Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: steer clear of (used idiomatically: yes)
He saw his own role as something between a scientific investigator and a secret agent , and he sent a verbatim report of the managers ' meeting back to the board , together with a sheaf of press cuttings . The inspector counselled caution . It seems likely that his real mission was to find an escape route for the board , so that it could steer clear of the incident and avoid involving the central state in any direct decision over sex education . As with contemporary campaigns around the criminal law , the state opted for a neutral course of non - intervention . It was unwillingly propelled into action by the competing forces within civil society .
Idiom: see eye to eye (used idiomatically: yes)
If she could be won over , his seat was probably safe . And the old thing was n't really that old … ‘ Angela,’ he said , ‘ you and me , we 've not always seen eye to eye recently , but we are friends . Come and have a spot of lunch with me today , at the Hospitality Inn at one o'clock . Just the two of us .
Idiom: with a view to (used idiomatically: yes)
Before the passing of the 1980 Act certain decisions of this court , in particular Wallis ' Cayton Bay Holiday Camp Ltd v Shellmex and BP Ltd [ 1974]3 All ER 575 and Gray v Wykeham - Martin [ 1977]CA Transcript 10A were thought to have established a general doctrine that in one special type of case there would be implied in favour of the would - be adverse possessor , without any specific factual basis for such implication , a licence permitting him to commit the acts of possession on which he sought to rely ; the effect of implying such a licence would , of course , be to prevent the squatter 's possession from being " adverse " . That special type of case was broadly one where the acts of an intruder , however continuous and far - reaching , did not substantially interfere with any plans which the owners might have for the future use of undeveloped land … On any footing , it must , in my judgment , be too broad a proposition to suggest that an owner who retains a piece of land with a view to its utilisation for a specific purpose in the future can never be treated as dispossessed , however firm and obvious the intention and however drastic the act of dispossession of the person seeking to dispossess him may be . Furthermore , while it may well be correct to say that the implied licence doctrine ( so long as it survived ) itself involved the " adaptation " of the literal application of the statutory provisions " to meet one special type of case " , I do not think it correct that the [ old]decisions … authorise or justify an application of the statutory provisions otherwise than in accordance with their ordinary and natural meaning … If in any given case the land in dispute is unbuilt land and the squatter is aware that the owner , while having no present use for it , has a purpose in mind for its use in the future , the court is likely to require very clear evidence before it can be satisfied that the squatter who claims a possessory title has not only established factual possession of the land , but also the requisite intention to exclude the world at large , including the owner with the paper title , so far as is reasonably practicable and so far as the processes of the law will allow .
Idiom: make a move (used idiomatically: no)
Yeah that 's right . You 've got ta destroy it . But the accountant could well be the guy that you went and played tennis with and the boy does n't even make a move unless he gets the accountant and So it 's a difficult one to get over on occasions .
Idiom: break even (used idiomatically: yes)
Hanrott was made responsible for the first ‘ Council’ visits , at which they saw some quite ‘ unsuitable environments’ , information from these visits being fed at first into the subject boards rather than into the Council itself ' . There were visits of this kind at which institutions were told flatly not to come back to the CNAA for validation , for a variety of reasons . There were places where it was effectively not the Principal but the local authority that was running the college — a tradition of detailed local authority control over further education Institutions that it was difficult to break even in developed institutions . Difficulties on a visit to Paisley were connected with the involvement of the local authority . At Liverpool , the Principal was not allowed to choose his own secretary .
Idiom: have words (used idiomatically: yes)
None — whether informed on , informing or their descendants — likes what they see . Why should they ? The British may say that if the French have a word for it , then le corbeau must be an old French habit . There is something in that , as Balzac would witness . Let us not delude ourselves that an equivalent would not have found its way into English if needed .
Idiom: bear in mind (used idiomatically: yes)
the main explanation why so long to reply is very much geared to the fact that we are in the hands of the Electricity Board for everything below the junction box on the street lighted column , if the bolt is in the cable , or a cable junction or in a circuit we are in the hands in another organization totally , who will have their own timescales and priority to responses . But it is n't easy we have a lot , what complaints we get bearing in mind what I said a short while ago , what complaints we get now are very much biased towards defects in street lighting systems provided currently here and there in Suffolk , so I 'm conscious of this , we are working with the Eastern Electricity Board on an improved maintenance contract whereby certain benefits , and one of them is immediacy of response to repair work will be I hope put forward , very conscious of it indeed so and er we are struggling with what the , the basic cause of it all of course is the , the , the quality of some of our street light and equipment here and there throughout Suffolk is old or very out of date and even run down indicator procedure , so we have got a large real programme as well as repairing ones already there . It is I would suggest much easier to respond to the complaint in the line of service sir than it is in one round more complex technical services with contractors and sub contractors and the like , with whom we 've had to deal , so there is that to be borne in mind as well , erm I think I know about some of the response to be responded to that , but it does generally valuable this talk , this discussion cos it does show the degree of viability of exposing the service to , your making problems of this nature , it immediately challenges people to come back and say what about it , you promised this , you promised that and you 're not performing , this , this is discussion is a live example of the Mr Chairman we did tackle very successfully er under utilities where we employ an extra couple of officers , I even asked the question at for County Council what was going on , we , I think we 've got something further on the agenda elsewhere where we 're trying to keep our stand standards up , but I still feel that if we 're going to be able to deliver a promise we 've got to deliver it , if it means monitoring the erm utilities then I think we should do it . Yeah , but we have given a promise to it
Idiom: in light of (used idiomatically: yes)
We have to recognise it for what it is ; to see it as a way of generating understanding and knowledge , yielding ideas and theories which are accepted for as long as they help our understanding of evidence , but which are constantly superseded and changed when new evidence is obtained which conflicts with them . There is no end to this process ; no ultimate truth or understanding of either education or of the scientific aspects of the world around . So out of this comes a view of educational research as starting from present ideas and knowledge , using these to develop questions which focus the collection of information in a systematic way , and leading to their modification or reconstruction in the light of the new evidence . The new understandings then become the basis for further activity — and so on it goes . But note that each cycle depends on communication of emerging ideas to those who can use them ; hence the importance of telling others about one 's findings and ideas and of finding out what others have reported about one 's own current concerns .
Idiom: scarlet woman (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ We said far too much yesterday and I see no reason for more of the same . You have the wrong person , Mr Wyatt . I 'm a hard - working dress designer , not a scarlet woman.’ ‘ No ? I think you 're the woman I 'm looking for , and I 'm not going away until you give me what I want .
Idiom: get cracking (used idiomatically: yes)
Said we 've just got ta stay here . to do them now . Yeah but I thought we should get cracking in the car . We ca n't really stay , you have to come in in the morning . Yeah .
Idiom: from scratch (used idiomatically: yes)
Last month a new law was passed , allowing former owners to claim back their land , even if it had been built over . The government 's foreign advisers say the law is unworkable . Even though it offers compensation to people who have already bought shops or flats , Albania 's court system , now being rebuilt from scratch after almost 30 years without a justice ministry , will have a hard time sorting out property disputes . Even worse , the law will discourage the foreign investment so necessary for the rebuilding of the Albanian economy . Western countries have handed over more than $ 1 billion in aid , mainly as food , which is sold by the government as its main source of revenue .
Idiom: take a bath (used idiomatically: yes)
I ' m exhausted ! I just want to go home , take a bath , and go to bed .
Idiom: turn heads (used idiomatically: yes)
As I looked at the driver , I noticed for the first time that he wore no uniform and was not a postilion ; he seemed to be growing restless , turning his head and looking behind him several times . Then he began to drive quicker , and as I leaned out of the carriage a horseman came out of the shrubbery on one side of the road , crossed it at a bound directly in front of our horses , and vanished in the forest on the other side .
Idiom: grind to a halt (used idiomatically: yes)
The Confederation of British Industry is to review the provision of finance to small firms by examining the difficulties they face in borrowing . Tom O'Connor , Chairman of the CBI 's Smaller Firms Council , said : ‘ In manufacturing alone , smaller firms account for one in three jobs and a quarter of the total output . Without their support some of the giants of British business would quickly grind to a halt . ‘ Finance needs to be appropriate to the needs of a business . Too often in the past there has been an over - reliance on the traditional overdraft facilities in preference to term loans and equity finance , even though the latter may be more appropriate .
Idiom: high and low (used idiomatically: no)
Deborah 's parents had had a tumultuous relationship in which frequent violent arguments would be followed by tender love scenes . She grew up associating ' love ' with an emotional roller - coaster , and although she was looking for a long - term partner , Deborah quickly became bored and dissatisfied in a stable relationship . She was hooked on ' falling in love ' , on the emotional highs and lows of fresh romance . As soon as she felt secure in a relationship , she began to feel restless and uneasy . Tom , likewise , was not searching for love .
Idiom: out of the woods (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ Good lord , no . I 'm all right , it 's just , with that interview meaning so much to me and everything else , I just wanted to know that I could forget all about it , and concentrate all my energies on Barney.’ ‘ I understand,’ Fabia told her , and , guilty though she felt , she knew then that until Barney was ‘ out of the woods’she would n't be confessing to her her failure to secure the interview . ‘ I 'd better go,’ Cara began to end her call . ‘ I 'm sorry you 've missed seeing Prague — but you 're otherwise having a good time , are n't you?’
Idiom: on and off (used idiomatically: yes)
You must know the kind of thing we mean . You get on them slowly and they register one weight ; if you jump on them with gusto they register something quite different . In fact , you can just get on and off them a few times and they never seem to register the same thing twice ! We would strongly recommend that if your scales are unreliable you should banish them to the bin and invest in some new ones . Digital scales are quite popular and have the benefit that you do not have to interpret just which tiny little weight line seems to be indicated as your weight .
Idiom: hit the bottle (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ I have more energy and I 'm thinking clearer . I can organise my time rather than panicking ‘ Have I left this here or have I left that there ? ’’ She says she also sleeps better and wakes up with a clearer head which is not the sort of image she portrayed a couple of years ago when all the pressures she was facing caused her to hit the bottle again . She points out that after battling against the booze for some years it only took a short relapse to destroy much of what she 'd worked for . Solid drinking ‘ Two years ago I had a one - day relapse after a very long time of being sober .
Idiom: turn the tables (used idiomatically: no)
— PA Mr Dobson claimed the Government was seeking to create a ' DIY third world ' in Britain by condoning ' poverty level wages ' . Academic turns league tables on politicians By Douglas Fraser , Education Correspondent ARE YOU getting value for money from your MP 's worldwide junketing ?
Idiom: to the bone (used idiomatically: yes)
As Kate looked into Ace 's narrowed , unforgiving eyes before the race , she knew that , unfair or not , he held her somehow responsible , and his last words to her bore that out . ‘ You wo n't stop me winning , you know!’ The mockery could n't disguise the aggressive determination which chilled her to the bone . ‘ Take care,’ she whispered back , frightened by the sheer naked will to succeed that she surprised on his face . ‘ Frightened something might happen to me?’ he sneered .
Idiom: in the long run (used idiomatically: no)
Representations have been made to the Secretary of State via the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union on behalf of taxi drivers . There might be no ready and easy solution to the problems that taxi drivers face , but there are those , such as the Peace Train organisation , who have taken up the taxi drivers ' case and are concerned to alter public opinion and attitudes generally in Northern Ireland . It is that , along with political and economic change which , in the long run , will bring about a change in the situation . Mr. Brooke With regard to the incident this morning , we do not know at this stage whether the injured man was operating a taxi or not .
Idiom: make light work of (used idiomatically: yes)
ICI sees the tissue as an alternative to asbestos . It will not normally be used on its own but as a facing or interlayer in composite materials . Cobra makes light work of cutting A BRITISH company has successfully married a 400 W laser with a robot arm in a way that preserves the arm 's five degrees of freedom . An optical path reflects the beam along a series of 10 mirrors mounted alongside the arm 's joints before focusing it with a zinc selenide lens .
Idiom: get off the ground (used idiomatically: yes)
In the meantime , it is left to Michael Aspel to grapple with the contemporary record . His Incident At Oglala is a documentary ( again financed by Robert Redford ) on the primal scene of Native American political activism : the scapegoating of AIM member Leonard Peltier for the murder of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1975 . Even more gripping than this documentary feature is Apted 's fictional movie based on the same incident , Thunderheart , a tight , concentrated political drama which the director got off the ground thanks to the backing of Robert De Niro . Val Kilmer plays a novice FBI guy sent down to the Badlands of South Dakota to help out legendary agent Sam Shepard on an Indian reservation murder case . Kilmer is part - Indian and is expected to exploit this to mollify the natives but Kilmer rediscovers his tribal heritage while Shepard finds the politics of an already volatile situation beginning to spin out of control .
Idiom: move mountains (used idiomatically: yes)
In Lancaster , where I 'd come out , there had always been a mixed scene ; in many places outside the big towns , most of the lesbians and gay men continued to hang together for at least part of the time because there did n't seem enough of us to consider doing much else . I 'd helped to start up a mixed - sex Lancaster Gay Switchboard and learned a lot from radical faggots . They taught me bravery in the face of bigotry , the way that anger intelligently channelled can move mountains , the use of laughter as a weapon and a source of strength . They taught me what I still believe ( and no amount of misogyny or gynophobia or general bad behaviour on either side can shift me ) that though there is much that is different for lesbians and gay men , there is also much that is common . As far as much of the rest of the world is concerned , we 're all just a bunch of queers .
Idiom: hang by a thread (used idiomatically: yes)
He is much clearer analytically and more comprehensive than Rolle in his discussion of this matter and realises that the terms distinguish essentially complementary modes of living . Active life in the sense of engagement with the physical necessities and well - being of society belongs properly and sensibly to people who feel no inner compulsion towards , or understanding of , spiritual issues — as he much more trenchantly put it , they have " no sauour " of " goostli occupacioun " ( 12.123–4 ) . Contemplative life belongs to those who not only have a keen awareness that life in the world hangs by a thread , but a sense that their own identity and reality does not inhere fundamentally in physical things . Hilton says they turn away from involvement in the world , and , in words which more immediately evoke the liberation and peace which are the goals of the rigours of contemplative life , he says that they : That is , they rid themselves from involvement with any possessions not strictly needed for physical survival and escape from the demands and goals of social success to a different kind of service . But immediately Hilton makes it clear that such a life - style involves an active life of its own if the peace that is sought is to be found , for it may not be had : This has been defined earlier as : Such an active component of spiritual endeavour is a concomitant of man 's temporal nature .
Idiom: oil and water (used idiomatically: no)
The truth is bland : Mr Major will call an election if the opinion polls suggest he can not lose . Otherwise , he will hang on . The party machines , however , are being oiled and watered for an early poll . The 20 groups of Tory MPs asked by Margaret Thatcher last year to write policy papers for the next manifesto have been told to hand in their work to Number Ten by the end of the month . The chairman , Chris Patten , will shortly sit down with the new head of the Downing Street policy unit , Sarah Hogg , to write the first draft of Mr Major 's manifesto .
Idiom: across the board (used idiomatically: yes)
Poundages are now subject to intervention by the Secretary of State for Scotland . His authority is total and in effect the tax rate , the poundage , is a national tax , locally varied . So far , an across - the - board reduction of poundages by 6.25 per cent has been applied . Rateable values north and south of the border were substantially different , mainly because of a lack of revaluation in England and Wales between 1973 and 1990 . The revaluation at a common date has helped , as has agreement in practice to arrive at comparable results .
Idiom: high as a kite (used idiomatically: yes)
As she whirls and spins , she grins ecstatically at everyone who meets her eye . But never imagine for a moment that she has abandoned a lifetime of hard - won apostasy and now rejoices in the mating rituals of her long - lost tribe . If Rainbow seems high as a kite , half - delirious , with racing pulse and her heartbeat dancing the hora , it is only because the delicious hand of Riva now lies firmly clasped within her own . ‘ Finding your little cultural field - trip interestingly?’ asks Riva , when they pause for breath . Rainbow feels caught out , blushes , nods a diffident assent , but says nothing .
Idiom: put the wind up (used idiomatically: yes)
and I said who 's that?and he went oh god , shit we 're in the wrong tent and they went out and you can hear 'em I mean being a tent they 're laughing their head off for about half an hour the others he goes we really put the wind up that woman did n't we , ooh , ooh , ooh and they ee should have got a knife and went out the tent it was , it was funny that and it rained terrible did n't it ?
Idiom: go it alone (used idiomatically: yes)
This gave him the idea of developing a method of switching on the fountain automatically , every time the pond was approached by a predator : easily achieved by adapting a passive infra - red detector . Brian approached a major manufacturer of garden pools and , while they were interested in principle , they felt that the unit would be too pricey for the end - user . That was when Brian decided to go it alone , sourcing the units and adapting them himself . He claims that his deterrent acts in three ways : directly frightening the predator
Idiom: turn tail (used idiomatically: yes)
She rode along , swaggering like a man , till she came to where the lane turned into the field , and there she called out as bold as brass : now , please the powers I may find a tiger in the field ! I have n't tasted tiger since yesterday when I ate three for breakfast . " Hearing these words and seeing the speaker ride boldly toward him , the tiger was so alarmed that he turned tail and bolted into the forest . He went at such a headlong pace that he nearly knocked down his own jackal - tigers always have a jackal of their own to clear away the bones after they have finished eating . " My lord !
Idiom: odds and ends (used idiomatically: yes)
Stepan crystallizes this ‘ something ’ in Golyadkin and Quixote terms when he tells Mrs Stavrogin ‘ You have always despised me ; but I will end like a knight faithful to my lady , for your good opinion has always been dearer to me than anything . ’ Also , in the same passage , he says he is going to pack his bag — ‘ my pauper 's bag ’ — and end up either dead of starvation in a ditch or earning his keep as a tutor in some merchant 's house . This might seem to be moving away from Golyadkin , but in point of tone The Double and The Possessed draw closest to one another , and to Don Quixote , in the ludicrous materialities of preparation , and in their juxtaposing of very particular odds and ends with an airy universality which in lesser hands would be emptiness . Mr Golyadkin has mustered socks , shirts , shirtfronts , flannel vests , uniform , spare trousers , sheets , blankets , pillows , and a featherbed ; but he also tells his servant ‘ And now , my friend , I am going away . My dear chap , a different path lies before each man and no one of us can tell what road he may chance to follow . ’
Idiom: catch fire (used idiomatically: yes)
It is still quite dark in the tent . Claudia opens her eyes . They are greeted by the magnificent vista of the plain and the strange , but familiar , shape of Ol Doinyo Lengai , which is steadily catching fire at its summit as the sun rises . She is naked and makes no attempt to cover any more of herself than people do who are all alone . Fairfax returns with two enamel mugs and a brown teapot on a tray .