Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: breathe down someone's neck (used idiomatically: yes)
The Carrowdore road races are the penultimate round of the Irish Championships in which Joey Dunlop leads the 600 class , and shares top spot with Brian Reid in the McBrides Fashions 250 series . In the Supersport 600 championship Joey has 121 points to Derek Young 's 106 . Young has Ian King breathing down his neck with 102 . The McBrides Fashions series is down to a two - horse points . Robert Dunlop has an eight point lead over Denis McCullough in the 125 series .
Idiom: keep tabs on (used idiomatically: yes)
In a letter to Darlington MP Michael fallon , Home Office minister Lord Ferrers said he was concerned over the issue . He added : ‘ Although use of such devices is not at present a real problem in terms of its effect on law enforcement and road safety , the Government is aware that it might become so in the future.’ He has asked the Association of Chief police Officers to keep tabs on the proliferation of the devices . Mr Fallon said he was pleased to see the matter would be kept under review but added : ‘ I still think it is a nonsense to sell something which is illegal to use.’ THOUSANDS of homes have been relying on stored water supplies following a discharge of diesel oil into the River Tees .
Idiom: in my book (used idiomatically: yes)
Almost inevitably , at international summits from Kyoto to Copenhagen , governments failed to take any meaningful action on global ~ warming . Fortunately , there finally seems to be a growing number of influential scientists , economists , and politicians who represent a more sensible approach to the issue . As I argued in my 2007 book Cool It , the most rational response to global ~ warming is to make alternative energy technologies so cheap that the whole world can afford them . In broad strokes , this requires a deliberate and significant boost to research and development spending . Based on recent work by Isabel ~ Galiana and Chris Green of McGill University , I advocate expenditure totaling around 0.2 % of global GDP – roughly $ 100~billion a year .
Idiom: make history (used idiomatically: yes)
What they make is ' history ' — events plus a structure of relations . Contrast this with the ways tribesmen made history . The Zuwaya did have two relatively specialized kinds of historian : older men tended to make more history than younger ones , and some poets included historical subjects in their repertoire as well as amorous and religious ones . Poetry was a specialized activity , at least in the sense that few people made or recited poems in public . History in this case was the product of a specialized group ; and the arguments about the quality of the product were about its beauty , metre , wit , rather than about its truth , typicality and meaning .
Idiom: turn heads (used idiomatically: yes)
When he finally did so the impression he made was unforgettable . Wearing a rather absurd black tasselled fez , an army officer 's uniform jacket , riding breeches and a black shirt , he delivered his speech slowly , articulating the words very clearly . He stood in a familiar , flamboyant posture with his hands on his hips and his chin stuck out , constantly turning his head from left to right and back again , to take in his entire audience . He looked taller than I had imagined him : it was said that the platforms on which he stood always had an elevated section in the middle to raise him up . The effect he had on me was unexpected .
Idiom: by the same token (used idiomatically: yes)
With few exceptions , aquarium fish will not and can not eat plants , since healthy plants are far too tough for the fish to eat . What actually happens is that the fish eat the tiny algae spores on the margins of the leaves . By the same token , fish can only eat dead or decaying plants , as they are then soft enough to be eaten . Coming out of its Schall I have a 48″×12″×18″ tank housing what I am led to believe is a Synodontis Schall Catfish of about six inches .
Idiom: keep someone posted (used idiomatically: yes)
What 's a baby kangaroo called ? Now as soon as you have the five answers , and if you have n't heard the other four questions , then there will be a chance , as I said , to hear them again next week , when you 've got the five answers , I 'd like you to send me them on a Christmas card please , this is very , very important send them on a Christmas card please , to the following address . Then , we 'll keep you posted as to what happens next . Eight twenty seven . Anyway , er that apart , for your views on the news .
Idiom: on the house (used idiomatically: no)
To convert the Sutton route to trolleybus operation and to make an agreement with Croydon Corporation for the working of the Crystal Palace route . However , as it now seemed certain that the Company would be taken over by the new authority that was to unify public transport in London , before very long , these projects were left in abeyance . Nevertheless , Mr. Pybus , the Minister of Transport , announced in February 1932 , that the London Transport Bill was dead and he had no intention of forcing it on an unwilling House of Commons . However , another slightly amended Bill was soon prepared . On 1 July 1932 , the electricity undertaking of the South Metropolitan company was handed over to the London & Home Counties Joint Electricity Authority , who already supplied the current in bulk .
Idiom: pull the plug (used idiomatically: yes)
Meanwhile , Keegan revealed yesterday that a £ 1million price - tag wo n't end his interest in Ghent striker Eric Viscaal . ‘ He 's definitely worth another look,’ said Keegan , whose No 2 Terry McDermott watched the Dutchman in action at the weekend . But Keegan is ready to pull the plug on a £ 500,000 deal for Mechelen 's Swedish striker Kennet Andersson . ‘ It 's getting very messy and very political , ’ said Keegan , who has set a deadline for the Belgian club . He wants to know by tomorrow if they will allow Andersson to spend a month on loan at Newcastle .
Idiom: take someone to task (used idiomatically: no)
Perhaps the most important fact is that all the pigments used in Aquacryl are lightfast . Lascaux Aquacryl uses only finely dispersed , transparent and very lightfast pigments , the numbers for which are published on the colour chart . I decided to take this new paint to task on a painting trip to the island of Sark , in the Channel Islands . It was my intention to spend my time there simply painting the landscape and I wanted to work with strong colour on a large scale . I had already made a number of smaller works with Lascaux Aquacryl on watercolour pads and clocks , so I was aware of the colour range and paint handling .
Idiom: hard cheese (used idiomatically: yes)
This is a spooning cheese and should be served by removing the top crust and scooping out the paste with a spoon — from the retailer 's point of view it is quite difficult to persuade customers that the cheese is as it should be . If the cheese is cut , the paste must be restrained inside the crust — thank heavens for film wrap , before which glass or wood had to be used . Semi - hard Cheeses This is probably the largest of all the categories of cheeses and it encompasses many of the traditional British varieties ( see The Great British Eight , p86 ) as well as continental cheeses such as Edam , Chaumes and Pyrenees . The Dutch cheeses Edam , Gouda and Leiden all belong to this group , although they may be sold at varying stages of maturity and the older examples will be harder in texture .
Idiom: in the dock (used idiomatically: no)
Messrs Nash and Mordaunt Snagge for the prosecution were eloquent and scathing . Numerous witnesses for the prosecution followed each other with almost boring repetition into the box . Each took the oath and then gave almost identical evidence , one after the other condemning the prisoners in the dock . Slatter stood nonchalantly . He was no stranger to justice .
Idiom: in the running (used idiomatically: no)
• When all results from the free-running experiments are considered , the sleep/wake cycle is about 25 hours . If it were due to some ‘ memory ’ of our life-style then we would predict that about half the population would show a value less than 24 hours and the free-running periods of individuals would be distributed fairly symmetrically about an average value of 24 hours . We have stressed the regularity that is observed in free-running experiments and interpreted it as evidence for the body clock . However , we should add that , particularly when experiments lasting several months are performed , certain irregularities do creep into the results . Occasionally sleep is missed , or is twice as long as usual .
Idiom: left and right (used idiomatically: no)
The old wall still stood , stretched across the countryside like a giant fourteen - foot picket fence , disappearing over the horizon on both sides . The road , where the border post had once split it , became narrow , just wide enough for two cars to pass each other . They could see the empty watch - towers to the left and right . They parked the Audi where the guardhouse had once stood , on a small patch of concreted ground to the side of the road . They walked across the field to where the wall stopped , sliced in its eternal stride by some giant wire cutters .
Idiom: set eyes on (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ The problem is there 's no point my going over there . Suzie hates me … we were barely on speaking terms the week before she left . She 'd turn and run if she set eyes on me … but I thought … ’ Gina gazed down at the map unseeingly , her mind preoccupied with the unhappy little scene in her own living - room . She had n't had to be psychic to determine Margaret 's thoughts .
Idiom: by a long chalk (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ Here,’ said Stephen Brandt to life , walking down the Strand at eleven o'clock the next dampish morning and moving his lips without a sound . ‘ You think I 've had enough . Well , I have n't , not by a long chalk and I 'm not the tramp I look either . It 's a bad time , admitted , there 's truth in that , but I should n't choose to be out of it . A lax and , O.K. , a dishonorable time .
Idiom: go to seed (used idiomatically: yes)
There is one place where I can say I am at home , where I can live in peace and quiet with my most beloved father and my dearest sister , where I can do as I like , where apart from the duties of my appointment I am my own master , and where I have a permanent income and yet can go off when I like , and travel every second year … For I assure you that people who do not travel ( I mean those who cultivate the arts and learning ) are indeed miserable creatures ; and I protest that unless the Archbishop allows me to travel every second year , I ca n't possibly accept the engagement . A fellow of mediocre talent will remain a mediocrity , whether he travels or not ; but one of superior talent ( which without impiety I can not deny that I possess ) will go to seed , if he always remains in the same place . If the Archbishop would only trust me , I should soon make his orchestra famous . ( 11 September 1778 )
Idiom: play for time (used idiomatically: no)
The two meet at the Showgrounds this Saturday to play for pride — and players for places — in the final game before the Irish League campaign gets underway . There was no doubting that Saturday 's was a better performance for Ards than the 5– defeat by Cliftonville the week before , but goalscoring is becoming a real problem . They had the chances against Linfield in the first half , and both Michael O'Hagan and Martin McGaughey , playing for the first time against his old club , went close . And late in the game , after Dessie Gorman and John McConnell had put Linfield ahead , Darren Erskine had a penalty claim turned down when John Easton appeared to pull him back . Ards Seconds had little more luck in the Steel and Sons Cup , losing out to Donegal Celtic 5– in Saturday 's first round .
Idiom: on paper (used idiomatically: yes)
EXERCISE : CONSTRUCTING A PATTERN - NOTE ( a ) Try to identify the main points and supporting details . ( b ) Then identify ( and write on paper ) the key - words that the historian uses . These are the basis of your pattern - note . After you have done this , compare your key - words with the list below .
Idiom: under the table (used idiomatically: yes)
But the man 's obvious wealth was a temptation Garvey could not resist . ' Though miracles sometimes occur while a certain companion of ours is close at hand . ' Gabriel had taken himself off under a table . The stranger peered between and beyond the silent , uneasy company , but he could not glimpse the boy . Even in better light , it would have been hard to make sense of the look on the stranger 's face , torn between agitation and disgust .
Idiom: in the soup (used idiomatically: yes)
Each one is selected as a separate selfish gene , but it flourishes only in the presence of the right set of other genes . Nowadays this cooperation between genes goes on within cells . It must have started as rudimentary cooperation between self - replicating molecules in the primeval soup ( or whatever primeval medium there was ) . Cell walls perhaps arose as a device to keep useful chemicals together and stop them leaking away . Many of the chemical reactions in the cell actually go on in the fabric of membranes ; a membrane acts as a combined conveyor - belt and test - tube rack .
Idiom: fall short (used idiomatically: yes)
Quantum objects do not act as carriers of classical quantities such as position and momentum ( their wavefunctions are not usually eigenstates of these observables ) but they do carry the potentiality for such quantities ( their wavefunctions are always superpositions of such eigenstates ) . It is as though the programme of Galileo and Locke , which involved discarding secondary qualities ( colour , taste , etc . ) in favour of primary qualities ( the quantities of classical mechanics ) , had been carried a stage further and these primary qualities had themselves become secondary to the property of potentia in which they all lay latent . The first part of Heisenberg 's concluding sentence shows that he felt that such a view fell short of attributing reality to elementary particles . Perhaps that was too grudging a position . It may be that we can seek help from what to some of my readers might seem an unlikely source .
Idiom: old hat (used idiomatically: yes)
For details , contact your L'Oréal Technique Professionnelle representative . OH SO SMOOTH According to‘Looking Good’ , the latest shaving report from Gillette , designer stubble is definitely old hat ! There are 21.7 million men in the UK over 15 years old and over two thirds of them wet shave . Only a tiny 7 % of the male population do not shave regularly which is great news for women who prefer their men to be clean shaven .
Idiom: wide of the mark (used idiomatically: yes)
He said , ‘ I have never heard of Auric Industries before , although I have heard of Auric Enterprises . This concern was also based in Switzerland and Kentucky and made moves to expand in the Fort Knox area until the intervention of James of Universal Export.’ Of those applicants who were oblivious of Bond , most were , like the geriatric security officers and weedy office workers , sadly wide of the mark . The 20-stone fork - lift truck operator was much more suitable , as was a private detective . One former member of the Royal Corps of Signals had been to Hong Kong preventing the ‘ illegal entry of persons’ , which would have come in handy for protecting intruders at Goldfinger 's headquarters .
Idiom: dead wood (used idiomatically: yes)
Tallis looked up , met Scathach 's eyes . ‘ Yes,’ she said ‘ I have an image … ’ Fascinating to watch : how she smoothed down the shard of the totem to make it a circle , to flatten it out ; how she trimmed and chipped to make the natural lines flow ; how she scored out the eyes , the mouth ; how she touched colour with her fingers to emphasize the woman in the land , in the mask ; how the dead wood began to live and breathe . Crouched in the shadows , Scathach watched , but his eyes were on Tallis , not on her fingers as they moved swiftly over the charm . ‘ You truly are possessed.’
Idiom: go public (used idiomatically: yes)
The 1970s were the boom years . His empire mushroomed across Britain , France and the USA . It went public in 1981 . Months later it merged with the considerably larger Mothercare chain in a reverse take - over . The upmarket London furniture store Heals , fashion chain Richard Shops and finally British Home Stores were absorbed into the group , which eventually became known as the Storehouse group .
Idiom: burn the midnight oil (used idiomatically: yes)
It must be hell . While well - heeled poets ride around in Daimlers , You 'll burn the midnight oil to earn a crust , With no hope of a statue in the Abbey , With no hope , even , of a modest bust .
Idiom: work to rule (used idiomatically: yes)
After you 'd been erm in daily discussions w with the management , when did it occur to you that things w just not gon na happen ? Well i it was I 'm not quite sure we we got the other two quarries in the company , in the group of companies , together and told them our problems , and they said right okay fair enough , we 'll help you . And I think it was , we were willing to go back to work and carry on discussions , albeit without earning any bonus because we were working to rule at the time , but it was what happened in er the quarry that really started the strike , when he laid the workforce off because they were helping us , or joining us in sympathetic action , you know there was a lockout up there , so I think that speeded up things considerably . We all thought right okay , we 'll get out for a few days and matters'll come to a head , get sorted out and we 'd be back at work , happy as anything you know , everything sorted within a couple of weeks . Unfortunately it was not to be .
Idiom: in the swim (used idiomatically: no)
It very rarely happens that you take several fish in one period and then nothing for the remainder of the time you spend on the water . You will have gathered from what I have said that barbel really are a true shoal fish , and it is true to say that , as is the case with all true shoal fish , they school together with fish of like size . This means that if you begin catching barbel in the 3 lb to 4 lb class you are unlikely to take any barbel very much bigger — or smaller — while that shoal remains in the swim . But this does not indicate that the particular swim where you are catching 3 lb to 4 lb barbel will only produce fish in that size range , for once that shoal moves out it is not unusual for another shoal to move in , be they bigger or smaller . What you must beware of , however , is using all your bait on a massive shoal of small barbel .
Idiom: get to grips with (used idiomatically: yes)
Professor Sallie McFague 's Models of God examines a number of ideas of the divine nature , including God as mother , lover and friend . She explores the idea of the world as God 's body , an idea which received earlier treatment by Grace Jantzen in her God 's World , God ‘s Body . Neither Jantzen nor McFague really gets to grips with the philosophical issues involved . A theologian who does ( though from a more conservative perspective ) is E.L. Mascall .
Idiom: get stuck into (used idiomatically: no)
erm some of the changes that took place were concerned with learning to chew . You see mammals can chew and reptiles ca n't , erm we can chump away , you know ? erm and let me just list some of the changes that took place which help us to chew . The most critical one in some ways is a change in the structure of our lower jaw , so instead of having a lot of bones in our lower jaw we have just a single bone in our lower jaw , the dentory , which articulates with a bone called the scremosal , whereas in reptiles the quadrate and articular for the articulation and those bones have now got stuck into our inner ear and do some stuff about conducting sound impulses . And one can follow those changes step by step through the fossil record erm including some rather nice fossils we now have which have both jaw articulations in parallel . They have both the reptilian one and the mammalian one , both sort of functional .
Idiom: in the red (used idiomatically: yes)
Jazzbeaux took the rubber ducks and Wally Whales out of the tub and threw them away , then turned on the shower , letting the water run . Getting naked was a long and painful process , and involved finding out just how much punishment her body had taken . She had to cut her stockings off with nail scissors , and the fishnet pattern was stamped in red on her swollen knee . She was n't bleeding any more , but there were huge scabs on her face , chest and back . She stretched , and little stabs of pain shot through her .
Idiom: fair game (used idiomatically: yes)
To return to Ditton 's study , skill at fiddling customers was a major criteria or unofficial status among the bread salesmen . This fiddling included overcharging , increasing the price of bread to unknowing customers , and keeping the price the same but reducing the size of the bread delivery . Also , the salesmen distinguished between those on their rounds who should not be fiddled ( such as disabled people , ex - salesmen ) and those who qualified as ‘ fair game’ . This distinction can be seen as allowing the salesmen to defend themselves through providing a justification for fiddling . Of course , this is common to many criminals who define the victim of their criminality as being rich enough to withstand the loss .
Idiom: off the wall (used idiomatically: yes)
And thus it was that she came to be , on that February evening , poised at the very crown of the hill in Kensington Gardens , looking down the hill , with her back to Bayswater and home and trembling with the fear that she had at last grown up . Three After a couple of minutes Phoebe recovered her breath ; she pushed herself off the wall with her hands and went through the stairwell doorway into the green - painted corridor . She walked along the passage and came , as she had planned , to the window which made the end wall of that floor . She was poised now over her garden and could see the whole of it , laid out like a little world , from her great height .
Idiom: to say the least (used idiomatically: yes)
Consequently , both the loans and the starting up costs will come entirely from the Treasury . The loans were to be administered by a specially formed company under contract to the government ; but the government has been unable to secure the co - operation of the major banks , who were to be the chief participants in the new company , and the loans scheme is in disarray . To say the least of it , this scheme is clumsy and over - complicated . Nick Barr , a keen supporter of loans , is of the opinion that the government has chosen the worst possible option , claiming that the scheme is inordinately expensive and that it will accentuate the middle class bias in access to higher education . Kenneth Baker , formerly Secretary of State for Education , claimed that the normal repayment period would be five years .
Idiom: sit tight (used idiomatically: yes)
It aims to wipe out the Hib form of the deadly disease which kills 65 children and leaves a further 150 permanently brain damaged every year . The Government has launched a £ 1.25 million publicity campaign with TV and radio adverts . Ex - union chief sits tight in cash row TERRY PATTINSON FORMER union chief Ken Gill yesterday refused to hand back £ 30,000 worth of perks from his £ 201,000 retirement package .
Idiom: down the road (used idiomatically: yes)
Even sell your body . But that had been for women with no man to protect them , so they had to do whatever they could and were respected for it . Sarah herself knew many women who had moonlighted down the Bayswater Road to supplement meagre war pensions or National Assistance . What Michael was doing was disgusting . He was putting them on the game , women and young girls who would otherwise never have dreamt of doing it .