Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: bits and bobs (used idiomatically: yes)
Mainlan GTi could be the British answer to your Peer to Peer networking needs . David Dorn drives it . Peer to Peer networks ( P2P ) allow all the machines on them to share files printers and other bits and bobs with each other , rather than using dedicated machines to provide all of these facilities centrally . For many small businesses and individuals , a Peer to Peer network may be the best answer , avoiding the need to dedicate a powerful machine to the role of a slave . Sage , as a company , is probably best known for its accounting and financial software — there ca n't be many PC users in our readership that have n't heard of the Sterling and Sovereign range of programs — but still manages to produce a workmanlike networking product .
Idiom: turn the corner (used idiomatically: no)
Rover has officially unveiled a new luxury model which it hopes will help pull the company out of the red . The Six Hundred series , made in collaboration with the Japanese , is being built at the Cowley plant . Tonight , Mike Rowbottom assesses the significance of the car in Rover : Turning the Corner . ROY EDNEY / Transport Union Convenor ROD RAMSAY / Marketing Director
Idiom: stand pat (used idiomatically: no)
The bank - controlled Visa and MasterCard networks , with more than 75 % of the general - purpose cards market between them , are fighting a discount war with American Express to keep shops and restaurants loyal as recession slows their billings , while fending off powerful non - bank competitors , led by AT&T and Sears Roebuck , who want to join their networks . Margins — at last— are being squeezed . While consumer - loan interest rates fell by six percentage points in the decade , those on bank - affiliated credit - card balances stood pat at almost 20 % . Yet Americans kept on borrowing . They charged $ 366 billion to general - purpose credit - cards last year , more than five times as much as in 1980 ; outstanding credit - card debt rose sevenfold to $ 177 billion over the decade .
Idiom: take it or leave it (used idiomatically: yes)
We must be the first group they 've ever had with such an attitude . We made hardly any compromises . Our line has always been , we are what we are , take it or leave it.’ Their extraordinary viewpoint obviously scared away many potential labels . ‘ RCA have been really understanding in all the things we do .
Idiom: word of mouth (used idiomatically: yes)
Clearly cancelling the preview had been one option the producers had discussed . ' We 'll go ahead . The show needs the run - in , and even if it 's bad , there wo n't be too much word - of - mouth outside the business . And any word - of - mouth'd be better than what we 've got at the moment . What the hell 's happening on the publicity front ? '
Idiom: take something as read (used idiomatically: yes)
In between we pass through the inevitable stages of people disappearing because they know too much . The baddie saying . ' You have been very clever — in fact , too clever ' and the goodie saying , ' Kill me , but let the girl go'must be taken as read , but Casaubon does not fail to intone after the not tremendously exciting climax , ' Maybe I imagined the whole thing . ' The cliches may well be deliberate , but in a way this only makes them even more tiresome . The constant references to Hammett , Chandler and Casablanca , supposed to be chic , are simply commonplaces .
Idiom: go without saying (used idiomatically: yes)
The journalist spends time on the story and then discovers that the subject has been around for years . If the story has gone through to printing the PRO 's stock will be even lower and he should not expect very good coverage in the future . It goes without saying that downright lies are just stupid . They are always discovered and the end result is extremely bad relations . One or two practical points should also be considered under style .
Idiom: straight from the shoulder (used idiomatically: yes)
The Labour vote was badly hit by the NDP even in working - class strongholds , but no impression was made on the Labour movement . The general question of Unionist attitudes to Labour was highlighted at the Special Party Conference in 1917 where Law came under a strong attack . He gave his followers an analysis of the situation straight from the shoulder , with no false optimism about the immediate prospects and considerable perception about future events : There is another thing which I know you were thinking about a great deal , which all of us must think about . That is , the future of our Party after the War is over .
Idiom: lame duck (used idiomatically: yes)
Yet that was the outcome of the Socialists ' two - yearly congress in Rennes on March 15th-18th . Delegates hooted in disgust or yanked up their ties to imitate nooses . Watching balefully from afar was the party 's ultimate , though lame - duck , boss , President Mitterrand . An open split , he warned the party , would almost certainly cost it the 1993 general election . Once back in Paris , red - faced party leaders hurried to repair the damage .
Idiom: rock bottom (used idiomatically: yes)
England stunned by defeat in US By Richard Elias Daily Post Staff ENGLAND 'S dramatic demise as a footballing world power hit rock - bottom this morning when they were beaten 2–0 by the United States . The comprehensive defeat marked their lowest point in the game since America defeated them in a World Cup match 43 years ago . Manager Graham Taylor , already facing a barrage of criticism for his team selections and match strategies , was visibly shocked .
Idiom: deaf as a post (used idiomatically: yes)
. Yeah . You ca n't hear a thing , deaf as the , deaf as a post , and does n't wear any thing , I feel it 's very one side conversation because he , he says all the talking and they ca n't muck in almost unbearable , cos she likes to talk a lot to and she could n't get a word in because . could n't hear a word .
Idiom: get to grips with (used idiomatically: yes)
Therapy has rocked the boat because it 's made me much more vulnerable . I 've lost all my props and foundations . The deeper I get into this the more difficult it becomes , but I know I need to delve deep in order to get to grips with what lies underneath . It 's quite an adventure . NEIL RYAN , 38 , is a freelance graphic designer .
Idiom: give someone the slip (used idiomatically: yes)
A MURDER suspect arrested at sea admitted killing his parents , it was claimed yesterday . Roderick Newall , 27 , was alleged to have confessed to his uncle at a Scottish hotel in July . Police were told and tailed Newall but he gave them the slip and fled from Britain on a yacht he inherited from his parents , a court in Gibraltar heard . Former Army officer Newall , whose mother and father disappeared from their Jersey home five years ago , was arrested last month when a Navy frigate stopped the boat off North Africa . He is being held in Gibraltar pending extradition proceedings .
Idiom: on the stump (used idiomatically: yes)
I saw the victims one time more - as corpses bruised with blows , especially on their stumps .
Idiom: hold water (used idiomatically: no)
Report of the Faroe Islands pilot whale kills , taken from minutes of the European Parliament , 1989 One of the most inhumane aspects of the grynd is the use of a stout metal hook which is driven into the whale 's neck , often from a boat . A rope attached to this gaff enables a number of men to drag the whale into shallow water and hold the thrashing animal while others kill it with knives . Pilot whales are endearing creatures , as anyone who has been involved in their rescue will testify . A middle-sized species of whale , they grow to an average of 7 metres ( 23 feet ) long , and weigh up to 2 tonnes .
Idiom: make waves (used idiomatically: yes)
The original intention was to hive off assembly operations to sub - contractors . But a reorganisation last year within Telfos Holdings , Hunslet 's parent company , presented the firm with an unmissable opportunity to acquire a 100,000 sq ft factory at Telfos 's headquarters in Leeds . The Regional Railways order made waves not only because it went to a newcomer in train - building . The design chosen was the most innovative of those submitted — a train made from an aluminium bodyshell and driven by a novel A.C. motor which saves some of the energy created when trains brake and feeds its back to the overhead power supply . Hunslet claims its trains , based on three cars with a driver 's cab at either end , will use 30 per cent less energy than similar electric models .
Idiom: sleight of hand (used idiomatically: yes)
And Emma 's unhappy face had freshened . She was not however indiscriminate . She rose and took Rachaela 's child from the nurse with a gliding ‘ May I?’ , a sort of sleight of hand . Emma held the baby , exactly as it should be held . ‘ Hallo , precious .
Idiom: get the picture (used idiomatically: yes)
Racing up in tears and clutching at her when he was hurt . Waking in the night to find her bending over him . Rolling over , he buried his face in the pillow and tried to get back his old picture of her — hard and tough and violent , the same all the way through . But a tiny , treacherous crack of doubt had opened in his mind . Until then , he had been sure of his memories , certain that he could not have forgotten his parents and everything that had happened to him and reinvented the whole of his life before he woke in the attic .
Idiom: play games (used idiomatically: yes)
A simple answer to the question is not possible since , in principle , you can always play most any game . The only question is whether you will win or not .
Idiom: below par (used idiomatically: yes)
He was n't sure . An ill - served victim , probably , for she had an impregnable trick of seeming the passive one in situations she had generated . He imagined she would always picture herself as a woman too lazy ever to be guilty , with a certain black dash in the late afternoon , and a temperament born two gins below par . And in the meantime he would go on missing her unremittingly , and finding reminders of her everywhere . It seemed unlikely that there would be an end to that .
Idiom: the world and his wife (used idiomatically: yes)
Surprisingly enough , Miki is not won over by this subtle approach straight from the Nigel Havers School of Charm . It 's the last day of the tour , and it 's chaos backstage . The world and his wife are here ( that 's wife + 1 ) and Uncle Tom Cobbley 's got Total Access . Ivo , all the way from London , England , is discussing with Motley Crue the possibilities of working on the next ' This Mortal Coil ' project — which will be called ' This Motley Crue ' . Miki 's mum — alias the hand in the ' 70s Denim aftershave advert ( TRUE ! ) — is here looking for hairy chests to stroke .
Idiom: off the shelf (used idiomatically: no)
A ‘ cathedral - size’ model would cost at least £ 30,000 . Extra speaker units , which are necessary for all but the smallest instruments , cost about £ 700 each . It is usual to buy electronic organs ‘ off the shelf’ , but larger instruments are designed to a customer 's specification and to suit particular buildings . Pipe organs are usually individually designed , but it is quite common to purchase at lesser cost one of the standard models offered by many organ builders . A very basic instrument consisting of five ranks of pipes on one manual and pedals would cost about £ 15,000 .
Idiom: time will tell (used idiomatically: yes)
It seemed the perfect finish to the best story in modern rock . Somehow , the vision of Morrissey , Marr , Joyce and Rourke driving Porsches down the Seven Sisters Road and heading for an evening 's ligging at The Camden Palace , still seems like an impossible nightmare . Time will tell . Paint a Vulgar Picture It was Saturday night at Manchester 's vibrant International Club .
Idiom: give head (used idiomatically: no)
They have usually been inclined to be rather self= centred all their lives in a quiet way , and this tendency has become overt and accentuated in old age . If so , it is really useless to try to change them , however maddening their attitude may be . It is far better , for the sake of peace and quiet , to ' give them their head ' within reason , without allowing them to get a total stranglehold on your time . If , on the other hand , your elderly parent shows a quite uncharacteristic withdrawal from her normal concern for you and for others and is totally obsessed in an agitated fashion with herself and her own troubles , over a long period , you should begin to wonder if , in fact , she is suffering from a true depressive illness and may be in need of medical help . It should be remembered , however , that all old people tend to become a little more self - centred as the years go by .
Idiom: point the finger (used idiomatically: no)
' Terry Venables has put me through hell . ' Amstrad boss Alan Sugar . ' If Sugar so much as points a finger in our direction , I 'll snap it off . ' West Brom chairman Trevor Summers worried that Sugar now may move for Hawthorns manager Ossie Ardilles . ' One of the wonderful things when we go out together is all heads turn towards her and I 'm the sideshow . '
Idiom: with a will (used idiomatically: no)
' I have been shamefully beguiled and deceived . She shows me my fault , that ever I trusted a liar and thief . It was not with her will , not at her command , that Brother Tutilo — dare I even call him Brother still ? — stole her away , and worse , in the blackness of his offence brought another innocent soul into sin , if not to his death . His crime is blasphemy no less than theft , for from the beginning he lied impiously , saying he had his revelation from the saint , and he has covered his offence ever since with lie after lie . Now she has clearly given me to know his villainy , and shown that all this wandering since her abduction she has indeed herself devised , to return to this place from which she was taken .
Idiom: under fire (used idiomatically: yes)
It says this limited functionality option could be used ' by very few , if any , users developing production applications . This being the case , the Standish Group believes that ' the discrete transaction option was implemented in Oracle7 solely for the purpose of running the TPC - A benchmark as efficiently as possible . ' SANTA CRUZ OPERATION UNDER FIRE FOR GOLDEN HANDSHAKE TO MICHELS On the threshold of going public , The Santa Cruz Operation Inc is now catching flak for paying co - founder Larry Michels a $ 354,000 golden handshake after he was forced to leave the Santa Cruz , California company in December because of sexual harassment charges . The San Jose Mercury News , which reported the story , citing documents filed this month with the US Securities & Exchange Commission , noted that it was unclear whether the settlement was triggered by an existing employment agreement or was offered by Santa Cruz in an attempt to get the case out of the way so the stock offering could be pursued without controversy .
Idiom: sit on the fence (used idiomatically: yes)
And the book eschews alphabetical order in favour of thematic logic — to good effect . You wo n't see much change from a $ 50 bill or a hard - earned 25 but if you are remotely interested in the subject it 's an excellent investment . If the encyclopaedia has a weakness it is that it sits on the fence on controversial issues . That 's not a criticism you could level at Language — the loaded weapon by Dwight Bolinger ( Longman , 1980 ) . Bolinger , a Harvard Professor shoots from the hip .
Idiom: in the long term (used idiomatically: yes)
HOSPICE VISITOR : but is our Princess turning a sanctuary for the dying into a sanctuary for DI ? People who live in glass palaces … QUITE what happens to the Royal Family in the long term is anybody 's guess . For the short term I have a few suggestions . From now onwards I do not wish to be lectured about smoking , drinking , the environment or what architecture I should admire .
Idiom: turn a blind eye (used idiomatically: yes)
I 'll tell you why . I mean , there are many , many cases of injustice around the world and , the West , the British government , ca n't be responsible for all of them , but there 's , there 's one particular case of Iraq , where we 've already gone to war , to , in the cause of democracy and freedom , and I do n't believe that when Saddam offends again as he does day by day , we can turn a blind eye . We can turn a blind eye to some of it , but the point is always reached when he goes too far , and intervention is required , usually only in the form of American attacks by aircraft on his offences in the em , areas where he 's not supposed to penetrate . Yes , would it be a possibility , perhaps , that Sir Edward Heath , might try to get the other European hostages out ? His success rate with er , British hostages is outstanding is n't it ?
Idiom: hit and miss (used idiomatically: yes)
If patients and relatives were confident that pain control would be established and maintained , requests to ‘ finish it off quickly’ would diminish . Unforgivably , all too often relatives who have been assured that their nearest and dearest will not suffer pain find this does not happen when the time comes . Why are the hospices and Macmillan nurses able to control pain with precision , while in general wards it is still sometimes a case of hit - and - miss ? How often is the decision left to junior doctors in the small hours of the morning who hesitate to increase dosage on the grounds that they do n't want to turn patients into addicts ? I feel for Sister Hart and the barrage of criticism she has come under , but in the wider context I feel for every nurse bearing patient advocacy in the face of medical inadequacy .
Idiom: under the influence (used idiomatically: yes)
A third sister , Alice Newbigin , held a post at the Edinburgh College of Agriculture . All five of the daughters of James Newbigin were strong supporters of the feminist cause . While a student at Edinburgh , Marion Newbigin had come under the influence of J. Arthur Thompson , whom she later succeeded as lecturer in biology and zoology at the School of Medicine for Women . She was a distinguished teacher and an outstanding lecturer . Her original research at this period , carried out in the laboratories of the Royal College of Physicians , concerned studies on coloration in plants , crustaceans , and fish .
Idiom: take the plunge (used idiomatically: yes)
Returning to Queen 's , he asked for , and got , a few gigs in the students ' union — ‘ my very first one was as support act to Blackthorn ’ — and soon he was working once or twice a week round the local pubs and folk clubs . On that demanding circuit , he served his time to the troubadour 's trade , learning how to handle an audience , and going home to his law books . At the end of 1985 he qualified as a solicitor ( ‘ this was the safety net and I had written my thesis on the copyright laws , which has been very useful to me ’ ) , but he had already decided to take the plunge as a full time professional musician . For the next four years or so he lived the nomadic life of the minstrel , heading off in his car round the well worn folk circuits of Germany , Italy and Brittany and playing everywhere from cafes to pizza parlours . Decision
Idiom: mean business (used idiomatically: yes)
Who 's going to arrest and interrogate the PDF?’ Mr Jeffrey Record , a military analyst at the Hudson Institute and a former aide to the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman , Mr Sam Nunn , said it was likely to take months to rebuild the PDF into a military institution capable of supporting rather than threatening the new civilian government . ‘ You 're going to have to have a fairly visible presence there for quite a while to put the authoritarian opponents on notice that we mean business.’ Some analysts said President Endara faces a struggle in establishing the legitimacy of his new government . He carries the burden of having been sworn in just before the US operations began , and he remains in hiding under the protection of the United States .
Idiom: weak at the knees (used idiomatically: yes)
Unlike Leeds ' evil hardcore who had no such media approval . Totally unfair . All the snotty spotty little nerds who support them , who would go weak at the knees and soil themselves if they ever ever went to see MUFC and met the abovementioned evil evil types . The way the media suck up to them all the time . I mean , when we lost to Sunderland in the 73 FA Cup , they 've never let up about it since , but noone mentions MUFC losing to second division Sheff Wednesday in the 1991 League Cup !
Idiom: fall on stony ground (used idiomatically: yes)
Such obtuseness would have been common enough a few years ago . But it is more than slightly worrying to find it still rampant in a largish UK company . Can all those bracing ' think European ' messages have fallen on completely stony ground , and were Lord Young , Alan Sugar and Sir John Harvey - Jones just wasting their breath and the tax - payers ' money ? Part of the problem , of course , is the vagueness , for most people , of the framework within which such thinking is supposed to take place . What is this ' Europe ' we are talking about ?
Idiom: on edge (used idiomatically: yes)
He stared at her and she could n't fail to see the pain in his eyes . ' What else were we to think ? ' He did n't answer , his silence becoming unnerving , and when she examined his features she was dismayed by the bleakness she saw there ; then , with almost cold deliberation , he turned away and sat on the edge of the bed with his back to her . ' David , what is it ? ' she pleaded , disbelieving of the change in him . His naked back remained straight , unyielding , and without turning he said , ' I 'm amazed , that 's all .
Idiom: on board (used idiomatically: no)
Yes , he would give Ebert the lookalike as an early wedding gift . To do with as he wished . He smiled , then leaned across and placed a white stone on the board , breaching the space between two of the black masses , threatening to cut . Hans Ebert stood by the open hatchway of the transporter , his left hand gripping the overhead strap tightly as the craft rose steeply from the mountainside . DeVore 's ' gift ' was crouched behind him against the far wall of the craft , as far from the open hatchway as she could .
Idiom: home and dry (used idiomatically: yes)
Manager Chris McMenemy , son of England number two Lawrie , said : ‘ This is the proudest night of my football life . It 's all we could have hoped for . ‘ In fact , the lads are upset because at 3 - 0 up they should have been home and dry . But I do n't think they could believe what was happening — and nor could I. ‘ I do n't care what troubles Liverpool may have .
Idiom: on the face of it (used idiomatically: yes)
Morrison 's aerial photographs show narrow paths going straight across miles of rugged countryside . A QUESTION OF PROOF On the face of it , leys are ideally suited to a statistical approach . You have a number of points on a map : some are aligned . What is the likelihood that such alignments would occur through chance alone ?
Idiom: take it or leave it (used idiomatically: yes)
Such things may be seen by some as the inevitable watering down of the faith ; that the alternative to fundamentalism is a blurring of the lines and the inability of the Church to address the world . On the contrary ! I want to submit that it means that we do not go to the world with a watertight message which demands ‘ take it or leave it ’ . Rather we go with a gospel of love which invites others to meet a Lord who is merciful , compassionate , and whose yoke is easy . A friend of mine met up with a keen Christian woman whose life was a mess .