Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: lay a finger on (used idiomatically: yes)
I think if you 're going to be the only boy , you 've got to be the eldest . I kind of ruled the roost a bit , but we got on well . My dad always brought me up saying you never lay a finger on a woman , never ever . My sister — the one just younger than me — and I used to share all the jobs in the house — if she washed up one day I did the drying up and so on , but when my grandad came to live with us , he thought the world of her so he did all her jobs , and she 'd come to me and taunt me , and that used to incense me . So one day , I got a newspaper , I rolled it up and I walloped her like mad .
Idiom: ring a bell (used idiomatically: yes)
It 's really frustrating , all the problems you have . When I cut my wrists it was night and I made no attempt to get the staff . I 'm just lucky really that I never cut myself to any extent , because if I had tried to ring my bell , they would have said , ' Tough , wait until the morning . ' That 's how it is in prison . Every prison is the same , or every prison I 've been in anyway .
Idiom: follow suit (used idiomatically: yes)
One may throw off a card or use a trump on a non - trump lead only when unable to follow the suit led .
Idiom: sick and tired (used idiomatically: yes)
I do n't imp intend to preach to the converted but what I do intend to say to anyone in this hall that 's either indifferent or complacent or just too idle to do anything than let this motion drift by them , that if we do n't get together on this issue to get the message over to our national officers and in turn the T U C , that if we do n't stand and fight for the right to uphold the basic principles of what I believe to be trade unionism , that is the right to withdraw labour , the right to protect our brothers and sisters from oppressive employers , the right to command decent conditions and fair pay without fair reprisal . If we do n't make a stand now then all of us in this hall will be a living , breathing testament to the betrayal of all those that have gone before us and we 'll leave nothing for anybody coming in the future . As a works convenor , I work along twenty shop stewards , and I can tell this Congress that the message that they 've given to me from the people from the people that have elected them , is that they 're sick and tired of the perpetual bleating of the T U C about how they have to abide by the laws , when the only laws that are there are the laws that are bringing this movement down . There comes a time when natural justice supersedes any law made by any government , and that time 's now . No longer the excuse of keeping low profile actions , hoping for a Labour government because if we have n't got the guts to stand up and fight the government that made these laws , then we 've got no right to challenge a future Labour government that inherits 'em .
Idiom: short and sweet (used idiomatically: yes)
Casino talks off . Stanley Leisure has broken off talks with Leisure Investments — now at the centre of a bid from Bear Brand — over the planned purchase of Aspinall 's Casino in London . Short and sweet . Short Brothers has won two orders worth £ 40 million for its Javelin close - air defence weapon system from the Ministry of Defence and an unnamed country . Going Down Under .
Idiom: fall short (used idiomatically: yes)
Child benefits indicate the state 's recognition of the financial implications of parenthood . As we saw in Chapter 2 on social security , however , these do not keep the very low - paid workers above the officially defined poverty line . But the aim is to help parents financially even though the actuality falls short of the intention of preventing family poverty . The maternity and child welfare services have been developed to help parents do their best for their children . Mothers are given ante- and post - natal care and children are medically inspected , vaccinated , etc . , periodically .
Idiom: on the cards (used idiomatically: yes)
But for some reason it was decided not to go ahead . Instead he was put in a hostel where a nurse could keep an eye on him . The final entry on his record card reads : ' Norbert reports regularly to the Labour Exchange , but has no intention of working . He is not easy at the hostel and it is possible that he will have to return to hospital , but at the moment he is not certifiable . ' The question of a lobotomy was debated in every case where the patient was diagnosed schizophrenic .
Idiom: join the club (used idiomatically: yes)
Evening classes are a good way of meeting people , adding to your skills , having fun , and learning at the same time , without the organisational demands that a club may make upon you . Most classes are advertised in the local press , or at libraries , during the summer months , and one usually has to enrol during August for start in September . However , the same rule applies to evening classes as to joining clubs — it must be a subject that really interests you . Otherwise , after a hard day 's work in the middle of winter , you will find that you can not be bothered to make the effort to go along and you will have wasted the fees . For the retired , many adult education institutes now run daytime classes as well .
Idiom: have a few (used idiomatically: yes)
Tom and Mary have a few kids , but I ' m not sure how many .
Idiom: batten down the hatches (used idiomatically: yes)
Send a cow sends right Royal thanks Sir , May I express through your columns Sends a Cow 's gratitude to the many people in our beleaguered industry who generously supported us at the Royal Show this year . A natural tendency in times of recession is to batten down the hatches and look after our own needs , but as we sold raffle tickets in aid of our livestock projects in Uganda , people at the Royal certainly supported our scheme with cheerful generosity . Robert Cooper has donated a magnificent Normead heifer as the first prize to the draw , and Dalgety Agriculture sponsored all the printing and promotional costs along with Herdwise , which is supplying the second prize of 10 semen straws . It is evident , too , that everyone is doing this at a time when thoughts of recession could easily exclude any charitable action .
Idiom: get the picture (used idiomatically: yes)
It belonged to an extremely important erm civic family , Thomas and John Smith , who are the two important ones during the civil war , Thomas was mayor just before the War , John Smith was a member of parliament in the Long Parliament , and erm there 's a slightly complicated story to the house , Thomas moved out of it just before the war and built another one way up the street , but John stayed there , and another important landowner in Marston , Umpton Croak , owned the other half of it . If you go down to Newman Mobray , and walk down that little alleyway , Rose Place , you see what is the frontage of that house , and it 's very fine , and you can tell these are important people building themselves a fine house . erm And I 've got a picture in here somewhere , which I 'll pass round . erm And also , the Alice Shop ? Do you know where I mean ? erm Well , that too , is a 17th century building , I 've got a an early 19th century Butler engraving of it here , and some pictures from the Alice shop itself , Now that was owned by a Walter Paine , both these citizens were well off brewers , erm those are just pictures of the same one , it 's a little bit of a problem because this is called the house belonging to the manciple of Christchurch .
Idiom: on and off (used idiomatically: yes)
Er this will not cut in any budget erm as as can be seen from our sheet . I 'd like to erm two constant er budget , we feel that reinstatement of the capital design staff salaries is important if not because . Design work can not be turned on and off er it is er feel flowing continuous process and we must be particularly must be er as well as practical work in the future . I hardly dare mention traffic calming but it does seem to be the flavour of of the month at the moment but to see that the existing work doubled by and I know it 's going to cost the county erm this but if you do n't want to talk about the children and their crime it is er traffic calming it certainly is a and I do believe I think what we 've all to pay for this erm that we will perhaps it will have to come from somewhere and again of the Council Planning Department as we we do erm continue .
Idiom: under the microscope (used idiomatically: no)
But many of the 14-year - old pupils had to sit tests drawn up by their own teachers who are boycotting the controversial national tests . Sutch help : Screaming Lord Sutch is going to stand in the forthcoming Christchurch by - election as the ' Monster Raving Loony Save John Major ' candidate . Royal probe : The royals are coming under the TV microscope again in a four - part £ 1.8 m ITV documentary The Windsors . Tea line : TV chef Glyn Christian launched a new BR tea service today but was an hour late … because of a signal failure . Music death : Singer - songwriter Arthur Alexander , whose classics were among the first songs cut by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones , has died in Nashville , aged 53 .
Idiom: away with the fairies (used idiomatically: yes)
Tom was away with the fairies for a while when he woke up after his surgery .
Idiom: in the saddle (used idiomatically: yes)
But what did not happen might be as important as what did . While dictators associated with military juntas were challenged overnight , the Arab Spring never came to the region ’s conservative monarchies . The dynastic rulers of Morocco , Jordan , Saudi ~ Arabia , and the Gulf states ( with the exception of Bahrain ) remain more ~ or ~ less firmly in the saddle , even though Saudi ~ Arabia ’s regime , at ~ least , is in many respects far more oppressive than were the former Egyptian and Tunisian regimes . Of ~ course , oil money helps to sustain autocracy , but this is not a factor in Morocco and Jordan . It appears that these monarchies enjoy a form of traditional authority that the region ’s secular nationalist rulers never had .
Idiom: all wet (used idiomatically: yes)
Besides , filling hot water bottles was not man 's work — fetching coal , sawing wood , even opening a bottle of wine would have been suitable occupations for Rupert to be discovered in , but not this . ‘ You should have taken the cover off before you filled it,’ she went on , taking the bottle , almost snatching it , out of Rupert 's hand . ‘ Look , it 's all wet.’ ‘ Yes , the water spluttered up,’ he said unhappily , uncomfortable with the new fierce Sophia . After all it had n't been his fault that Ianthe was in bed with ‘ flu .
Idiom: on the back of (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ Not so fast,’ she cried as they thundered along Rodney Street . She did n't care what O'Hara thought . She did n't care about anything ; she just wanted Meredith to see her on the back of the Prince 's white charger . Perhaps then , when he realised he was in danger of losing her , he and O'Hara would exchange a hostile , challenging glance . If looks could kill , she thought , clinging to O'Hara 's leather - clad waist , the river wind whipping her hair into her eyes .
Idiom: in the running (used idiomatically: no)
First came Four Saints in Three Acts , produced in 1934 , and then The Mother of Us All ( 1947 ) , which demonstrated a new kind of plotless opera only now reaching a wider currency through the stage works of Philip Glass . In Four Saints Thomson 's informality was given free reign since he first of all improvised the music at the piano then , when it stuck , wrote it down to a figured bass . He said : ‘ I had wondered whether a piece so drenched in Anglican chant ( running from Gilbert and Sullivan to Morning Prayer and back ) could rise and sail . ’ But the resulting mixture of hymns , folksy tunes and recitatives — at times of intoxicating banality — was a sensation . The opera , like Gershwin 's Porgy and Bess the following year , used an all-Black cast and the staging and choreography gave it a British connection since it was by Frederick Ashton .
Idiom: go all the way (used idiomatically: yes)
Well because he 's very he 's been very awkward with her has n't he ? And And he 's not gon na be all , going all the way down to Devon Oh no ! though is he ?
Idiom: out of order (used idiomatically: yes)
Referring to the crowd , one constable said , PC . 1 . I bet ya it was one of them that put that out of order . I think I saw one of them over at it . [ Name of another policeman]got out .
Idiom: out of order (used idiomatically: yes)
He 's a fucker , I ca n't stick him he 's the most snobbish little cunt I 've ever known I 'd like to see what stuff he had if he had to pay for it himself hard luck , no I 'd like to see what he 'd do with his stuff if he had to pay with it , pay for it himself . Cos he 's well out of order , when you , were you there when he was were you there when he was like slamming his nine iron into one of those brick posts , that 's sad he does rate his clubs though , cos he gets a new one
Idiom: have words (used idiomatically: yes)
' Now we must build on this and get our message clearly across . ' Mrs Thatcher was critical of Mr Kinnock for thinking that he had victory in the bag before the result was declared . She had some words of reproach for Mrs Kinnock too . ' I saw her on television this morning filmed at the polling station . She was dressed so smartly I thought : ' Silly girl to be wearing Yves St Laurent .
Idiom: rough and ready (used idiomatically: yes)
Seen in this light de - industrialisation was not the onset of a foreign disease but the unavoidable expiation of past neglect . One area of neglect which has not been touched upon is expenditure on research and development . Only rough and ready figures are available because of problems of definition . In broad terms these show Britain riding high in the international league table in the 1950s and 1960s but falling heavily over the 1970s [ Freeman , 1979 ] . Of course , this tells us nothing about the effectiveness of these efforts .
Idiom: out of sight (used idiomatically: yes)
The guy we now know is called Casey stomps out of the phonebox and glares up the road in our direction so hard you could swear he sees us . He curses again over the microphone and clumps along the pavement towards us . I slide down out of sight . ‘ You staying up , Des?’ ‘ Yeah , he probably not recognize me .
Idiom: go straight (used idiomatically: yes)
You 've got to get Yes . cos the red goes straight line always , does n't matter whether you hit it like that , that , that , that , that red ball will always It 'll move away on all through the line of contact , right . O K ?
Idiom: by the book (used idiomatically: yes)
For the lay congregation , scriptural accounts are regarded as literal history , a self - contained story no less true for being divorced from an historical context . Never having been taught otherwise by his spiritual mentors , many a devout believer has had no need to question the problems posed by such a context . When these problems are suddenly posed by a book such as ours , they will quite understandably assume the form of revelation , or of sacrilege . And we ourselves will instinctively be perceived as ' anti - Christian ' , as writers engaged in a fully fledged crusade which pits us , as militant adversaries , against the ecclesiastical establishment — as if we were personally bent on toppling the edifice of Christendom ( and so naive as to think such a feat possible ) . Our Conclusion in Perspective
Idiom: save someone's bacon (used idiomatically: yes)
I used to do all sorts of other jobs to keep going — I used to be so confident that work was round the corner that when I became a cellarman in a wine shop , I said to my family , ‘ Of course , I 'll only be here for a week or two , you know,’ and a year later I was still there . I became the manager of one shop , I was there so long . Then I worked for Jimmy Young for quite a long time … he saved my bacon . I worked as a researcher for him for so long I became part of the furniture , I really did . OVERTURE AND BEGINNERS …
Idiom: in Dutch (used idiomatically: yes)
As the Post pointed out , there is no such thing as involuntary euthanasia in the Netherlands . The patient ’s consent is essential , and at ~ least two doctors must agree that the patient ’s suffering is unbearable and beyond cure . Besides , the share of assisted deaths in Dutch mortality is nowhere near 10 % . As for those bracelets , well … But does any of this matter to Santorum ’s followers ?
Idiom: behind bars (used idiomatically: yes)
DUDLEY MOORE My first public performance was behind a chair — I refused to sing unless I had a chair in front of me . I do n't know why , I think it was that familiar feeling of being behind bars . I wanted to be a violinist — that was my real ambition — but I was too anxious to really get to grips with the instrument . In fact when I was about twelve , I wrote a piece of music called ‘ Anxiety’— it was so silly that I framed it .
Idiom: flash in the pan (used idiomatically: yes)
Would you say that that the that the experience of the N U M has been a very important one f f for you in that respect ? Oh yes very much so and we 've been these er lots secretaries and presidents and all miners and that they 've been coming up you know and er you had a chat with them and they put us do n't let this happen , do n't let that happen , and make sure that erm you know people do n't suffer and er oh it 's been quite a vast experience for us yeah . And they still keep on sending not just one flash in the pan you know . They still know that we need that help . Now erm they 've been quite good to us .
Idiom: in tandem (used idiomatically: yes)
The exhibition has been organised by Ann Sumner , Keeper at Dulwich , who has written an essay on the influence of the picture on eighteenth- and nineteenth - century French and British artists . The restoration of Rietveld 's De Stijl villa In tandem with the major exhibition on Rietveld 's activities as an architect and furniture designer which has opened at the Centraal Museum of Utrecht ( until 21 February ) , the City Council of Utrecht has pledged DFl.270,000 ( £ 84,400 ; $ 146,800 ) for the restoration of ten early villas by the Dutch artist , furniture designer and architect . Together with the painters Piet Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg , Gerrit Rietveld ( 1888–1964 ) formed the vanguard of the De Stijl group during the early decades of this century . The architect responsible for the restoration of the villas , all of which were built between 1925 and 1935 , is Bertus Mulder who worked with Rietveld before the latter 's death in 1964 .
Idiom: keep the peace (used idiomatically: yes)
Kinloch , who from his youth in France had held liberal views , now became actively opposed to the oppressive measures enforced by the authorities acting under the orders of the Tory government . He agreed to preside over a public meeting of the inhabitants of Dundee to be held on 10 November 1819 to protest against ‘ the unprovoked , cruel and cowardly attack made on the people of Manchester’ and ‘ to suggest the means most likely to lead to a reform of abuses’ . The meeting was held as advertised and Kinloch addressed it in a wordy speech in which , after pleading with his audience to keep the peace , he criticized the government for excessive taxation , and declaimed : ‘ In short , the whole of our misfortune as a nation , the whole of our misery , the whole of our distress , can be clearly traced to the circumstances of the people being deprived of their share of the British Constitution by not having a voice in the election of persons to represent them in the House of Commons.’ Two weeks after the meeting Kinloch was astounded to be confronted with a warrant for his arrest on a charge of sedition , issued on the authority of the Home Office in London . He was allowed bail , but after consulting his lawyers , was convinced that it was highly probable that he would be convicted for sedition and sent to Botany Bay .
Idiom: hold someone's hand (used idiomatically: no)
' Let me introduce you to it . Hold out your hand . ' She reluctantly held out her hand , palm upwards , and felt like a naughty schoolgirl who 'd misbehaved in class . She saw him raise the crop , and heard the whistle as it travelled towards her outstretched palm . She expected the thin , whippy shaft to cut viciously into her flesh , but instead only the soft leather flap landed on her hand .
Idiom: take someone to task (used idiomatically: yes)
Unfortunately for such exotic ideas , even if the ' centre of the Universe ' were out of sight , such a peculiar behaviour would be revealed by an asymmetric pattern of redshifts on the sky . The observed pattern , that in all directions the redshift of a galaxy is proportional to its distance from us , can be explained ( if we are not at a special place in the Universe ) only by a uniform universal expansion . Another reader takes Christine Sutton to task on a semantic point . She told us ( 27 January , p 221 ) that a neutron decays into a proton , an electron and a neutrino , but in the diagram accompanying her words we were shown a representation of a neutron decaying into a proton , an electron and an antineutrino . ' Which is correct ? ' , asks Richard Tylor , who hails from Nivenskowe , Midlothian .
Idiom: serve someone right (used idiomatically: yes)
She thought an apology was coming . Instead , he laughed , one of those raucous Hancock 's Half Hour snide laughs . ‘ Well,’ he said , ‘ that serves you right . It 's what you get when you go round having the dick.’ Pat rounded on him : ‘ Well , at least I can say , ‘ I 'm not a virgin’.’
Idiom: kicking and screaming (used idiomatically: yes)
The point is that Sun 's kind of sugar daddy is neither uncommon , illegal or even fattening . SUNPICS ‘ WANTED NO PART OF ADOBE DEAL’ Sources say SunPics was ‘ dragged kicking and screaming’ into the brand new Sun Microsystems Inc and Adobe Computer Systems Inc alliance,(UX No 404 ) , orchestrated by SunSoft Inc president Ed Zander , one of the first of the Sun mafia to come to grips with the slippery notion of standards — prodded no doubt by the coming onslaught of Microsoft Corp 's Windows NT . Perhaps one of the reasons SunPics resisted the idea , other than the fact that it jeopardises the planet 's whole raison d'etre , is that the deal was reportedly sprung on them a week before it was signed . It 's obvious News is dead and NewsPrint is going the same way , though how long it takes remains to be seen .
Idiom: go all the way (used idiomatically: no)
I do not know that I could go with Him all the way , but I could go with Him much further than most professing Christians can .
Idiom: from scratch (used idiomatically: yes)
A horizontal model , for its part , has clear educational merits . There are different ways of conducting a re - investigation . The question will arise : should a re - investigation be conducted from scratch , avoiding in the first instance the records and materials created by the primary investigation or , alternatively , should it be started as a review of the previous investigation 's record ? There are pros and cons to both options . A re - investigation which largely involves a fresh examination of evidence , witnesses , and hypotheses about the commission of the crime , is better conceived as an independent verification procedure .