Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: round the bend (used idiomatically: yes)
Yeah . You got ta be careful ! We drove up , my grandson go goes to nursery you see and I like to give Gwen a hand with the girls , I got ta be up with now well it 's driving everybody round the bend ! Sometimes it loosens up with a Aha !
Idiom: lend a hand (used idiomatically: yes)
Peter Marsh Following the American lead , Britain has created a stockpile of strategic materials to safeguard industry if supplies run short . The industrialised world is also looking to developments in technology to help it out of materials shortages — and China may lend a hand too ANYONE who feels like investing in a few grams of silver should call up a certain Carroll Jones in his office in Washington . Jones , an official in the US government 's General Services Agency , has $ 2000 million worth of the stuff that he would dearly love to get rid of .
Idiom: scratch the surface (used idiomatically: yes)
Not only that its value depends on H , but , even worse , it depends on the previous history of the sample . So we have to discuss the B - H curves , and I will include a few more things , but you must realize that there is a lot more to it . By the time we finish with it we shall have just scratched the surface of the subject . 3.11 . The B - H curve of ferromagnetic materials
Idiom: in full swing (used idiomatically: yes)
He kept his eyes fixed on the upper storey , but there was no sign of life , nor could he detect any female voice crying through the shouts of the firemen . He skirted down the side of the house , where there were few windows and only one fireman operating , and came to the back . Here everything was in full swing , and he got the impression that the fire was now well under control . He was just meditating whether he could risk running straight in through the kitchen door when he saw two of the firemen in masks , doing just that . A great pillow of smoke billowed out after them .
Idiom: under the influence (used idiomatically: no)
The critical factors in determining the growth in the present study are all external ; none are intrinsic to the science itself . These factors include funding sources , the employment market for successful graduates , and the costs of running university departments . It is possible to predict therefore , given the funding pressures of the late 1980 's and early 1990 's , that the numbers of successful graduates in the field will start to level off under the influence of market forces , until the next major theoretical advance , or the next rise in the value of those resources which geologists can be of assistance in exploiting . Geographical coverage . Using title scanning , specific localities or wider areas for 286 of the 550 Ph D theses were plotted on a 1:625 000 geological map of Scotland ( Will 1991 ) .
Idiom: by the book (used idiomatically: yes)
Physical exertion was dangerous , sexuality inappropriate and obscene , and even overworking the mind ' might bring on mental exhaustion . ' In France itself this stifling view was still being propagated up until the 1950s . It was only with the American - led development from the 1900s of geriatric medicine as a new specialty , followed in the interwar years by self - help books and clubs encouraging older people to keep fit , travel , keep working , and — at least from the 1950s — stay sexually active , that informed European opinion began once more to swing towards a positive view of ageing . Changed attitudes , rising living standards , and more effective health care have together resulted in not only a longer , but a fuller life expectancy . The new conventional wisdom which divides the young old from the old old at 75 marks a boundary for entry into the last stage of life which has now been pushed back by a dozen years .
Idiom: keep tabs on (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ A few months,’ he said . ‘ But if it is n't working out , then I 'll sell . And do n't forget , even though I 'll be thousands of miles away , I 'll be keeping tabs on you.’ For the most part it had been easier than she had expected . Already to most of the regular customers she was n't the famous Aurora Blake , but simply , Rory , and she liked it that way .
Idiom: pick up the pieces (used idiomatically: no)
Often in communication it may be necessary to spell out not only what is to be done but also what is not to be done . That seems superfluous and even confusing , but unless some paths of possible interpretation are quite deliberately blocked they will be taken . When I designed the L.game it seemed obvious from the rules I had written that the pieces could be picked up and placed anywhere on the board . Most people ( used to other games ) thought the pieces could only be slid from one position to another . In communication it is so easy to forget that we are dealing with the other person 's world and not our own .
Idiom: fly the flag (used idiomatically: yes)
The UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher expressed concern at the constitutional implications of the judgment but pointed out that it was left to UK courts to decide whether to exercise the powers . The decision arose from a claim lodged with the ECJ by a group of mainly Spanish - owned fishing companies , employing vessels registered as British , that amendments to the UK 1988 Merchant Shipping Act which excluded 95 of their vessels from British waters were illegal under EC law and had exposed them to financial ruin . The amendments had been introduced to put a stop to " quota hopping " whereby foreign vessels flying the British flag were plundering fishing quotas . EUROPE EFTA
Idiom: foot the bill (used idiomatically: yes)
This could cause problems with data collection.’ He was also worried that social workers on the care management team would have the final say on choosing nursing care . If he wanted to refer a patient to a nursing home and the social work team recommended district nursing in the patient 's own home , he would not only be overruled but also have to foot the bill for the nurse . Tony Ruffell , chief executive of Nottinghamshire FHSA , told me that preliminary research in the county suggested that each general practitioner would encounter only a few such difficult decisions a year — perhaps five or six . Regarding the extension of fundholding to community health services such as district nursing and occupational therapy , Mr Ruffell said that fundholders would have to make block contracts in the first year .
Idiom: buy the farm (used idiomatically: yes)
Dr JOHN SEXTON / Thames Water LILLI MATSON / CPRE The 4 square mile reservoir would cover an area south - west of Abingdon in Oxfordshire and would mean Thames Water buying up 4 farms and 16 homes , diverting the road between East Hanney and Steventon , landscaping the 80 foot embankment around the water , and building a tunnel connecting it to the Thames . Ray Reynolds has lived in the area all his life , both his bungalow home and the 250 acre farm he 's built up bit by bit would disappear under the reservoir . He says it 'd be devastating — we built the bungalow just 6 years ago and I 've built the farm up over the years and now it 's all going to go under water .
Idiom: in tandem (used idiomatically: yes)
In order to investigate the role of C / EBPδ in IL-6 induced transcription activation , we performed transient expression experiments in Hep3B cells . In this assay system , the ability of C / EBP - related transcription factors produced by eukaryotic expression vectors to stimulate transcription of an IL-6RE - CAT reporter gene construct in the presence or absence of IL-6 can be investigated . The reporter plasmid used contains four copies in tandem of the IL-6RE of the CRP gene fused to its own TATA box and transcriptional initiation site ( 21 ) . In these conditions , we have already shown that the activity of the transfected IL-6DBP is very low in the absence of IL-6 and is increased several - fold by IL-6 stimulation ( 22 ) . As shown in Table 1 , when C / EBPα was constitutively expressed under the control of the SV40 enhancer / early promoter , we obtained a strong transactivation of our reporter gene which , however , was not further enhanced by IL-6 .
Idiom: old hat (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ Gods always behave like the people who make them,’ she writes , opening the chapter on ‘ that boisterous god , Guedé’who ‘ does and says the things that the peasants would like to do and say’ . She continues : ‘ The people who created Guedé’ needed a spirit which could burlesque the society that crushed him , so Guedé’eats roasted peanuts and parched corn like his devotees . He delights in an old coat and pants and a torn old hat . So dressed and fed , he bites with sarcasm and slashes with ridicule the class that despises him.’ For the mulattoes , she says ‘ pay Guedé no attention at all .
Idiom: to boot (used idiomatically: yes)
Nevertheless , the lyrics are the only thing which spoil the flavour , rambling on without saying much , and ‘ Apple Green’ is proof that the Brothers are n't a spent force just yet . CHEAP ‘ Third Term’(Deltic ) Re - released as a 12-inch , with the added bonus of a stunning acoustic version of ‘ The Newshound’(an acute portrayal of the scum that litter the daily tabloids)— and rightly so , because quite frankly this puts 90 per cent of single released this year into the shade and kicks them in the teeth to boot . Ex - Adverts frontman TV Smith is by far the most distinguished and compelling lyricist still at work and ‘ Third Term’ is the best song written about the state of our wonderful country since The Newtown Neurotics ' early ' 80s classic , ‘ Kick Out The Tories’ . A growling guitar and a thumping chorus succinctly condense eleven years of Thatcherism into three power - packed minutes of pent up frustrations and naked emotion .
Idiom: make the grade (used idiomatically: yes)
No fly - half factory productivity bonus ! Wales was once known as a fly - half factory , but since Jonathan Davies went North there has been not a single successor of world class selected for the national team and at the moment the signs are not good that one is about to come off the production like . There are , however , two — perhaps three — who might eventually make the grade . With the wisdom of hindsight it 's obvious that Mark Ring , who in his Pontypool days looked as if he might be the answer to all our no.10 prayers , was unfit and a liability in the match against Australia . His international career may be over .
Idiom: get lost (used idiomatically: no)
The play has some inventive touches : there is a servant mistaken for a master , a wife mistaken for a mistress , a deliberately revolving invalid and a reluctantly revolving hotel proprietress . Then there are the lost consonants . One character , Camille , can not pronounce them until he is fitted with a false palate : one more object to get comically lost . Riotous It may not be politically correct to laugh at speech impediments but Simon Roberts ' excitable characterisation gets some of the biggest laughs .
Idiom: wear the trousers (used idiomatically: yes)
She grabbed her black crocheted shawl and velvet evening bag , and hurried down the stairs to open the door . In the porch , Nigel lounged nonchalantly against the wall . He wore cream linen trousers and a pale yellow shirt that was definitely not off the peg . Juliet wondered if she were overdressed , but the admiring look he gave her dispelled that thought . He rested his hand on her shoulder and gave her a long kiss on the lips .
Idiom: off the shelf (used idiomatically: yes)
While individual officers may indeed have been aware of this work , consideration of it did not form part of the policy - making . As far as the RMO was concerned the regional authority was starting from scratch and had to ask ‘ How do you create a policy and on what do you base it?’ There were no ‘ off - the - shelf ’ prototypes to work towards other than the DGH cure focused service with all the faults already commented on . Major problems might lie ahead for the ‘ enabling’ health service schemes , if they were not complemented by new local authority back - up services . The effect of removing the non - health housing and caring functions of the institutions had not been quantified .
Idiom: hold your horses (used idiomatically: yes)
Same again , please , Bill . There was this girl , you see , and the night before she got married her mother said , ' Now whatever you do , do n't let him … '' ' Hold your horses , mate . Here 's Charlie now . ' They were all big men , topping six feet , but Charlie Hatton was a little fellow with a brown face and very brilliant sharp eyes .
Idiom: up the river (used idiomatically: yes)
And now it seemed they were n't , because nothing was happening . Perhaps , though , it was all part of a war of nerves . Perhaps those bombers had flown up the river as they always did , just so the sirens would send Liverpudlians hurrying to the shelters for yet another night , then perversely they had turned inland and dropped their bomb loads on Manchester instead . But they could n't be that stupid , Vi reasoned derisively as she nodded to Sister Annunciata and called , ‘ Father says you 're to make the tea.’ Backs straightened , nodding heads shot up .
Idiom: have a heart (used idiomatically: no)
Bradley who has travelled the world with his accordion sets the pace in more than 36 Irish tunes including Village Where I Went to School and The Galway Shawl . Real roles in[life of TV 's evergreen[heart-throb VINTAGE romeo Ian McShane was lost for words on his daughter 's wedding day . For once the Lovejoy actor 's old-fashioned charm deserted him as he plucked up courage to pass on some advice on her marriage lines . The evergreen heart-throb thought he should be an expert on the subject having been wed three times .
Idiom: on the ball (used idiomatically: yes)
He 'll also try and hit you too late.’ Knowing the others were depending on him , Luke kept his nerves to himself as he went round checking girths and bandages . To give Perdita confidence in her first chukka , he 'd put her on a dark brown pony called Chimango ( which meant bird of prey ) , who was as steady as a rock , but who swept down on the ball like a hawk . ‘ Luke,’ shouted Juan ; Cantering up , he bent down and gave Luke a great hug ; ‘ My dear friend , ' ow are you ? How is Alejandro ?
Idiom: flash in the pan (used idiomatically: yes)
Another tribute came from an independent source , and a man who knows what he is talking about . Lyricist Tim Rice , one of the forces behind worldwide musical smashes Chess , Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita , summed up : ‘ You ca n't fool hundreds of thousands , or millions of people at the same time with absolute garbage for record after record . ‘ I think if Kylie Minogue has been a flash in the pan she would have lasted for a couple of singles . It looks like she 's going to last for a lot more than that.’ Kylie will never forget the major role PWL played in changing her life , making a millionairess out of a minor TV star , and is prepared to defend them to the hilt .
Idiom: take the piss (used idiomatically: yes)
Malcolm used to court him . As he was the NME 's star writer I guess Malcolm realised that once the band really started to get going , Nick would be able to help us out — whether he knew it or not . Mind you , Malcolm did take the piss out of him as well , calling him Troy Tempest in a leather jacket . Probably because it was a way of roping him in for the future , Malcolm invited him down to a few rehearsals . We , d jam , going through things like ‘ I Can Feel The Fire’ from Ron Wood 's solo album which was out around that time .
Idiom: on a shoestring (used idiomatically: yes)
If authentic , it was a shrewd observation on Shaw 's part . The problem with the Hollywood film industry was not so much its desire for profit as its concern with other things , such as power , responsibility and morality . A purely commercial operation would have been happy to finance product - ions by Orson Welles , who repeatedly proved himself capable of producing high quality material on a shoestring . Nor was it just that he fell foul of the studio system . If that had been the case , then he could at least have received finance in the eighties when rich and influential independent figures such as Steven Spielberg , Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty — all of whom professed admiration for Welles — had the chance to help him get a film financed and passed .
Idiom: off the shelf (used idiomatically: no)
It was simply that most people , while wanting the ends , preferred to walk away from the means : especially when they were distasteful , and most especially when they failed . The golden objectives were , in fact , unlimited . The Enterprise , that shadowy sump of money , weapons and operatives that lay behind both policies , was intended to operate in other places too , in fact to be ‘ pulled off the shelf , as North said Casey said , any time it was needed , with Congress kept well in the dark . Hakim said he never knew what it was going to be used for next ; on an organisation chart he left a column for Africa , since North had hinted that he might one day do something there too . ‘ The Enterprise’ was a fine label for the monster as far as Hakim was concerned , because it was a business generating a particularly arcane and subtle set of accounts ; but for North this was ‘ Project Democracy’ , available anywhere and at any time for freedom - fighters of any description .
Idiom: to die for (used idiomatically: no)
Her heart clenched inside her as she thought of Guido and the dizzy , consuming passions he aroused in her . That was love . Something to die for . She felt a sob break within her . More appropriately in her case , it was something to die without .
Idiom: in the works (used idiomatically: yes)
He would delight in the Queens features contained in a perfect heart - shaped face : strangely pale but piercing blue eyes ; crimson - coloured lips curling like wrought - iron volutes ; and the way in which the dark hair grows beautifully from the forehead . Their only child , Princes Shahnaz , was born in 1940 . , but from then on the marriage appears to have disintegrated . The royal court in Egypt was then one of the most cosmopolitan in the work ; Fawzia was sophisticated and had been accustomed to great luxury and pampering , no least from her doting brother . Teheran , by contrast was a poor and primitive society in those days . It was like being exiled from Paris to a mall provincial town .
Idiom: easier said than done (used idiomatically: yes)
One of my arguments is that the mechanical relations of work can bring about this withdrawal . The real solution , predictably , is to attempt growth to maturity , i.e. , ‘ relationships of mature dependence in equal partnership’(Guntrip , 1961 ) . But this is easier said than done . It is the struggle to maturity that brings that state , and which , perhaps , can never be attained as such . In all this both managers and workers are equally implicated .
Idiom: pull rank (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ Because I was on last night . That 's why Bill is kicking himself . He pulled rank and went to bed at half past eleven , leaving me on for the late - night drinks . I was the one around just before they all went to bed.’ ‘ And?’
Idiom: break someone's heart (used idiomatically: no)
In her wake came the likes of Chrissie Hynde , who found it easier just to wear the trousers . Deborah Harry was a very different kind of role model . Blondie were a group , but Blondie was also Debbie 's alter ego , a cartoon character come to life , a girl that has fun even if her heart gets broken . ' I never wanted to approach rock'n'roll from a man 's point of view , ' she say in Making Tracks : The Rise Of Blondie . ' I was always in a position of setting a precedent , which gave me a definite advantage .
Idiom: under the sun (used idiomatically: yes)
That was the only light moment that came my way on that trek . Even the fact that I finally found a trickle of scummy water , which let me rinse some of the filth from my boots , did nothing to lift my spirits . I had not been prepared for a walk across a wasteland under a hot white sun . I had no way to deal with thirst , heat , dist and all the other miseries afflicting me . ( I could n't have drunk any of the foul water ) .
Idiom: bear in mind (used idiomatically: yes)
However , at this point , the proposal that a computer index could be developed to improve the management of filing systems generally was considered worthwhile , and this became the focus of the early part of the study . It was also agreed that the options for storage / retrieval of information in the long - term would be examined , based on the FAOR proposals to move towards a filly computerised storage system . Bearing in mind that the departments comprised a multitude of functions , and , at this point in the study , no detailed breakdown of these functions was available , two parallel exercises were considered necessary to progress the study , ie one concerned with clarifying roles and information needs , and the second exploring and quantifying the existing information base , as represented by the central and outposted filing systems . To bridge the gap between the outputs from the FAOR study and the development of a detailed user requirement , at this point systems ideas were merged with a more conventional fact - finding exercise . A brief description of the second phase activities and findings is given in the following paragraphs .
Idiom: get your skates on (used idiomatically: yes)
Anyhow , there 's the witch outside your guy 's door and he tells her to bug off , she ca n't come in , he 's expecting someone and she says , oh please , baby , sweetie , honey pie , ca n't I have just a teensy weensy little coffee after I 've come all this way to see you , and he says — because he 's a proper English gentleman , right?’ ‘ Right.’ ‘ He says : well , OK , but get your skates on , sister , because I 'm real keen on this someone I 'm expecting , so being this really obnoxious kind of a female , she decides to kill his chances.’ ‘ It could have happened like that.’ ‘ I 'll just bet she was some broad he used to be in love with or something , and he 's been giving her the brush - off while she 's trying to fan the embers , get back to the way it used to be.’
Idiom: across the board (used idiomatically: yes)
But for the moment it is right to take stock of how much has already been achieved — to the benefit of us all . One could talk about many other areas of improvement : the huge 68 per cent increase in real spending ( over and above inflation ) by Government on community care services since 1979 ; the 29 per cent increase in real spending on the whole range of benefits for elderly people ; or , in a completely different field , the improvements in public transport which have , for example , seen the number of rail passengers increase by 14 per cent . Similar signs of progress and improvement are to be found across the board . The result is a profound advance from the position of Britain in the ' 70s to that of Britain in the ' 90s — an advance that must be continued . Safety
Idiom: break the ice (used idiomatically: yes)
Could it be the dazzling obviousness that these two petulant skaters are , below all that ice , besotted with other , because do n't opposites always attract ? Could it be the hysterical over - the - top camerawork , proving any amount of slow - motion and soft - focus still do not actually score as style . Or perhaps it could be the heart - stopping finale where they finally , sorry , break the ice , and after a quick peckeroo execute the near impossible Pamchenko manoeuvre ( basically he grabs her by the feet and spins her in increasing circles , and she prays he does n't let go ) . Who knows ? But we do know love will out , and despite a script with the credibility of a Jewish pigfarm , everyone 's going to have a brainless Friday - evening time of it getting there .
Idiom: off the top of your head (used idiomatically: yes)
What ? There 's far worse places . Can you think of one off the top of your head very quickly ? Ooh . No you see you ca n't .