Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: open someone's eyes (used idiomatically: yes)
It was set up in 1985 as a pioneer of transaction processing monitors , but developed into a computer services company . In Brossa 's opinion , the transaction processing monitor market has matured considerably over the last eight years . And , as industry opens its eyes to the benefits of computer services , the balance is now changing . He believes the ‘ crisis’ in the computer industry stems from the market changing from being technology - driven to customer - driven . Manufacturers and specialists are struggling to respond to constantly changing requirements , he said .
Idiom: miss the boat (used idiomatically: yes)
THE Down v Derry Ulster senior football championship tie on Sunday week will be an all - ticket match — and the crowd will be limited to 14,000 . The Newry ground has already been inspected by representatives of the National Safety Council and although the extended terracing could have coped with upwards on 17,000 , it has been decided in the interests of spectators ' comforts to make 14,000 tickets available . Meanwhile , Fermanagh team manager Hugh McCabe is quick to dismiss any notion that his team may have missed the boat in the Ulster championship . The fact that the Erne outfit could only draw with Armagh on Sunday last despite having home advantage does not lessen McCabe 's optimism as he anticipates this week - end 's replay at the Athletic Grounds . Unlike his counterpart Jim McCorry , he was able to announce his side some days ago — a side that showed just one change from Sunday , Paddy McGuinness coming into midfield for banned John Reihill .
Idiom: out of the question (used idiomatically: yes)
But Peter was mine , and we had some grand times together , throwing sticks down by the reservoir . There were other dogs down the years , but the time came when I was on my own , and got a bit low financially , so I was not able to afford one . When your income is not much above five or six pounds a week , as it was for me in the seventies , even a tin of dog food is out of the question . But one day , after that first programme , some friends from Halifax arrived with a little black and white Border collie pup , so small he could only just manage to get over the doorstep . He was called Chip and he stayed with me for around eight years .
Idiom: close to home (used idiomatically: yes)
A sense of his own arrogant stupidity blended with the shame : he had underrated Henry , and perhaps the I Ching as well . It was so damned unfair that Henry was n't the complete charlatan he should have been . ‘ Youthful folly’ struck unpleasantly close to home . ‘ Are you going to tell me?’ Henry asked .
Idiom: by dint of (used idiomatically: yes)
For every Chaos worshipper who fell there were two more to take his place . The war dragged on for decades . At times , by dint of heroic effort , the Elves achieved a breathing space and cleared their lands . Sometimes they even launched expeditions to other continents to aid the Dwarfs and humans . But it was obvious that the war was being lost .
Idiom: now or never (used idiomatically: yes)
I ca n't turn back , she thought ; I ca n't go through all this again . She took a resolute breath and manoeuvred the jeep behind a low sports car . It would be now or never . He was here , expecting her ; she would get this ordeal over and done with . Robyn straightened her dress , glanced in the rear - view mirror at her still unrecognisable appearance and got out .
Idiom: play with fire (used idiomatically: yes)
Gangs and guerrillas are talked of Wealthy people are talking of escape from a Caribbean version of James Baldwin 's ‘ the fire next time’ . A white woman named Jane has come here from London , drawn by the glamour of the Third World , supposing herself to have arrived where the action is , where the ‘ doers’ are . She is , as she acknowledges , ‘ playing with fire’ . For a while she believes that Peter Roche is a doer . Tortured by the regime in South Africa , Roche has written a book about it , and now , in the Caribbean , has joined the firm of Sablich 's as a welfare worker , whose job is to define and to publicise the firm 's good intentions toward the community .
Idiom: go bananas (used idiomatically: yes)
ROY TOWNSEND / Fruit Seller Roy thinks it 's a case of sour grapes . Roy 's customers think the council has gone bananas . No one from the council was available to be interviewed . Roy says he 'd like to blow a raspberry at its decision , but for the time being he 'll abide by its ruling .
Idiom: pull strings (used idiomatically: yes)
Will it repeat the Algerian tragedy , in which the military canceled an election to prevent Islamists from assuming power , leading to an eight - year civil war that claimed up to 200,000 lives ? Will the country return to military dictatorship ? Or will Egypt end up with something like a Kemalist " democracy " of the type that long prevailed in Turkey , with a civilian government but the military pulling the strings ? All three alternatives are possible , though it is impossible to predict which one will come to pass . But one thing already can be said for certain : the basic distribution of power within Egyptian society has not changed .
Idiom: over the top (used idiomatically: yes)
Roll out to a 1cm/½in thickness on a lightly floured board and cut out twelve rounds , using a 6cm/2½in cutter , re - rolling pastry once . 5 . Melt the remaining butter and brush over the biscuit tops , then bake for about 12–15 minutes until golden brown and the sides spring back when squeezed . Cool on a wire rack , then split in half and butter them liberally . Grillades
Idiom: change hands (used idiomatically: yes)
Quiet day on stock market THERE was little news to entice investors into the market . On a quiet day , with few shares changing hands , the German central bank 's anticipated change in interest rates was expected to make an impression on the FTSE . But the bank announced rates will remain unchanged and the 100-index hardly moved . Burmah Castrol , the lubricants group , was one impressive performer as dealers cheered its healthy profits rise .
Idiom: hold your tongue (used idiomatically: yes)
Mhm . You 've had your fair share of characters up here . Oh hold your tongue . You ken ? A kipper .
Idiom: join the club (used idiomatically: yes)
She agreed to do this before the next session so that it could be discussed further and then used later in the conjoint session with her parents . Session three ( 1 week later ) Pamela had joined the youth club and found it enjoyable . However , she had encountered difficulties in drawing up a list of ways in which she would like her parents to be more tolerant . During this session the therapist discussed with Pamela the reasonableness of her attitudes .
Idiom: from pillar to post (used idiomatically: yes)
Jasper often went to school but nearly as often did not . His school was a big red - brick Victorian building to the east of Kilburn . There were not enough teachers , those there were harassed almost beyond bearing and driven from pillar to post , and no one ever seemed to know who Jasper was , still less remember his name . A great many obscure languages were spoken and some children remained silent because no one else spoke their language . It was not long before Jasper made contact with the boy who wrote the sickness notes .
Idiom: once in a while (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ Hello!’ shouted Balberith into the car phone . ‘ Anybody there?’ For those who like a time check once in a while , it was now 9.30 hours to go and still counting down . Laura hugged her arms . The room was impossibly cold .
Idiom: go all the way (used idiomatically: no)
‘ Armagh,’ Devlin said . ‘ To catch the milk train to Belfast.’ ‘ Now is n't that the strange thing and me going all the way to Belfast market.’ ‘ God bless you , my son,’ Devlin said and climbed in beside him . ‘ Nothing to it , Father,’ the farmer told him as he drove away .
Idiom: cut corners (used idiomatically: yes)
Karelius produced his passport without being asked . It had taken a week to obtain , and had Hapsburg officialdom realized that it was for him rather than Aranyos it would have been unlikely to arrive before the end of the war . Fortunately he and the Hungarian were of superficially similar appearance and , unlike his superiors , Aranyos had no objection to cutting a few corners . The document gave the name Hans Richter and the occupation , surgeon . ' There 's always some sort of medical conference going on in Vienna , ' Aranyos had explained .
Idiom: eat someone alive (used idiomatically: yes)
No man will ever cow them.’ ‘ Did I say a Stewart ? The Duke will bring a fine tail with him —‘The McLaggan women — do not mention them , they would eat you alive!’ You are hard to please , James — I wonder you ever married,’ said Cameron , then regretted he had spoken . ‘ Kirsty was a gem — there is nobody else like that.’
Idiom: go west (used idiomatically: no)
‘ This is the reason they were first given and I would like to think that I have been given this award because of that . ‘ I am not so sure the awards were conceived for people such as sportsmen and businessmen who are paid to do their job . ’ Eileen , from Sedgley , West Midlands , leaves work at her son 's butcher 's shop every Tuesday to go to Burton Road Hospital in nearby Dudley and returns after completing her trolley rounds on the wards . She says : ‘ People tend to forget that WRVS volunteers have jobs and give up their spare time willingly to help the public . I just do it because I like helping others . ’
Idiom: off the hook (used idiomatically: yes)
But she was left with a deep sense of hurt over her friend 's behaviour and had been unable to trust anyone since then . One evening , Emily set aside some time when she could be alone . She took the phone off the hook , and threw herself into her hurt . She wept and sobbed . She ‘ spoke’ to her ex - friend .
Idiom: free rein (used idiomatically: yes)
American naive paintings , she herself had never considered taking up painting until shortly after she moved to England in 1955 to get married . An enthusiastic collector of contemporary art , she attended a London exhibition by a young Italian artist , Dominic Gnoli . While watching him at work she impulsively asked to borrow his materials and followed his advice to give her imagination free rein . The result was a painting of " flying cyclamens " , one of the earliest to be sold at her own first exhibition a year later . Since then Fleur Cowles has gone on to develop a style which has been described as " Magic Realism " .
Idiom: stick out like a sore thumb (used idiomatically: yes)
Notice what shades of colour there are on the water and look at your wake as it shoots from under the board . How many other boards are there on the water ? Look at the surrounding skyline and pick out things that catch the eye — the flashy Porsche in the car - park , the dark cloud looming or the ugly building that sticks out like a sore thumb . Sailing Stiffly As you are sailing along , tense up and sail stiffly with your hands clutching the boom with a vice - like grip , with arms locked solid and body rigid .
Idiom: make history (used idiomatically: no)
Lévi - Strauss ' attack , together with Sartre 's own theoretical difficulties which have already been charted , was effective enough to be quite devastating to the project of the Critique — which was never completed . Sartre took four years to respond , and when the reply eventually came even his most sympathetic admirers agreed that it did not succeed in answering the main criticisms . Lévi - Strauss ' objections to Sartre 's theory of history on the grounds of its ethnocentrism was certainly to the point , demonstrating that one lesson of Sartre 's Herculean attempt to make history truth , and to give it one meaning , was the relation of such history to Western cultural imperialism . At the same time we should also recall that , as Levinas puts it ‘ the best thing about philosophy is that it fails’ . To the extent that Sartre 's ontology does not succeed in totalizing history , it remains open to its irreducible otherness .
Idiom: smell blood (used idiomatically: yes)
Best of everything you 're getting , like a blooming racehorse . Not like when you were on the way to the knacker 's — that was different , was n't it ? ' Except that she would n't have known , not until she got there and smelled the blood . Nails , without thinking , sat down in the comfortable straw and talked to the mare , leaning his head against the refrigerator wall . He felt an affinity with the horse ; she was a drop - out horse , one of the great rejected , like him .
Idiom: fly the flag (used idiomatically: yes)
They refer in that connection to article 5(1 ) of the Geneva Convention of 29 April 1958 on the High Seas , which reads : ' Each state shall fix the conditions for the grant of its nationality to ships , for the registration of ships in its territory , and for the right to fly its flag . Ships have the nationality of the state whose flag they are entitled to fly . There must exist a genuine link between the state and the ship ; in particular , the state must effectively exercise its jurisdiction and control in administrative , technical and social matters over ships flying its flag . 16 .
Idiom: make light of (used idiomatically: yes)
The age question also vexed him . Fielding said that Lorne had even floated the idea that Gary and Doug should be brothers , as opposed to father and son . In this fashion did Lorne hope to make light of the forty - year age difference between himself and his co - star . Then , too , there was the sex . " I 'm Thursday , " said the girl at the door of Lorne 's penthouse .
Idiom: on the run (used idiomatically: yes)
Richard Randall , defending , said : ‘ It was just one moment that will effect this man and his family for the rest of his life.’ Warders hurt as 4 jailbirds fight free FOUR remand prisoners were on the run last night after they attacked prison officers and jumped handcuffed through a smashed window of a moving coach . One of five officers was kicked unconscious and another had his nose broken after a prisoner slipped his handcuffs to lead the assault . A window was smashed with an emergency escape hammer and six prisoners leapt out as the coach slowed .
Idiom: every dog has its day (used idiomatically: yes)
As soon as I heard the word Deptford my ears pricked up . It 's not a place is often mentioned in the news . ' ' Every dog has its day . ' ' The story is that there 's an irresponsible , bored lunatic in Deptford , and I ought to keep him in a cage until I need him . ' ' Victor — ''
Idiom: lie low (used idiomatically: no)
Its inspiration can be the Earth Charter , which , launched in 2000 , was initiated by , among others , former USSR President Mikhail ~ Gorbachev and Wangari ~ Mathaai , who received the 2004 Nobel ~ Peace ~ Prize for her efforts in the Green Belt ~ Movement , a pan - African tree - planting initiative . The climate problem does not stop at borders . In the next few decades , a low - lying country like the Netherlands will need to invest billions of euros to intensify its age - old struggle against rising water . But in many other countries , the water is already flooding over the dikes , both literally and figuratively .
Idiom: do the right thing (used idiomatically: no)
She rests her head on my shoulders for a second her body shaking with sobs . I steer her back towards the motel building , frog - marching her into Room 206 . I do n't know if I am doing the right thing , but I want to make her feel safe . She sits on the only chair in the room , by the night table . Her shirt is open , and her breasts are on view .
Idiom: in the raw (used idiomatically: no)
Nearly high enough for an army to cross , or a siege - tower . The fourth day dawned , and wore through its hours of abrupt rain and mild , blustering wind . They all worked in scuffed brigandines and thick caps , most often with their helmets on top , and they were chilled with weariness , and grim and lewd by turns in the raw , brittle moods that went before battle . John le Grant said , ‘ They 're not fools , you know . Some of these fellows will be veterans of Caffa .
Idiom: hold court (used idiomatically: no)
The association of water conservation measures with improved administrative control was apparent from the earliest days of Masai administration , and though it became fashionable in later years to talk about ' anchoring ' the Masai for development purposes , administrative convenience was always a powerful interest : ' the Masai have , in my view , two outstanding needs ' , wrote the Provincial Commissioner of the Northern Province of Tanganyika in 1950 —'water and discipline ' . A less drastic measure often proposed for improving administrative surveillance of the Masai was the institution of regular cattle auctions . As Henry Fosbrooke of the Tanganyika administration pointed out , these would serve the dual purpose of providing an outlet for excess Masai stock and an opportunity for the transaction of administrative business ; courts , for instance , could be held at cattle auctions . Kenya administrators also discovered the ' importance and usefulness of [ cattle]sales as a meeting place for the transaction of official business ' , but except in wartime , when the army needed meat , veterinary quarantines imposed in response to pressure from representatives of the European livestock industry meant that such sales were not a prominent feature of life in Kenya Masai District . The first British administrator of Tanganyika Masailand was Colonel E.D. Browne , who had been Assistant District Commissioner at Laikipia at the time of the second Masai move in 1911–13 , and who came down to Tanganyika convinced that the Kenya Masai had had a rotten deal and determined to see that the Tanganyika Masai got a better one .
Idiom: for Africa (used idiomatically: no)
A further 7,150 redundancies have been announced by companies for January , but the affected regions are still to be specified . The Chancellor Norman Lamont is expected to make the battle against unemployment a priority in his budget to be announced next month . Lenten aid campaign for Africa starts A SCOTLAND - WIDE effort to provide aid to the starving in the famine - stricken countries of Africa was begun yesterday by the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund , writes Gary Duncan . For the first time , SCIAF 's annual campaign for Lent features billboard posters throughout the country and posters on buses in selected areas .
Idiom: sell like hot cakes (used idiomatically: yes)
It 's an account of the early days of television — that has n't been done yet . I 've got a lot of interesting stuff - after all , I was in on the ground floor . It should sell like hot cakes if I knock it into the right sort of shape . That 's the trouble of course , I 've got a mass of fascinating stuff but I 've got to be selective.’ He frowned and lit a cigarette .
Idiom: by and large (used idiomatically: yes)
The issue is far more complicated and it is only fair to note that we have not reached a stage of knowledge when we can easily say what explains the status of women among the different peoples of the world . The status of women has several aspects which themselves do not go simple together . By and large the evidence which Engels and his contemporaries saw as significant of the high status of women in primitive societies is often wrong or does not signify what it was believed to mean . As Engels noted , women contribute differentially to the processes of production in different types of society but the contribution of women in the production of the most important goods of the society does not necessarily give them a high status as he thought . Among the pastoralists of East Africa women produce most of the foodstuffs through agriculture , but only cattle , cared for by men , are defined as the really important and noble product , and in fact women 's dominant productive contribution is given as an excuse for their social devaluation as low creatures unconcerned with the aesthetic and political value of pastoralism .
Idiom: out of the question (used idiomatically: yes)
But while his second innings batting on Monday looked as though it might save the match , his bowling was desperately short of aggression and conviction . And Phillip DeFreitas , a late replacement for injury victim Alan Igglesden , never threatened to match Hughes 's lion - hearted performance on a slow pitch . Eight changes are out of the question for Lord 's next Thursday but England must do something to stop the rot before all hope of regaining the Ashes disappears for another two years . At least one top left - hander in the top six looks a must to help combat Warne 's leg - spin - and the odds on David Gower returning are shortening almost by the hour . As for the attack , England would benefit from Neil Foster 's return after a four - year absence if only they can be convinced of his fitness .
Idiom: full tilt (used idiomatically: yes)
She was seated in blue sky , the clouds at her back , hearing the church bells roll out the quarter - hour . Thérèse , rushing across the back yard , did n't notice her . She vanished at full tilt towards the kitchen - garden and the orchards . Then Baptiste appeared . He strolled , hands in pockets , whistling .
Idiom: drop a hint (used idiomatically: yes)
Perhaps a better explanation is that Derridean ' theory ' , never fully accepted in England , has fallen subtly out of favour . There may have been queues in the streets when Derrida came to Oxford recently . However , hints are already being dropped in smart academic circles that the French philosopher is yesterday 's man . Both events , Hayek 's death and Derrida 's threatened discomfiture , are relevant to the themes of Anderson 's latest collection of essays . Some are old and famous .
Idiom: on the nod (used idiomatically: yes)
Involuntarily , Margaret thought of Jack 's muscular body last night . She hardly heard the growing excitement in the commentator 's voice . ' … into the last furlong , and the Guppy looks beaten , Breakdancer takes up the running with Prince Charming on the stand side — it looks to be between these two — but now Shine On 's absolutely flying on the outside , a terrific challenge , the three locked together , Breakdancer and Shine On stride for stride , at the line it 's very close but I think it 's shine On who gets it on the nod . There 'll be a photograph but there 's not much doubt about the winner . shine On ridden with breathtaking confidence by the young apprentice Kelly Connor who got up in the last stride to — '
Idiom: behind the scenes (used idiomatically: yes)
Everyone in Durham to whom Bevir talked wanted Ramsey to come back . The dean and chapter wanted him . Behind the scenes they may have affected the prime minister directly . For Canon Lucas , sub - dean and father of the boys with the model railway , decided while Ramsey was the professor at Durham that this was a possible Archbishop of Canterbury . This was contrary to the opinion of the world and society which thought of him as a boffin .
Idiom: come to grips with (used idiomatically: yes)
I want his mates to hear the gospel and besides that Billy would not want a sad funeral , so I think you should preach , Dad.’ I had to come to grips with a lot of things in a hurry . I had to come to grips with how my understanding of the sovereignty of God applied in that situation . Was God out to lunch when this happened ? If I could not believe in the sovereignty of God when it was my son lying there how could I tell someone who came for counselling , suffering the whims of a very insensitive partner , ‘ You continue to honour God in this situation .
Idiom: turn the corner (used idiomatically: yes)
Lawton and Forster finally passed from view through the doors . Grant glanced across , and saw that Delaney had reached another ‘ T’ junction . The black - clad figure hesitated then turned the corner . But whereas the others had gone to the left , Delaney went to the right . Half - heartedly , Grant used his transceiver , and called them .