Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: left and right (used idiomatically: yes)
Yet it was undeniable that the Conservative political pressure to extend rural electrification had led to a diversion of scarce capital resources into investments which were known to be unremunerative and in fact turned out to be so . There were , moreover , rather more poor urban dwellers still lacking electricity supply than there were rural dwellers , and investment in the reinforcement , standardisation and extension of urban supplies ( some of which the Boards considered would be remunerative ) was being cut back while this uneconomic development of rural areas was pressed forward . When the pressures of the market and of urban local democracy ( which had earlier restricted rural development ) were replaced by ministerial investment control and rural pressure group activity at the national level , the consequences for efficiency and equality were not always those which the rival contemporary slogans of left and right might lead one to expect from them . Such pressures would , however , probably have materialised in the postwar political climate , whether the industry had been nationalised or not . For some chairmen , moreover , the prospect of playing Father Christmas ( which their rural electrification largesse offered them ) provided a not entirely unwelcome opportunity to affirm their commitment to the local community , and the voices of discontent raised against the policy were few .
Idiom: sit on the fence (used idiomatically: yes)
Well this came up actually on a on a radio sho er chat thing that was open to the public in Blaenau Ffestiniog last night er where the chair was saying erm well you know I mean a lot of the a lot of the people that have n't been very involved in this strike that I think should have been involved . I mean myself as a councillor I think i if you 're a councillor you should be involved in the strike in one way or another you know . I mean all this sitting on the fence I mean they must have very sore bums . I mean I dunno whether it 's because they do n't want to lose votes or you know I mean they they were there sort of pontificating about we should all come little children and let 's talk . Er we 've all got to be friends in a situation let bygones be bygones sort of .
Idiom: on the ball (used idiomatically: no)
He gives them the best working conditions and levels of pay high enough to sustain their motivation . The best people to recruit are those who understand the real meaning of profit and how their own unique skills relate to it . Apes do n't understand profit and in any case can never keep their eye on this ball . When recruiting , the Profitboss looks only for potential profit contribution , for profit - seeking attitudes and ability . He does not get distracted with such secondary factors as qualifications , experience and disposition .
Idiom: for the time being (used idiomatically: yes)
Article~144 . This Basic ~ Law requires ratification by the representative assemblies in two - thirds of the German Laender in which it is for the time being to apply .
Idiom: get under someone's skin (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ Oh , hell,’ she muttered miserably to the empty car . ‘ Why him ? Of all the men I 've met since I even realised there was a difference between the sexes , why did it have to be this one who got under my skin?’ And , more to the point , how was she going to dislodge him ? CHAPTER FOUR
Idiom: look before you leap (used idiomatically: yes)
But what would transform it from an externally enforced to a moral obligation ? On the present argument , the recognition that in widening awareness , exploring from his own former viewpoint as child and future as old man , and generalizing to the viewpoints of all , his spontaneous dislike of the obligation as a hindrance to himself turns to approval of it as beneficial to all . But then ' One ought to look after one 's parents ' derives , like ' Look before you leap ' , from a general decision following the same procedures as his particular decisions , and it too can claim no stronger authority . In a particular situation it will bind him only to heed , in addition to its other features , everything taken into account in the general situation . As a moral imperative , far from being incommensurable with his previous considerations , it merely adds others similar in kind ; he now has to see things from his parents ' viewpoint as well as his own , consider their health and resources , ask himself how much they have done to arouse his gratitude or his rancour , whether his staying would really do them any good , whether he can get on with them without quarrelling , and add all this to the information which he must assimilate before he lets the needle of his internal compass finally settle in the direction of Bali or of home .
Idiom: old hat (used idiomatically: yes)
They are nearly always the same people and they nearly always sit in the same places . Probably when I am on the bus I am sitting in someone 's special place . ' Every single passenger on the bus was dressed differently : Marks & Spencer 's hats , head - scarves , hoods , old felt hats , caps , but all different . Boots , high - heeled shoes , trousers , long skirts , short skirts , macs , anoraks — everyone dressed up to keep warm and every one different . ' The faces were thoughtful , but I was getting desperate .
Idiom: steal the show (used idiomatically: yes)
Dublin rockers The Jenny Newman Band are there on Saturday night , and the Lovedogs take the Wednesday night ( Sept 15 ) spot . The Arms of Venus De Milo are at Maddens on Friday night ; on Tuesday night ( Sept 14 ) Laserlove play the Jordanstown Inn . Proving they 're anything but , Belfast rockers Lazy are back on the road , still basking in the glory of supporting US outfit Poison and very nearly stealing the show . Lazy — a year old last month — are at The George , Ballymena , on Friday ( Sept 10 ) and the next night ( Sept 11 ) at the Rosetta in Belfast . Their demo ‘ Infamous First Words’ is still in demand , while the band — Paul Compton , Nicky Conway , Philip McCarroll and Finn McGinn are putting the finishing touches to another — both will be available at the shows .
Idiom: pure and simple (used idiomatically: yes)
Right , that 's the surprises out of the way , for Blueboy are , together with co - headliners Brighter , residents of the Sarah Records stable , which means that delicate , dreamy , demure guitar songs are on the agenda and crotch - related stage action is not . Blueboy 's songs , all clocking in at well below the boredom threshold , are a naively affecting clutch of simple , sparse tunes , engagingly ramshackle and , except for a nostalgic over - employment of the jingle - jangle pedal , refreshingly unreliant on an arsenal of guitar effects . Pure and simple . Brighter , sadly , are not . The Brighton - based threesome are duller than Nanette Newman 's dishwater .
Idiom: in someone's pocket (used idiomatically: yes)
It 's only afterwards , in the Epilogue , that we learn with surprise and perhaps some vexation that repentance and acceptance of suffering come to him not then but much later , in prison ; his confession was not the decisive moral feat we took it for . It was not a heart-and-soul confession but an admission of guilt . And what about Stavrogin as he stands smiling , not of course a happy smile , no kind of unambiguous smile , about to enter the monastery , fingering the pages in his pocket ? The man as I say is all Raskolnikov . The document which Bishop Tikhon will read puts Raskolnikov in Svidrigailov 's shoes because it is a record of the excesses a mortally jaded palate has got up to .
Idiom: spot on (used idiomatically: yes)
Melvyn Bragg erotic parody winners We asked you to pick out Melvyn 's love scene from five erotic literary extracts . Most of you were spot on . But a black mark goes to the improbably named ‘ C D Lush’ of the Travellers ' Club who failed to distinguish between Melvyn 's extract and D H Lawrence 's . First out of the hat was John Riley of Fribourg , Switzerland , who receives a signed copy of Melvyn 's meisterwork , A Time To Dance .
Idiom: bend someone's ear (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ The purpose is to introduce people to rhythm and blues,’ says the musical crusader who appears at Middlesbrough Arena on June 4 . ‘ To give them an enthusiasm and understanding of where contemporary pop comes from . It will bend your ears and explain what you are listening to.’ The ex - Squeeze member is currently working on a new album but is unlikely to return with another series of BBCTV 's Juke Box Jury , revived with Holland in the David Jacobs presenter role a couple of years back . ‘ The music that will be put into the Mister Roadrunner show is the best music of the past 40 years whereas Juke Box Jury was the records that came out that week .
Idiom: take a back seat (used idiomatically: yes)
Leeds , who could not beat Wigan 's 12 men on Saturday , can not have dreamed that Hanley would figure in their pre - match planning . But they have their own good news with the return to fitness of the GB forward Hugh Waddell , out with a broken jaw since November , and David Creasser , who has played only once this season . Golf Faldo forced to take a back seat to Walker Cup team . By David Davies NICK FALDO , undoubtedly the most successful golfer in the world in 1989 , collected yet another award in London yesterday when he was made the Ritz Club Golfer of the Year .
Idiom: stand someone in good stead (used idiomatically: yes)
Well , I had my older brother , , er he won some sort of a scholarship I remember , he became er er part - time attendant at the er part - time attendant at the er university . Er . It did n't do him a lot of good in the early er in the early days , but er it did stand him in good stead later of course because he became er er a full - time official o of the er Notts area N U M. This was was n't it ? He was indeed .
Idiom: make the cut (used idiomatically: yes)
Coun Carr said members had considered appealing . However , he said : ' The case we would have put had already been voiced March and it would have taken two months for the appeal to be heard during which time there would be no money coming in to provide council services , ' he said . ' Whatever cuts we would finally have to make would have to be spread over a shorter period , ' he said . MIDDLESBROUGH 'S second City Challenge was presented to government officers yesterday and the result will be announced in July . A five year programme has been drawn up for the regeneration of the town centre and the St Hilda 's area , Grove Hill , Easterside , Newport , Ayresome and Gresham .
Idiom: anything goes (used idiomatically: yes)
Anyone could drift in and plenty did . That 's why it was called The Mad House . Mad things , bad things , anything went there . He knew . Or did n't know.’
Idiom: do the trick (used idiomatically: yes)
In other words , prices and incomes policies were devised with the objective of short - circuiting the painful process of adjustment to a lower rate of inflation . On the other hand apologists for such policies rarely if ever sought to justify them on the grounds that they would reduce the real wage rate à la Malinvaud . Of course , in open economy models of temporary equilibrium , alterations in the nominal exchange rate might do the trick of reducing real wages through their impact on the terms of trade ; but , in the case of a devaluation , this would succeed only to the extent that the phenomenon of real wage resistance were not encountered . In brief , the mechanisms through which policy makers might bring about a reduction in classical unemployment have not been systematically worked through in most models of temporary equilibrium . Both the origins of classical unemployment and the nature of the remedy for it remain stubbornly obscure .
Idiom: win the day (used idiomatically: yes)
What else is going on or coming up … its all in our action round up … The bravest man of the week has to be grand prix driver Martin Donnelly … he was back in a formula one car for the first since a near fatal crash in Spain … Silverstone was fog bound and slippy but Donnelly a quest of the Jordan team won the day … Martin Donnelly says … More brave men at Swindon tomorrow … the area 's top fighters are in the ring in Penhill for the Senior Championships …
Idiom: up the river (used idiomatically: yes)
On that parting note , Cranston belched noisily and left Chief Justice Fortescue , Athelstan behind him . They made their way back to the river steps . During their journey up river Cranston sat morosely in the bows of the boat , staring into the water . Only when they reached Temple Stairs and disembarked did he put one podgy arm round Athelstan 's shoulders and press his face closer to that of the friar . His breath smelt as rich as a wine press .
Idiom: no man's land (used idiomatically: yes)
In east Berlin , where there is an extreme shortage of modern offices , rents in Unter den Linden and Friedrichstrasse have soared above Dm100 for short - term contracts . Several companies that were quick off the mark — Barclays Bank , Salomon Brothers and Sotheby 's among them — have found princely quarters in the Palais am Festungsgraben , a baroque palace that formerly housed the German - Soviet Friendship Society . The accelerating property boom is likely , before long , to create a new downtown in the area around Potsdamer Platz and Leipziger Platz — once Berlin 's busiest traffic junction and in recent decades its ugliest wound , a grey no man 's land between two barrier walls . A year ago , Daimler - Benz snapped up 62,000 square metres of land there for only Dm93 million . The company plans to build a Dm500 million office , showroom and service centre and create several thousand jobs .
Idiom: early bird (used idiomatically: yes)
As a footnote , he 'd added ‘ Any problems — see Gideon.’ I was the early bird that morning , collecting the van as the only named driver , loading the blow - lamps , the fustian and tallow
Idiom: to a T (used idiomatically: no)
I 've called it R P to distinguish it from Spearman 's which we 're gon na do next week , but you can convert the value of R to a T score and if you 've got a T score you can look it up in T tables to work out whether it 's significant . Most tables , though , in fact already give you correlation coefficient . So what we 're saying is that you can take the correlation coefficient , multiply it by N minus two divided by one minus R , square root it first , and you convert it to a T. R P is the correlation coefficient ca calculated by the way we 've j that that 's just a little squiggle has no meaning as far as I am aware . That 's where I fell asleep probably .
Idiom: from pillar to post (used idiomatically: yes)
Remember poor Harry Corbett ? Bathed in batter , soaked in suds and covered in clay —‘ambushed’ a thousand times by Sooty and his scheming friends , Sweep and Soo ! And Matthew … poor Matthew ! — even now he 's being chased from pillar to post , on stage and TV at home and abroad — to satisfy the cuddly trio 's craving for mischief and mayhem ! Well … Sooty , Sweep and Soo and Harry and Matthew too invite you all to take a peep behind the cameras and the curtains into their world of memories and magic .
Idiom: beg the question (used idiomatically: yes)
And at one time it was UK policy for fertiliser use to be encouraged by direct grants and subsidies . A MORI Poll conducted in November 1988 showed that of a hypothetical £ 100 to be spent on cleaning up nitrates and pesticides in the public water supply , people felt industry should pay £ 39 , farmers £ 19 , the government £ 31 and the consumer £ 11 . ( Asking if the ‘ government’ should pay of course begs the question , where does the government get the cash from if not from the consumer ? In practice , as we have seen , it is British policy to subsidise the polluting farmers rather than make them pay to clean up the pollution . ) The precautionary principle suggests that , as the future damage done by pollution is often more costly than the extra expense of avoiding it in the first place and in any case it is often unacceptable , even if a money cost ca n't be put on it , then prevention is better than cure .
Idiom: green light (used idiomatically: no)
It was unprecedented for any woman to have that effect on Davidson , whose success in this field was legendary . She was , of course , very desirable , McLeish conceded : reddish - blond hair above blue eyes , and a perfect , pale skin , lightly freckled . Her apple - green light wool suit reminded them all that spring would one day come . Indeed , she was a true beauty : straight , fine features , a long neck , a gently curved , slim figure . He found himself smiling gently as he sat and watched her , and pulled himself up sharply , realizing that the girl was annoyed by what was obviously a familiar reaction .
Idiom: cut the Gordian knot (used idiomatically: yes)
And this time , the financial mechanisms involved are not highly complex structured financial products , but one of the oldest financial instruments in the world : government bonds . While governments and central banks race frantically to find a solution , there is a profound psychological dynamic at work that stands in the way of an orderly debt workout : our aversion to recognizing obligations to strangers . The impulse simply to cut the Gordian knot of debt by defaulting on it is much stronger when creditors are remote and unknown . In 2007 - 2008 , it was homeowners who could not keep up with payments ; now it is governments . But , in both cases , the lender was distant and anonymous .
Idiom: on the cards (used idiomatically: yes)
The Language Master Both Bell and Howell and Rank - Aldis make versions of this machine : bell and Howell 's is the Language Master , Rank - Aldis calls theirs a Card Reader , but they perform the same function . A card with a strip of recording - tape is fed through the machine , and the teacher records whatever is desired — a reading of the text on the card , questions , comments , instructions or anything else . The tape carries two tracks , so that pupils can record their own versions , too . When the card is fed through the machine , the teacher 's voice is played back , and the pupil can simultaneously read whatever is written on the card .
Idiom: follow suit (used idiomatically: no)
Because of its expertise and low cost , the BBC now employs Middlesex Poly to make graphics . All the snowflake effects used by the BBC to advertise its programmes last Christmas were generated on the Middlesex computer . Other broadcasters are following suit . Channel 4 paid a professional firm over £ 50000 for its main logo , seen every night . But Channel 4 is now buying in graphics from Middlesex at a fraction of the price .
Idiom: act of God (used idiomatically: yes)
In Christian tradition this has been very clearly stated . To revert to the early Christian analogy between the physical universe and a tune , the singer can survive without a song . More generally , creation has always been understood as an act of God 's grace , something He could perfectly well have chosen not to do , rather than some kind of necessary mechanism through which He ensured His own existence . The relation between the world and God is not one of reciprocal dependence : the world exists only as an act of divine favour . God does not even ‘ need’ the world in the sense imagined by those who suppose He must be lonely without it .
Idiom: in the short run (used idiomatically: yes)
The ‘ combat’ called for here would certainly have been ‘ risky’for it would have led inevitably to the destruction of both the Republican party and the Reagan administration . The fact is that neither congress nor the American people were ready in the early 1980s for the demolition of the welfare state , however much conservative theorists might believe that to be desirable . Stockman recognized that the sort of fundamental change he sought ‘ would have hurt millions of people in the short run’ and involved the , ‘ ruthless dispensation of short run pain in the name of long term gain ' , but these , he believed , were the hazards that true revolutionaries faced without flinching . ‘ Revol - utions have to do with drastic , wrenching changes in an established regime . Causing such changes to happen was not Ronald Reagan 's real agenda in the first place .
Idiom: take the plunge (used idiomatically: yes)
Mr Bob Balchin , chairman of the Grant - Maintained Schools Foundation , said yesterday that he was expecting an avalanche of parental ballots after the Easter holidays . He predicted that up to 2,000 schools would vote to join the 200 that had already chosen to run their own affairs — a development that could spell the end of council involvement in education . On past form , secondary schools in Conservative areas will be the first to take the plunge . Some are expected to apply for permission to reintroduce selection , joining the 150 grammar schools reprieved by Labour 's defeat . Radical changes to teacher training will be the next significant development .
Idiom: mark someone's card (used idiomatically: no)
From Seymour Direct , it has easy - to - read numbers and is personalised with the child 's name and birth date . It sells for £ 32.95 but we have ten to give away . Please mark your card ‘ Clock’ giving child 's name and date of birth . GET PACKING ! 50 rucksacks
Idiom: go through the motions (used idiomatically: yes)
On the ball HERE is a little moral story for Easter , a tale for our times if you like . It concerns an executive who passed a mental hospital on his way to work and stopped occasionally to watch an inmate going through the motions of winding up and pitching an imaginary ball . A friend asked the executive what he found so absorbing about the man 's performance . ‘ Well,’ said the executive , ‘ if things keep going on the way they are , I 'll be there some day catching for that guy and I want to make sure I know his curves.’
Idiom: give someone pause (used idiomatically: yes)
It is in the field of assessment that the new arrangements are likely to pose the most difficulties for teachers and distract them from their first task of finding their way into ' the very queer and tortuous passages of children 's minds ' . There are , for example , so far in maths , science , English and technology alone , no less than 14,910 potential separate considerations of statements of attainment for a group of thirty children from level one to level five . When one hears and sees the grids and axes within which the teachers are being encouraged to monitor the progress of each child , it ought to be sufficient to give any sane person pause for thought ! Put another way , each teacher is required to monitor and record for each child , within the primary sector , progress under the attainment targets in maths , science , English and technology alone , no less than 497 separate differentiated statements of attainment for each child . It seems unlikely that such discrete and precise measurement is something which can be effortlessly and efficiently stored away in the teacher 's mind in the everyday bustle of school life for subsequent ' after - school ' recording .
Idiom: pick up the pieces (used idiomatically: yes)
He could visualize the sniggers of his subordinates . A new director , responsible for a large section of the company 's business for the first time , was not in a particularly enviable position ; there were men equally as bright and considerably younger , poised ready to pull the mat from under him as soon as they saw an opportunity ; Hank could be their chance . He picked up the piece of ornamental driftwood from the mantelpiece and tried to stand it upside down , while he considered this , and his wife 's sobs slowly diminished . He felt miserably lonely . He became aware that Olga was quiet at last , exhausted beyond words .