes , as he usually does . My noble Friend the Under - Secretary of State addressed a meeting of farmers in my constituency . They were extremely impressed by what he said and were buoyed up by his message that the Government are determined to ensure that the proposals on reform of the common agricultural policy are strongly resisted because they are not in the interests of Scotland 's farmers .
Idiom: make the grade (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ Well , Matt and Alfred had ; very different temperaments . Alfred , as the elder , was expected to follow father in the business but he jibbed ; he wanted to be a doctor . To cut a long story short , he could n't make the grade so he ended up as a pharmacist in the business his father bought for him as a going concern . I 'm pretty sure , in the way these things work , that Alfred felt he had made the wrong choice and , illogically , held it against Matthew . But that was only the start.’
Idiom: look the other way (used idiomatically: no)
no objections from the But approval recommended by the West Hill ratepayers . May I suggest you do that then , I do n't like to look the other way . May I suggest you do that . That 's brilliant .
Idiom: point the finger (used idiomatically: no)
' You 're making supper ! ' she said . ' That 's right ! ' With just a hint of normal , workaday Elinor , she pointed a stubby finger at the vegetables . ' What 's that ? ' ' It 's edenwort , darling , ' said Henry .
Idiom: spot on (used idiomatically: yes)
To see him passing by the window in his bucket hat holding a slice of bread and butter in his hand like the Mad Hatter , then hitting his forehead with his palm and rushing back in again . She had seen him in the little town so immersed in looking up at the old buildings , that he ran into a lamppost . He had a spot - on , though unconscious , sense of timing . A serious discussion was taking place in the kitchen ( the hub of the house ) . In the middle of this solemn crisis , Alan burst in : ‘ Have you a book on insect identification?’— which effectively deflated the solemn mood .
Idiom: run the gauntlet (used idiomatically: yes)
Leaving the legacy of Aurangzeb behind us , we took in the original façade . Ahead of us towered the great octagonal bastions of Shah Jehan 's Lahore Gate , an impregnable wall of solid sandstone overlaid by some restrained detailing : blind arcades of cusped arches , a delicate jharokha , and a pair of carved lotus flowers floating on the sandstone spandrels of the great horseshoe arch . From the gate we passed into the covered bazaar , and after running a gauntlet of salesmen ( all offering the same smudged postcards printed on blotting paper ) emerged into the open in front of the Naqqar Khana , the House of the Drums . On passing under the building a cacophony of kettle drums and trumpets would once have announced the arrival of any important visitor . According to Bernier , who regularly visited the fort over the six years that he spent in and around Delhi :
Idiom: game on (used idiomatically: yes)
Plans have been prepared by a local architect for a clubhouse , traditional pavilion and all - weather nets . The ground will be the first all - grassed cricketing venue in Spain , and both the installation of an irrigation system and the seeding of the site have been carried out by the members themselves . Despite the efforts of hordes of gluttonous ants who dined on much of the grass seed , the first game on the first Spanish cricket ground was played there on Saturday , January 11 and the club hosted the Inter - Island Balearic Championships over the first weekend of May. The ground is delightful and has the potential to become a Mediterranean cricketing haven , retaining much of the charm associated with the typical English village ground , but not , of course , its weather . The project has been somewhat hindered by financial restraints and much remains to be done .
Idiom: first off (used idiomatically: no)
NOT ! ! From : NEWTON : : MPH ‘ ’ 12-AUG-1993 16:19:27.69 To : CBS%UK.AC.UKNET - RELAY : : UK.AC.SHU : : J.DONNELLY CC : MPH Subj : Re : Chapman vs Deane Look twat … first off that mail was for a PRIVATE LEEDS MAIL LIST I do nt know how or why you got your pathetic little paws on it … but hey … no big deal … Now , if you re gon na do summink , do it right for christs sake .
Idiom: to the hilt (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ I think if Kylie Minogue has been a flash in the pan she would have lasted for a couple of singles . It looks like she 's going to last for a lot more than that.’ Kylie will never forget the major role PWL played in changing her life , making a millionairess out of a minor TV star , and is prepared to defend them to the hilt . ‘ They get an awful lot of criticism , simply because they are successful,’ she said . ‘ They are not magic .
Idiom: have a ball (used idiomatically: no)
This is particularly noticeable on the machair , which usually retains its bare winter appearance till the end of May , and those who wish to see it at its best should wait until mid-June or even July . Acknowledgements I am grateful to Martin Ball , Andrew Currie , Mary Elliott , A. S. Maclennan and D. B. A. Thompson for their helpful comments on a draft of this chapter . I would also like to thank the Nature Conservancy Council 's Upland Vegetation Survey and Andrew Currie for allowing me to quote from their unpublished reports . Floristic and Vegetational History of the Outer Hebrides H. J. B. BIRKS Botanical Institute , University of Bergen , Allegaten 41 , N-5007 Bergen , Norway .
Idiom: kill two birds with one stone (used idiomatically: yes)
Ceauşescu made the granting of exit visas into a profitable business , first with Israel and the USA ( which paid the bills ) , then with West Germany too . The West Germans were prepared to pay handsomely for the right to emigrate of hundreds of thousands of German - speaking Romanian citizens whose ancestors had lived in the country for centuries . Ceauşescu 's policy killed two birds with one stone : on the one hand , he began the process of ridding Romania of what he considered troublesome alien minorities and earned hard currency from their new countries for the privilege ; and at the same time , he gained a reputation in the West as a ‘ good’ communist , a man to do business with — in this case , by bartering for human beings . No wonder he liked to joke that ‘ oil , Jews , and Germans’ were ‘ Romania 's best exports’ . Liberalizing emigration was just part of Ceauşescu 's strategy to gain acceptance in the West and thereby access to its storehouses of wealth , technology and industrial secrets .
Idiom: laughing stock (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ I quite enjoyed that,’ he said . ‘ You agree with me , then?’ ‘ I think we 'd make ourselves a laughing - stock .’ ‘ I mean about the principle . The exploitation of women 's bodies.’
Idiom: on the money (used idiomatically: yes)
His sole purpose was to defend his stewardship and reaffirm his policy before the audience of the loyal in the ballroom of the Winter Gardens . If he has other things to say they will be said at Mansion House next Thursday , an occasion by tradition for the Chancellor to speak on monetary policy . Glaringly absent from yesterday 's speech were any mention of the balance of payments , the recent excitement on the money markets , exchange rate policy or the European Monetary System . The first omission was regarded by some of his ministerial colleagues as an eccentricity bordering on the provocative , especially after the injunctions from Michael Heseltine and Sir Geoffrey Howe to take more seriously the balance of payments figures and what they said about the manufacturing base of the economy . The absence of reference to exchange rates and the EMS was presumably because there was nothing he could say without exciting renewed speculation or reopening divisions at the top of the Government .
Idiom: tit for tat (used idiomatically: yes)
He 'll give you a full briefing . ' Kandinskaya turned her attention to her console , pretending to blank Jezrael 's existence out of her mind . Via her bluelight , though , Jezrael could see that it was only a minor game of tit - for - tat . As soon as she stood up to leave , Kandinskaya , as expected , said , ' Oh , Brown . ' Jezrael - Ayesha flinched just like she knew the captain had expected .
Idiom: on the game (used idiomatically: yes)
Local companies are bought and sold , and the involvement and interest that the game generates , as I discovered , is quite intense . Richard Holmes of the Sheffield YMCA told me about the background to the game . The idea is that Sheffield companies pay real money for the privilege of being squares on the game — for the obvious advertising benefits . The Midland Bank , as the major sponsor , is paying £ 20,000 for the privilege of being two corners in the game , and having its name and logo on all the notes used in the game . The sponsorship money for the 30 squares amounted to £ 150,000 and paid all the production and advertising costs for the game .
Idiom: in the red (used idiomatically: yes)
Campaigners against a proposed waste disposal complex in Renfrew are hopeful tonight that they may be within sight of winning their battle . That follows the news today that Caird , the company planning to build the controversial incinerator , have made a large pre-tax loss in the first half of this year . The company were more than twenty five million pounds in the red for the first six months of nineteen ninety three . A spokesman for Caird said the group were reviewing projects including the Renfrew site in Scotland . HIV patients in Glasgow face a bleak future , according to a new survey .
Idiom: close to home (used idiomatically: yes)
But , for the benefit of those who have n't noticed , we 're right on the verge of a war . Think about that for a moment , cost it 's more than just a word , it 's potentially the mass genocide of innocent young people on both sides of the divide by the combined efforts of those who consider themselves fit to make such decisions for us , and about us . When Vietnam got nasty , many bands were finally forced out of their apathy as it became apparent that things like conscription were bringing matters pretty close to home . Music became the voice of opposition to the war and its senseless waste of life , and effectively found itself a conscience . Since then , it seems like there has n't been a war anywhere in the world .
Idiom: hold the line (used idiomatically: yes)
Thus for Kelsen , as for legal positivism in general , law can have any content . Clearly these Kelsenian doctrines go well beyond what Finnis would concede on behalf of Aquinas . However it is difficult to see how , having once admitted determinations into his system , Aquinas can hold the line against such Kelsenian conclusions . Finnis illustrates the notion of a determination by the example of an architect 's instructions to an artificer to put a ‘ doorway’ in a wall of a building . Clearly there are minimum and maximum dimensions outwith which no opening in a human habitation can count as a ‘ doorway’ .
Idiom: out of the blue (used idiomatically: yes)
I put it out of my mind . A week or so went by and I had n't received a reply . Then suddenly I had a phone call , which really was out of the blue because if anything I had been expecting a letter . A man who represented the regional office of the Prince 's Trust in Truro was ringing to ask for more information about my work . He asked me about costs and what exactly I 'd been doing .
Idiom: pick someone's brain (used idiomatically: yes)
We 'd called at a house to install some concrete steps in the rear garden , and learnt that they had been burgled the previous night . We continued our work until the fingerprint man arrived to dust that dreadful black powder everywhere . Being the nosy type , I thought I 'd pick his brains . Apart from the basic security arrangements that we 're probably all familiar with by now , he offered some interesting information . There are basically two types of thief : the opportunist and the pro .
Idiom: on board (used idiomatically: yes)
In Kalimantan ( Borneo ) , fires believed to have been smouldering in underground coal seams since 1986 or even 1982 - 83 had now taken hold across many thousands of acres of secondary forest growth ( i.e. the re - growth after clearance ) , often fuelled by the debris from logging operations , and were approaching the primary rainforest of Kutai national park . Military aircraft crash A military transport aircraft , with 12 crew and 120 soldiers on board returning to Bandung after a parade , caught fire and crashed minutes after take - off in a Jakarta suburb , killing all those on board and a guard at a government training centre . ASIA — PACIFIC PHILIPPINES
Idiom: wouldn't hurt a fly (used idiomatically: yes)
Lucky monster ANGLER David Moor , 31 , hooked a 64 pound carp — British record is 51 pounds — then threw it back into a French lake . David , of Rotherham , Yorks . , said : ‘ I would n't hurt a fly.’ IQ king is tops in GCSE A 13-YEAR - OLD maths genius with a Mensa IQ just one short of the maximum 178 has beaten 30,000 rivals to win a glittering prize .
Idiom: in the sticks (used idiomatically: yes)
Shouting is one of the useful skills he is learning . This is several days later . ‘ Bill Mishkin,’ says Bill Saltman , ‘ is a simple Russian boy from way out in the sticks who went through law school and inherited a couple of million from his uncle in the garment trade and could n't add two and two together and get more than four.’ ‘ Bill Mishkin 's just made New Canaan , Connecticut , March 1 to April 14 , without so much as a single shooting , beating , or naked buttock from one end to the other ! Just whites being nice to blacks , and parents smoking a little sympathetic pot with their kids!’
Idiom: in bed with (used idiomatically: yes)
But I was up against a big , strong lad called Eddie Evans in the Canada game and that was very hard work . We were pleased to see the Canadians do so well in the World Cup after they had beaten us over there’ ! The next step was selection for the World Cup squad : ‘ Actually , I was lying in bed with ‘ flu on the Sunday morning of a squad session from which I had called off when Bill Hogg , the SRU secretary , telephoned to say that Iain Milne had been forced to withdraw . Then Duncan Paterson , the selection convenor , came on to say that I had better get myself over to Murrayfield as soon as I could ! ‘ That was a shock , too , and I suppose I wandered about a bit about a bit aimlessly before having a quick breakfast .
Idiom: have a cow (used idiomatically: yes)
Do you want a scone ? ' ' Yes , please . ' She split open a newly baked scone and thickened it with butter and as she handed it to him she added , ' There 's rationing comin ' , that 's what they say , curtailing the food ; well , it wo n't affect us , havin' cows and sheep an ' chickens . But those pigs are more bloomin ' nuisance than the horses . What do you say , Master Joe ? '
Idiom: spot on (used idiomatically: yes)
Runcorn opened on June 1 and has been terrific with small fish all along and bream at Astmoor and S Bends . Warrington opens on June 16 and the most popular lengths will be Grappenhall for carp and bream , Oughtrington for bream , Lymm village and Red Lane . LEEDS - LIVERPOOL : Bream shoal over 100 metres with fish to 5 lb spotted on Wango Lane . Tench to 3 lb taking caster at Blue Anchor but problems could be looming with algae bloom at Burscough end . SANKEY - ST HELENS CANAL : Lymm waters expected to produce big tench and bream with sweetcorn and bread best pleasure baits .