Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: have a few (used idiomatically: yes)
I watched . He waded ashore and we had a planning conference on the shingle . ‘ I will have a few casts here , Blair , then follow you down to the next pool,’ I suggested . ‘ No , Father’ came the reply . ‘ That would not be fair .
Idiom: under the sun (used idiomatically: yes)
Find a country … Focus … blues and greens and browns under the sun , and long wisps of raincloud being torn by the mountains … Focus … on a mountain , green and dripping , and there 's a …
Idiom: break even (used idiomatically: yes)
Canton , Massachusetts - based Perception Technology Corp has now signed definitive agreement to be acquired by Brite Voice Systems Inc : Perception holders get one share of Brite common for each Perception held . OLIVETTI TO BREAK EVEN AT OPERATING LEVEL Presenting the final 1992 results ( figures , page seven ) , Ing C Olivetti & Co SpA said that sales in lire terms rose 5.5 % in the first three months of 1993 from a year earlier , but they did n't give any absolute revenue figures ; in terms of volume , Olivetti said personal computer sales in Europe jumped 72 % in the first quarter from a year earlier , printer sales rose 42 % ; the firm will break even at the operating level this year but will not return to profit until 1994 , chairman Carlo De Benedetti said . P&P TO MARKET NORTHERN TELECOM PRODUCT In a significant departure for P&P Plc , the company is to market Northern Telecom Ltd 's Visit multimedia communications system , which combines telephone and personal computer : Visit , Visual Interaction Technology , will start at under £ 3,000 for camera and boards , including training , maintenance and support ; compatible with Mac and MS - DOS machines , Visit has an attached video camera to enable videoconferencing freely and cheaply .
Idiom: one and the same (used idiomatically: yes)
The first is that British society and the role of government are radically different now from what they were thirty years ago . The second is that these differences are the product of the influence of the ‘ new right’ and its emphasis on market freedoms as the basis of civil and political liberty . The third is that the new right and Conservatism are one and the same . It is doubtful whether many would dispute Honderich 's first two points . However , Honderich himself throws up difficulties with regard to his third point , in that Conservatism must have been at least partly responsible for the ‘ decent’ society he found when he arrived in Britain thirty years ago .
Idiom: under fire (used idiomatically: yes)
Probably the hardest task to master during match play is concentration . ‘ Michael Chang has a similar concentration to what Jimmy had . Jimmy was intense under fire . At four or five - all in games , other players lapse their concentration . Quite a few champions lose ten or fifteen points in a row.’
Idiom: take the piss (used idiomatically: yes)
I have n't seen it yet . Oh it 's , I mean I expected one scene is really good , really obviously they are taking the piss out of Yeah You know ?
Idiom: carry the can (used idiomatically: yes)
In some panic Coetzee contacted his former police superiors . They brushed him off . It not take him long to realize that if the police wanted someone to carry the can , then Dirk Coetzee was heading for death row . Coetzee is frank about his position . ‘ If Almond hadn'd talked , I would n't be here in London .
Idiom: in the black (used idiomatically: yes)
What , if they ai n't got the size you ca n't Seven I think we 've gone through all the sevens in the blacks ai n't you ? It 's only a five nine , they 're nines there , have you got a watch on ? Yeah
Idiom: by the back door (used idiomatically: yes)
No tramlines there.’ ‘ Then we 're lost,’ Lucinda said flatly . ‘ It 's because we left by the back door . We went the wrong way , I suppose . It 's easy enough in the blackout .
Idiom: close shave (used idiomatically: yes)
What are your statutory rights under law , and how are these affected by what you decide to do with your PC ? In short , I 'll be looking at how you can best protect yourself in the event of your computer going wrong . THE DEALER 'S CLOSE SHAVE Anyone opening a computer magazine will find themselves confronted with a bewildering array of advertisements , all of them promising the greatest deals known to mankind . For the ordinary user there are two main channels to buy a computer through — either direct or from a dealer .
Idiom: down the drain (used idiomatically: yes)
' If the … existence … possessed a higher consciousness , ' she mused , ' I could place a psychic homer in it for you , a little beacon . Though only I could follow such a trace . ' ' Well , it does n't , ' snapped Jaq , ' and meanwhile it 's sliding away like slops down a drain . ' Outcry assaulted his ears . As Meh'Lindi doused her electrolumen , Jaq whirled and tore the baffle - curtain aside .
Idiom: good offices (used idiomatically: yes)
Later figures showed that for the whole of 1922 over twice as much grain was transported by rail and waterways as in 1921 . The Famine in the south - east of Russia even affected international relations in the far north - west . The ARA used its good offices to speed up railway agreements between Latvia and Poland on the one hand , and Russia on the other , so that relief supplies could flow in more easily from Western Europe . Goods trains coming from the Baltic to Moscow took between one and four weeks , a distance that was covered in fourteen hours by passenger trains . The first goods train from Novorossiisk , a vital grain port in the north - east corner of the Black Sea , wandered over much of European Russia before arriving at Ufa .
Idiom: same difference (used idiomatically: yes)
But I got to write songs with Dave Anderson and Rab Handleigh for the first time and the reggae ' Interference song ' which Terry Neason sang was a thrill for me as I 'd always wanted to write something for her absolutely amazing voice . ' Promises ' song was music first ( that 's hard and I 've only done it once since ) and ' Sincerely Yours'was Rab Handleigh 's ' tribute'to Barry Manilow which he performed with perfect schmaltz suavity . Wildcat then gave me a commission for what turned out to be Same Difference the following year . This was by far the most enjoyable experience I 'd had working in the theatre . It was a musical farce with a classic swap of identity plot with people confessing to their partners their infidelities in the mistaken belief they were confiding in someone else , a daft Midsummer Musical comedy with Gerry Mulgrew as a manic , fast - talking Marlowesque ( Philip Marlowesque I mean ) magical dog who had Puckish powers to cause confusion in his neck of the woods — a hideous fictional Glasgow ghetto housing scheme called Low Cassil .
Idiom: on the rocks (used idiomatically: yes)
Erm I went er at the end of September and I did white water rafting , going down in a raft er seven to a boat , and going over the rapids wearing a Ooh wearing a crash helmet and erm a buoyancy jacket , cos if you fell in you could hit your head on the rocks . And that was quite an experience . The wa the river water 's very very polluted there , so a lot of people got tummy bugs and we slept er on the side of the river in little tents and erm we did n't discover till afterwards , two things , one thing was that the little holes that we saw in the sand were actually scorpion holes
Idiom: by dint of (used idiomatically: yes)
It is embarrassing to know that one is a god of a world that only exists because every improbability curve must have its far end ; especially when one can peer into other dimensions at worlds whose Creators had more mechanical aptitude than imagination . No wonder , then , that the disc gods spend more time in bickering than in omnicognizance . On this particular day Blind Io , by dint of constant vigilance the chief of the gods , sat with his chin on his hand and looked at the gaming board on the red marble table in front of him . Blind Io had got his name because , where his eye sockets should have been , there were nothing but two areas of blank skin . His eyes , of which he had an impressively large number , led a semi - independent life of their own .
Idiom: not cricket (used idiomatically: no)
And he added : ‘ The bat was thrown about with an abandon that was strangely absent from their efforts in the one-dayers . ’ And calling for changes before the start of the England series Gavaskar said : ‘ The Indian team looks mentally jaded and tired . ‘ It would be better to rest them ( if you do not want to call it dropping them ) and hope that the rest from the pressures and tensions of international cricket will make them eager to come back and perform as one expects them . ’ Gavaskar 's outburst is sure to carry weight since the chairman of Indian selectors , Gundappa Viswanath , is his brother-in-law . And using Azharuddin , who burst on to the Test scene with three centuries against the 1984-85 England side , as a scapegoat will not be hard to justify .
Idiom: have been around (used idiomatically: yes)
GENERAL LEVY : Heat And in case you 're one of these pricks that think reggae pegged out with Marley , here 's the modern breed . All have been around awhile but you can still buy them , and they get the MC Cann seal of approval as seen on TV and the national press . Joseph Stepper 's ‘ Wife’ is one of the maddest ragga records ever made , as raw as a dinner that 's still walking around . Buju Banton , one of the top ragga MCs of the age , turns his hand to the cheery if slight subject of the bogle , a dance that 's bigger than Biggles in Jamaica .
Idiom: cost the earth (used idiomatically: yes)
She 's currently doing the hippy thing with tassled flares , undressed hair and little round sunglasses but the feminine earth mother look is just a clothes change away . Her most recent purchase — a transparent black coat over a long wrap skirt from Jigsaw , topped off with a dramatic black hat from La Beau Chapeau in Belfast — is destined for a wedding , and gives her the look of a modern day Mary Poppins in mourning . Despite a liberal peppering of designer labels — like Ghost and Helen Storey as well as her own Pat Young label — in her wardrobe , Pat insists it does n't have to cost the earth to look good . ‘ I 'm a big fan of second hand shops . I 've got a lot of my favourite garments from them , and I 've had them for years,’ she says .
Idiom: out of the loop (used idiomatically: yes)
Problems With Error Trapping 2.9.4 If there is an error in your ON ERROR statement , BBCBASIC(Z80 ) will go into an infinite loop . < ESC > ( which generates error code 27 ) will not break you out of this loop . On most ( single tasking ) computers like the BBC Micro , you can escape from such a loop by pressing < BREAK > or turning the computer off . Because the Z88 is a sophisticated computer which is capable of holding several programs in memory concurrently , this option has complications .
Idiom: cut loose (used idiomatically: yes)
The boss must now drive his troops on towards tough games against Spain and reigning European champions Denmark at Windsor Park during the next two months . Bingham 's new - look outfit , with Mal Donaghy pushed into a holding midfield role , and Kingsley Black dropped after a run of 22 caps , finished well in control against the Albanians . But their nerves were twitching early on as Albania cut loose with fast , lively football . Irish keeper Tommy Wright did well to shove over a fierce shot fired in by Altin Reaklli after just 30 seconds . Then Wright grabbed Ilir Kepa 's header , watched Eduard Abazi 's drive clear the bar and later blocked another blast by Kepa .
Idiom: over the moon (used idiomatically: no)
Ben Crawley got the only try as Saracens beat relegation favourites Rugby 14 - 6 . HODGKINSON : chance OVER THE MOON Welsh facing back trouble COLIN PRICE
Idiom: food for thought (used idiomatically: no)
My grandfather is a famous champion so maybe some day I 'll be one , too . I won fifth place in my first show last year , my owner was really proud . FOOD FOR THOUGHT Dear Dogs Today I was wondering if your readers could help me as I 'm doing a study on how food affects dogs ' behaviour .
Idiom: tit for tat (used idiomatically: yes)
The damages will be paid by horse owner Mrs Pam Seward 's insurance company . Home draw AN Iranian diplomat has been ordered to leave Britain in a tit - for - tat expulsion after British envoy Geoffrey Brammer was sent back from Tehran . ARROGANT , POMPOUS , INFANTILE AND RUDE What the Tory peer 's sister - in - law thinks of him
Idiom: fly the flag (used idiomatically: yes)
40 . The question is , therefore : what are those other links which a member state , without infringing article 52 of the E.E.C. Treaty , is entitled to require of a national of another member state who wishes to operate a fishing vessel flying its flag and , in particular , can it stipulate , as the Act of 1988 does , that all the owners and operators of such a vessel and 75 per cent . of the shareholders and directors of the companies owning or operating the vessel should have their residence and domicile in its territory ? 41 .
Idiom: pack a punch (used idiomatically: no)
The beans for the house coffee are roasted fresh every day in the Fazzis ' other premises in Clyde Street . By some mysterious alchemy it seems possible to drink two or more cups of the mellow cappuccino or caffe crema without suffering the jangle of caffeine overload . The espresso , in small cups , is dark and serious and packs a more powerful punch . Italian - style cold drinks , such as iced coffee granita or a zingy blend of fresh fruit juices and grenadine , are also worth exploring . For a more serious snack , aficionados make time to study the delicatessen counter before ordering .
Idiom: throw in the towel (used idiomatically: yes)
One source of instability , you rightly note , has been lack of competitiveness in countries like Italy , whose unit labour costs rose by 10 % compared with those of other industrial countries between 1987 and August 1992 . Another source of strain , as you again note , has been German unification , which burdened all of Europe with high interest rates . Especially important , we agree , is the likelihood that governments pursuing policies of austerity will be forced by recession and rising unemployment to throw in the towel . This danger , and with it speculative pressures , mounts each time doubts arise that the Maastricht treaty will be ratified . What you miss is the additional instability emanating from the treaty itself .
Idiom: pass the buck (used idiomatically: yes)
Many managers attempt to escape the risk . With an extending family and a huge mortgage , why risk making difficult decisions and getting fired ? Is n't it easier to pass the buck to your boss , some staff person or a committee ? Then someone else can take the risk and carry the blame if things go wrong . The Profitboss encourages risk - taking , knowing that in the absence of risk there will be an absence of decision and of profit .
Idiom: head south (used idiomatically: yes)
Nearby at this point and reached by going up the road to a path bearing right , is the dark and intimidating Birkwith Cave , a strong debouching stream denying easy access . This stream passes down a wooded ravine with no access , steps having to be retraced to the Old Ing road . From here , a turn down to the left leads to High Birkwith and then two miles of uneventful tarmac , heading south to the starting point of the walk at Horton . Midway , over the wall bordering the road on the right , will be seen at close range The Tarn with the Ribble beyond and Ingleborough forming a massive background . THORNS GILL
Idiom: ring a bell (used idiomatically: yes)
The fault all mine . But I kept on thinking , he took me to the concert , and he came back here to her . I remembered times when I rang the bell and there had been no answer . I see now it was all sexual jealousy , but then it seemed a betrayal of principles . ( I still do n't know it 's all muddled in my mind .
Idiom: odd one out (used idiomatically: yes)
up there I think the mother and child love is n't always pleasant and I think that 's quite worrying to some mother 's if they ca n't love their child in the way that people expect them to . Sheena , can I be the odd one out and say I 've been in love with one man for forty five years , I have n't heard any body saying any thing very nice about that , I would like to say its wonderful . oh I Here , here
Idiom: think twice (used idiomatically: yes)
Best value for money are the Ministry of Defence 's 22 out - of - town typing pools , which cost 77p a memo , with an output of 110 per typist per day . Among the worst is the Department of Education 's headquarters secretariat — serving ministers and top civil servants — which costs £ 4.19 a time , but can produce only 29 memos per typist per day . At least two departments have introduced internal charges to encourage civil servants and ministers to think twice before putting their thoughts on paper . The Department of Trade and Industry has three levels of charges : £ 2.16 a memo for routine work outside London ; £ 3.24 for routine work in London ; and £ 4.86 for priority work at headquarters . Customs and Excise have two charges : £ 3.60 for routine memos , rising to £ 5 for urgent memos and letters .
Idiom: like clockwork (used idiomatically: yes)
Here labour government by the appointment of Lord Robbins , and one of calibre who could n't care less . He gave me more more decisions against the workers than he ever gave for them . And er he wanted the railways to be run , like clockwork . Without any concessions at all . His wage concessions were negligible .
Idiom: blood and guts (used idiomatically: yes)
Such fiction , unconcise and more naturally given to carnality than wit , had been unashamedly dominated by story , and it was characteristically fast - paced and impatient of extended description , whether of scene , of motive or of mind . Dismissive of anything that is not narrative , it would have seen E. M. Forster 's gentle and reluctant admission —‘Yes — oh dear yes — the novel tells a story’— as merely faddy . Narrative is suddenly , and once again , the blood and guts of fiction , and Waugh 's remark that ‘ the exuberant men are extinct’ was out of date even as he wrote , though only just . A sudden contempt for technical finesse was perhaps only natural . The ordinary stuff of realism at its most immediate seldom needs elaboration , since it is something the novelist shares with his reader .
Idiom: think twice (used idiomatically: yes)
He concluded that the methods probably cost about the same ; ‘ but that 's if they [ the headhunters]are successful , but they are not always’ . Graham Shaw , ex - Cadbury Schweppes , said he always gulped when he received a headhunter 's bill , and certainly took cost into account in choosing between the methods . He would always think twice about how to recruit for a position paying £ 30000-£35000 , i.e. a job on the borderline between the marzipan and the icing . David Tagg of Grand Metropolitan considered that employing headhunters was probably not economical below this level except in specialised cases . He agreed that headhunters were indeed expensive , but then one is , after all , dealing with an expensive commodity — one 's senior personnel — and it is not wise to cut corners on such vital issues .
Idiom: take root (used idiomatically: yes)
He went away and got a job as a waiter in a bad restaurant in Soho . It suited his mood . Bella 's slander about drink baffled him , but at the same time it queerly took root , until he did indeed start boozing a good deal . He was in the restaurant kitchen late one night before closing up , knocking back the remains of four glasses of liqueur from a dirty table , when his head suddenly cleared and he heard some lines from the past in a devastating playback in his head : ‘ You 're better off without me’— Bella 's voice , coolly justifying herself to him on the telephone . ‘ A bachelor 's life suits you far better .
Idiom: go hand in hand (used idiomatically: yes)
However , to establish from this that taste is objective he needs an extra premise : that higher art compels greater attention and provides greater enjoyment to the observer than low art . This , however , is clearly not true . If art and preferences went hand in hand , we would spend all our time listening to only the most ‘ artistic’ music . It may well be the case , as Struan says , that Beethoven displays more artistic merit than Struan , but if Struan 's music uses overdriven guitars , I may well prefer to listen to it . Thirdly , just because preferences are subjective , it does not follow that there will not be a degree of consensus about them .
Idiom: go without saying (used idiomatically: yes)
The successful arguments were drawn from more general movements in the political and social culture and so formed a part of intellectual as well as legal history . But they did have a distinct legal life . They appeared in law school classrooms and law review articles , then as lawyers ' arguments in particular cases at law , then as judicial arguments in dissenting opinions explaining why the majority opinion , reflecting the orthodoxy of the time , was unsatisfactory , then as the opinions of the majority in a growing number of cases , and then as propositions no longer mentioned because they went without saying . All these arguments assumed , throughout their long careers , that the settled practices they challenged were orthodoxies of common conviction , not ground rules of convention . Such arguments would have been powerless , even silly , if everyone thought that the practices they challenged needed no support beyond convention or that these practices constituted the game of law in the way the rules of chess constitute that game .
Idiom: get the better of (used idiomatically: yes)
She looked back at him . ‘ Then that must be because you provoke me . Because you 're always trying to get the better of me . I do n't like people attacking me all the time.’ ‘ Attacking you?’
Idiom: on ice (used idiomatically: yes)
No one needed a telescope now to see the huge figure of the driver . ' Captain ! Something is moving on the ice . Look over there ! ' Suddenly the sledge went behind a mountain of ice and disappeared .
Idiom: bear fruit (used idiomatically: yes)
These efforts not only bore fruits for the members of the European ~ Union but also for all other Member States of the Council ~ of ~ Europe and for many states that observe the work of the Council ~ of ~ Europe .
Idiom: pass the time of day (used idiomatically: yes)
No , he had to stop and talk to the men checking the steel braces , did n't he ? Anything to delay matters and annoy her . Why he needed to choose this moment to pass the time of day with all and sundry and — good grief!— take a wad of notes from his back pocket and count them out with infuriating slowness — was anybody 's guess . She fumed in silence , turning her gaze towards the soothing vista of river and fields , and the brightly coloured assortment of rafts that bobbed gently on the water . He was doing it deliberately , purely to torment her .
Idiom: once and for all (used idiomatically: yes)
It undermines our demand for the return of our homes.’ And he was right , as the Israelis themselves were well aware . They still hoped in 1980 that the Palestinian issue — the demands of Palestinians who lost their homes in what is now Israel — could be dealt with as part of a general Arab – Israeli peace settlement , that the whole two and a half million Palestinian diaspora could be given a lump - sum , once - and - for - all payment of compensation . They do not want the Palestinians back and a glance at the statistics quickly shows why . Well over two million of that diaspora regard themselves as victims of the 1948 war ; the half million or so who fled Palestine in 1948 have had children — in many cases grandchildren — who regard themselves as Palestinians .