Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: from the cradle to the grave (used idiomatically: yes)
This may have been because my hopes were raised when mention was made of the need to consider ' the environmental effect of each stage leading to an alternative energy system ' . Unfortunately , the methodology was said to be in an early state of development and no references to this approach are given . Surely complete environmental audits from ' cradle to grave ' are essential if we are to make rational choices of energy systems . I was also surprised to find geothermal energy described as creating no direct chemical emissions — even the ' hot dry rock ' schemes have water pollution problems . Despite its drawbacks the book is worth reading as a useful guide to recent developments .
Idiom: in full swing (used idiomatically: yes)
The sluice gates also acted as a safety measure to guard against flooding when the river was in spate . I was at last learning some general principles . By now the cottage lettings were in full swing . Starting at Easter , the bookings would continue more or less uninterrupted until after the autumn half - term at the end of October . The change - over day from one occupancy to the next was on a Saturday , when our admirable Jane Jones arrived to clean and prepare it for the next lot .
Idiom: put a foot wrong (used idiomatically: yes)
The performance of the avuncular Shadow Chancellor John Smith has been the undoubted success of Labour 's campaign . A stolid Scots barrister , he has been entrusted with holding the line of an economic policy which his opponents have found hard to lay a glove upon . Mr Smith has hardly put a foot wrong . Margaret Beckett , the other half of the Treasury team , is a stalwart of the press conference platform and the Labour politician most respected by the Conservatives , although she has not always inspired on the hustings . No one 's performance could be rated as BAD .
Idiom: fly the flag (used idiomatically: yes)
It was 29 May 1657 . Facing them were the battalions of Dara Shukoh , among them Dara 's junior artilleryman Niccolao Manucci : When placed in the field our army looked like a lovely city adorned with beautiful tents flying innumerable flags of all colours … Prince Dara amidst his squadron appeared like a crystal tower , resplendent as a sun shining over the land . All around him rode many squadrons of Rajput cavalry whose armour glittered from afar .
Idiom: go to town (used idiomatically: no)
Luke saw her look of half - outraged surprise , and grinned . ‘ What do you think of it ? The original stuff had all been ripped out years ago , so when I moved in I thought I 'd go to town on the redecoration . I ca n't see the point of living in a mausoleum , just because it 's ‘ in period’.’ ‘ I can see that,’ Folly said faintly .
Idiom: birds of a feather (used idiomatically: yes)
He is probably a murderer himself ; the lightmindedness of his retrospective half - confirmations and half - denials is oddly disgusting ; and for him killing people is no more doing something than sleeping with little girls or setting off for the North Pole . It 's just another struggle for air , for living life . He recognizes in Raskolnikov a fellow - struggler , and repeatedly he says that the two of them are birds of a feather ; but he also bids him farewell with a pointed ‘ You to the right and I to the left , or the other way round if you like’ towards the end of their final meeting , because setting off for America , unlike the North Pole , while it may or may not amount to doing anything ( Crime and Punishment does n't raise the question ) marks a parting of their ways . In Svidrigailov 's America there is no air to struggle for , and no rain to soften hearts and freshen cities and give the excluded ( or self - excluding ) man occasion for jokes about fear and death . Most people breathe naturally , they do n't struggle for air .
Idiom: point the finger (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ Son,’ said Cadfael , ‘ you know , do you not , what will be said?’ ‘ Yes,’ said Tutilo , unlocking his lips at last , ‘ I do know.’ ‘ It will be said and believed that you lay in wait for Aldhelm and killed him , so that he could never point the finger at you.’ Tutilo made no protest that he had been the one to cry murder , to invoke the law , to unloose the hunt after the murderer . He averted his eyes for a moment to Aldhelm 's covered face , and raised them again to meet Cadfael 's eyes squarely .
Idiom: sick and tired (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ The guys ca n't play , ca n't write , ca n't produce , ca n't do nothing , and they want to tell everybody who can what to do . It 's easy for them to say , ‘ Okay , put this in the computer and we 'll find someone to sing it.’ I got sick and tired of wet - nursing all these singers . Not only me , but poor Dave ( Paich ) too : we 'd just sit there and look at each other and go , ‘ This is wrong,’ trying to get somebody to interpret our music . ‘ So I said , ‘ Okay , if we 're going to do this again , just drop everything down a f***ing third and let 's get rocking again .
Idiom: on the cards (used idiomatically: yes)
If I install games on a SD card will my laptop run faster ? Putting the game on an SD card will slow down the game because the read / write operations will be slower from an SD card than they are on your hard disk .
Idiom: on the face of it (used idiomatically: yes)
Knowing that some foreigners , and even some Germans , would worry about a possible reversion to past behaviour , it has been at pains to show itself to be a reformed character not just by these qualities of good citizenship but by its guilty conscience . It is unfortunate , therefore , that doubts about the extent to which its character has changed should occur just as Germany has chosen to abandon one of its strongest symbols of guilt , its constitutional right to asylum . On the face of it , the Bundestag 's decision at the end of last month to abolish refugees ' automatic right to asylum was reasonable . Post - war Germany had offered itself as a place of refuge to the persecuted in recognition of the hospitality given by other countries to all those driven out of pre - war Germany by the Nazis . But Article 16 , which guaranteed this right , had acted as a one - way turnstile that allowed foreigners in their tens of thousands to stream into Germany never to leave .
Idiom: take heart (used idiomatically: yes)
Voice over Amongst all the gloom there is of course the game of football . And Oxford fans will be taking heart that the side 's enjoying a good run at the moment and may yet avoid relegation . On and off the pitch United 's decade under the Maxwells has given them a brief but all too short taste of glory . The club 's now in a mess and it seems only someone with big money and the right intentions can prevent a desperate situation getting worse .
Idiom: take it from me (used idiomatically: yes)
And out you 'll go , take it from me , especially after the fiasco you made of the press conference and the results of it spread all over the papers this morning!’ Kegan breathed deeply , suddenly aware that he was shouting , and went on more quietly . ‘ You may see science as the great God we 've all got to worship , but if we do n't see it that way , and not many do , take it from me , you 'll have nothing to do your worshiping with . I do n't understand you , I really do n't . You say this project is the only thing that matters , and yet you do your best to scuttle it by refusing to cooperate with what is necessary to keep it going!’
Idiom: unknown quantity (used idiomatically: yes)
If I stuck with the basic training and did well I too could be one of them . I had yet to be disillusioned . Basic training and a posting to a Regiment lay ahead , all of it an unknown quantity , and my enthusiasm was so manifest because everything that lay in front of me was so foreign . We were told that we would leave Aubagne to start our basic training on the following Monday . Although all the recruit instruction was normally carried out at Castelnaudary , we had been informed that we would be going to Orange , the base of the 1er Régiment Étranger de Cavalerie , as Castelnaudary was overcrowded .
Idiom: to the tune of (used idiomatically: yes)
The first ferries across the Clyde in the early 19th century were large rowing boats , but after a tragic sinking , the first steam ferries were introduced by the Clyde Trust in 1865 . Within five years they were carrying over seven million passengers a year . At Clyde Street alone paying punters pushed out the boat to the tune of 5,680 passengers every day . The North Rotunda , now a first - class restaurant , and its sister dome on the south bank , were the termini of the Glasgow Harbour Tunnel . This was operated by a series of huge lifts at either end , and horses , carts , and thousands of Glaswegians made the daily descent into the Stygian depths beneath the cold waters of the Clyde .
Idiom: hold the ring (used idiomatically: yes)
' You bastard , you could have warned me . Look at this … ' The officer held up his wedding ring between thumb and forefinger . It was a squeezed oval , and cracked top and bottom . ' Cathy will do her fucking nut … . '
Idiom: take someone to task (used idiomatically: yes)
The Humane Research Trust raised £ 160.30 during a collection in Huyton recently , and wish to thank the people for their generosity . Regulars at Davinia 's Music Bar in Southport , raised £ 115.00 for Walton and Fazakerley Hospital 's Sunshine Radio . Landlords are taken to task over standards ' GRUBBY ' BLASTIN NEW PUB GUIDE LANDLORDS were taken to task today for running ' dirty , grubby and unfriendly ' pubs .
Idiom: on the ball (used idiomatically: yes)
But there 's more to it than this . Dean recalls three or four innings when even after more than four hours at the crease he felt relaxed and fresh . ‘ Thinking back , I must have blocked out all other stimuli , and just concentrated on the ball in the bowler 's hand . Once , I could n't remember how many breaks for rain there were or in which session I scored my hundred . I can only liken this to a trance - like state which neither drains you of energy nor leaves you feeling elated afterwards.’
Idiom: cold feet (used idiomatically: no)
‘ Cold feet . I 'd sooner be too warm than too cold.’ Dickinson said : ‘ I knew a pilot who had cold feet one minute and was extremely hot indeed the next.’ ‘ Who was that?’ Callaghan asked , interested .
Idiom: speak volumes (used idiomatically: yes)
The unconventional , questioning form I had begun to pursue was rewarded by an invitation in 1972 to attend United Nations European Social Affairs Division in Geneva . ‘ Experts’ from a variety of European agencies were brought together to discuss and report on the various cross - cultural attitudes to drug - taking among young people . In this setting the qualitative was constantly under evaluation at the expense of the quantitative measure , for the ‘ wise’ amongst us who were present knew that the statistical return often gives a skewed version of complex social events , although it speaks volumes about the way our systems of control are generated and maintained . In this even more marginal world of cross - cultural perception and social contrast , the statistical truths I was consistently having to produce for local politicians , senior officers , the press , and the public in Newcastle were of little value , especially when discussion on the structures surrounding approval or illegality of some drug use was a matter which might encompass problems of economic , geographical , cultural , or even religious boundaries , or more likely the changing political whim or opportunity of the moment . FROM LIMBO TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD
Idiom: bits and bobs (used idiomatically: yes)
Yeah . It is the original engine in the original car . It 's just had bits and bobs added . Like well it it 's had it 's had enough added to it a recon , but not enough added so it 's a new engine . It 's had well I think it 's had a short engine rather than the whole lot .
Idiom: grist to the mill (used idiomatically: yes)
If she kept everything on this level there would be no danger of his probing into her background . She had nothing to hide , except the dull ordinariness of her life before drama school , but for him to know about it would only bring them closer , and she recoiled from the danger that that would lead to . Besides , he would only make it grist to his mill . She knew she was still on trial , despite his efforts to appear at ease . He was laughing , handsome and dazzling again .
Idiom: lose face (used idiomatically: yes)
As it basks in its new status as an economic superpower – the dragon that is outpacing Asia ’s tigers as well as the donkeys of the West – China is mistakenly downplaying its own serious structural weaknesses . The communist leadership finds it hard to mention , let alone emphasize , the country ’s problems . Officials ’ preoccupation with commanding respect and not losing face leads them to focus almost exclusively on China ’s achievements . This is a strategy that risks backfiring , because it misunderstands the dynamics of international politics . Emphasizing China ’s meteoric rise means less understanding in the rest of the world of the need to sustain rapid economic development in order to satisfy the expectations of its 1.3~billion inhabitants .
Idiom: go downhill (used idiomatically: yes)
Super Stich back to his best Giles Smith in Munich MICHAEL STICH last night resurrected a career that had been rapidly going downhill ever since he was the shock winner of Wimbledon 18 months ago . Stich signalled his return to form with a convicing victory in the richest tournament in tennis , the $ 6 m Compaq Grand Slam Cup . The German totally overwhelmed America 's Michael Chang , 6 - 2 , 6 - 3 , 6 - 2 , in the final to take the first prize of $ 2 m — but , more importantly for him , instil renewed self - confidence that the Wimbledon triumph was no fluke .
Idiom: catch someone's eye (used idiomatically: yes)
As he stood there , waiting his arrival , the knocker caught his eye .
Idiom: over the counter (used idiomatically: yes)
Business and City Summary By JERRY CONNOLLY ICI disposal : Imperial Chemical Industries has sold its US over - the - counter drugs business in a $ 450 m ( £ 285 m ) deal with Johnson & Johnson - Merck Consumer Pharmaceuticals , which also gives it the rights to Merck 's Elavil anti - depressant drug . View from City Road , page 29 James Neill suspended : Shares in James Neill , the Sheffield engineer , were suspended at 202p , valuing the company at £ 140.2 m , prompting speculation that an agreed bid will be launched today . Page 29 Broking concern : Concern is growing that a number of stockbrokers will be unable to meet a January deadline for VAT changes which are expected to reduce the cost of share dealing .
Idiom: once and for all (used idiomatically: yes)
Presented in this way , it is almost inconceivable to anyone understanding the function of such committees that it would pursue any other than the last alternative . The Committee 's report thus concluded that these practices were necessary in modern circumstances but they suggested that , because of haphazard evolution , the practices lacked coherence and the system should therefore be regularized and checked . From a functionalist perspective the Committee 's value was , first , as a pressure - release valve and , secondly , that it ‘ disposed once and for all of this conspiratorial theory of executive power’ . From a normativist perspective the Report seemed to be the occasion for less satisfaction . Keeton , for example , in the 1950s argued that :
Idiom: all in a day's work (used idiomatically: yes)
Accordingly , after many false starts , after many hours in the sunless sea of bafflement , apology and flopsweat , Tod and I have finally cut it with Irene . She was impeccably tactful , and drew no extra attention to the breakthrough . Tod also played it cool : all in a day 's work . But I was ecstatic . I was beside myself with pride .
Idiom: gone with the wind (used idiomatically: yes)
-You start getting this strange maternal urge to bring in everything from the garden overnight . -You have a brilliant idea for a Christmas present for somebody . -British Rail issue a new timetable and you have a nasty suspicion that they have juggled it around so that they have deleted a few trains and cut out that convenient late night one , and you look for your old timetable to check but it has gone with the wind . -You start noticing your friends arguing about whether the clocks go backwards or forwards in October . -You find postal charges mysteriously a penny higher than you thought they were , so you buy a sheet of 1p stamps to upgrade all the old ones you have left , and then you find you have n't got any old ones left , only this big sheet of 1p stamps .
Idiom: blow a gasket (used idiomatically: no)
The weather in Malaysia was at times a wall of rain , forcing us to seek permission to land at Alor Setar . The rain passed and we took off , only to be forced to land at the military airbase at Butterworth . We had blown a gasket and told them of our problem , but we did not declare an emergency . Still , they met us with fire trucks ; we were politely assigned an armed guard and warned not to take pictures . Mechanics pushed our aircraft into a hangar and machined us a new stud for our exhaust pipe .
Idiom: go hand in hand (used idiomatically: yes)
He stresses the ways in which the period from the early 1960s to the mid-1970s saw the effective by - passing of local elites , including councillors , because of the development of other central - local linkages . According to him , ‘ policy - making in British government became characterized by professional bureaucratic complexes based on specific functions : a series of vertical coalitions or policy networks in which central dependence on sub - national government ( SNG ) for the implementation of policy was complemented by SNG 's dependence on the centre for financial resources . Fragmentation between functions within the centre went hand in hand with centralization within policy networks’(Rhodes , 1985 ) . The strength of Rhodes ' arguments is that they allow a focus on interests and negotiations within the state . They imply that the state — and groups within it — have their own interests which may be pursued separately from any changes in the structures of British capitalism .
Idiom: within living memory (used idiomatically: yes)
Hawkshead , Ulverston , Ambleside , Kirkby Stephen , Dent and Sedbergh all had galleries where prospective purchasers could walk around to view the goods on sale on market days . In the hamlets and villages the galleries were used for many purposes . It is on record that within living memory swill basket makers and tanners used them , and that peat , fodder and farm implements have been stored there . In some cases fleece could be stored on a gallery for a group of spinners , for it is preferable to keep fleeces in a cool atmosphere as they deteriorate in hot and dry conditions . The main room or ‘ house’ , where the family gathered and worked and where the fire never went out , would not have been a suitable place for storage .
Idiom: dig deep (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ This is our biggest test of nerve since Howard Wilkinson became the manager here , but team spirit is still good . If it was n't I 'd be worrying.’ ‘ We know what we are capable of achieving so we 've got to dig deep and battle our way out of this bad spell.’ Sheffield United yesterday handed winger Brian Marwood a free transfer . Fans in fury at Noades
Idiom: rain or shine (used idiomatically: no)
But no one knows what the biological effects would be on the astronauts undertaking such a trip Christopher Joyce RAIN or shine , for more than 2.5 billion years living organisms could always depend on one thing : gravity . People have now changed that by shooting organisms into space . Weightlessness apparently does no great harm , so President George Bush says that it is now time to send people to Mars .
Idiom: take stock (used idiomatically: yes)
The difficulty was that any additional building — of squash - courts , swimming pool , or even classrooms — could by now only take place at the expense of valuable playing - field space . From his office window , the Bursar could see a quarter of an acre of dense undergrowth lying behind the School Pavilion ; it was once the site of the Convent greenhouses and allotments , but now unused and neglected . An idea began to form in his mind , but the Governors were apprehensive about taking on more commitments — faced with the abolition of the Direct Grant , they had decided to go " Independent " , and in the circumstances they thought it best to consolidate and take stock , rather than expand . There the matter might have rested , but Hodgkinson had to meet Sister Elizabeth , the Headmistress of the Convent High School , to discuss the shared use of the sports facilities . He learned that that school would shortly be closing : the Roman Catholic Diocese of Shrewsbury , as the body responsible for its denominational education in Stockport , planned to build a new comprehensive secondary school in Cheadle , St. James 's , and to convert St. Michael 's on Nangreave Road into a Sixth Form College .
Idiom: in the final analysis (used idiomatically: yes)
Having this on top is a obviously a great shock for them . Are you satisfied that everything could have been done to prevent this man doing this sort of thing . In the final analysis , if someone wishes to injure himself it 's almost impossible to prevent . Tonight an investigation is underway at the prison . It 's still not clear how the man set fire to himself , but as a remand prisoner he was allowed cigarettes and matches in his cell .
Idiom: in a rut (used idiomatically: yes)
Propaganda films from the first years of the Soviet system show enthusiastic crowds , and sometimes , in the background , weeping elderly women , watching the officially sanctioned looting of churches , which were then demolished or turned into granaries or museums of ' scientific atheism ' . Ceauşescu was not able to whip up any evidence of genuine enthusiasm for his destruction of churches . Despite his pleas to the peasants of the Maramureş to preserve their traditions , Ceauşescu , like for instance Khruschev , had the ex - peasant 's contempt for those still stuck in the rural rut . To that he brought a class - conscious antagonism towards the relics and treasures of the old élites . He probably shared Khruschev 's contempt for conservationists and the defenders of the national heritage , who stood in the way of progress and tried to suborn Communist officials from their duty to demolish the redundant vestiges of the old order .
Idiom: face to face (used idiomatically: yes)
He strode out energetically towards the gate . Connon and Jenny followed . Jenny was curiously reluctant to come face to face with this intruder whoever it was . A small group of men were coming down the path . Some were uniformed policemen .
Idiom: go it alone (used idiomatically: yes)
Detailed estimates of the costs of improvement of the ' Leicester Line ' , including wide locks at Foxton and Watford appear to have been made in 1888 , and these indicated a reasonable prospect of success . However , the offer made to the colliery owners was not , according to Potter , acceptable , and the matter did not proceed further . What part any directors of the Grand Junction played in the syndicate is not known , but not withstanding lack of agreement with colliery owners the Grand Junction must eventually have decided to go it alone . In 1894 the purchase of the Leicester Canals was completed , and as mentioned earlier , agreements and options covering the rest of the route to Langley Mill were later arranged . For any proposed improvement to be effective , piecemeal additions would be insufficient ; instead there would have to be an integrated programme for the whole route .