Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: back to square one (used idiomatically: yes)
However , you will need to decide just where to restart it . A good place to begin is with the goals that you had reached about two weeks before you went on holiday . There is no need to go back to square one ; just a few steps backward is all that is needed . Many people find that the weight drops off quickly once the holiday has finished . The chances are that your holiday food was somewhat higher in salt than the diet to which you have become accustomed so you might be retaining 2–3 lb ( 1 kg ) of excess water .
Idiom: change hands (used idiomatically: yes)
On currency markets the French franc hovered close to its floor , 2.15 per cent below the current strongman , the Irish punt , while sterling fell almost 2 pfennigs to Dm2.3562 , but closed almost unchanged at $ 1.4560 . Cameron Toll centre ‘ under offer ' THE CAMERON Toll centre in south - east Edinburgh , the UK 's first seven - day - trading shopping centre when it opened in 1984 , is likely to change hands within the next two weeks , writes Bill Millar . A spokesman for the owners , the Civil Aviation Authority Superannuation Scheme , yesterday confirmed that the centre was ‘ under offer’ but would make no further comment . It is understood , however , that the new owner will be a UK company and that the price is likely to be in the region of £ 25 million to £ 30 million .
Idiom: live it up (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ On the stroke of Midnight’ Dear Friend , I embrace you as I would like to have done on the day you left . I am living it up with Survage at the Coq d'Or . I have sold all my pictures . Send me some money soon .
Idiom: in the works (used idiomatically: yes)
Supporting democratization is becoming a new thrust in the work of the United ~ Nations .
Idiom: grind to a halt (used idiomatically: yes)
ESTATE agents ' boards are the unsightly flotsam on a rising tide of home ownership . They clutter streets , smother blocks of flats and deface many homes . Just about everyone hoped they would disappear without trace when that tide ebbed and frenetic buying and selling ground to a halt . Instead , they have beached in a large stain across Britain 's front gardens . Anyone with a home proving difficult to sell — which means just about everyone — will be resigned by now to a peeling , semi - permanent board mated to the gatepost .
Idiom: point the finger (used idiomatically: no)
On and on they travelled , rattling appallingly fast over the rutted roads so as to outstrip the pilgrims who followed them out of each town and village . Gabriel took to sitting on the cart - tail and waving to them ; it seemed so ungrateful to speed away from their flattery and blessings . Lucie saw him wave and pointed a jeering finger , saying aside to his daughter , ' Yah , look at the little Pope blessing the faithful ! ' Gabriel 's hand froze in mid - air and he blushed scarlet . But then he began to wave again , muttering to himself , ' He 's just jealous of my velvet . '
Idiom: by dint of (used idiomatically: yes)
You may write articles , you may write little bits and actually send them . There 's a lot of free - lance work which is actually used in the media , and there 's a lot of opportunity for people . In fact it 's sometimes said that it 's one of the very great privileges of the public is that they can , by dint of writing something , and putting it in an envelope with a stamp on it , get it to arrive on an editor 's desk , and have the editor at least give a cursory glance if not a more serious glance at what 's going on , so it 's a privilege and it 's an opportunity in that case . So I just want to run through very , very quickly some of the things which will sound very familiar , because a lot of the , a lot of the information is very similar to the information we 've been putting before you in terms of the radio and television situations . There 's always a hook .
Idiom: go from strength to strength (used idiomatically: yes)
Fans of the exciting Paul Mitchell Systems range will be aware of the company 's relentless campaign for a better world . All haircare products are produced without animal testing and the company runs a solar energy farm in Hawaii , producing Awapuhi , one of the innovative ingredients in the range . Founded by friends John Paul Jones Dejoria and the late Paul Mitchell , the company has gone from strength to strength , both in the USA and Great Britain and in memory of Paul Mitchell , a host of stars turned out recently for a tree planting ceremony . If you happened to be in Hyde Park on October 21st , you may have seen celebrities like Gloria Hunniford , Lyndsey De Paul , James Coburn and Roger Daltrey with spade in hand in aid of the Prince of Wales Trust ( they 're all devotees of Paul Mitchell products , I 'm sure ! ) . And that 's not all !
Idiom: have words (used idiomatically: yes)
seven minutes later Pikey was on target again with a header and united were two -one up … it was all square at half - time though … Greg Downs will be having a few words with his defence about long high balls … corners and free kicks … United could n't cope with them … but Wycombe 's Andy Kerr could … at the start of the second half the Hereford defence were caught out again as Scott put Wycombe back into the lead …
Idiom: on the square (used idiomatically: yes)
In 1786 the city 's administrative offices were transferred to the Palazzo del Carmagnoli — which instantly became know as the Broletto Nuovissino , the very new Broletto ! Externally the Palazzo della Ragione is a column - arcade - supported rectangular brick building , elegant and business - like , as one might expect . The relief on the square side is of Governor Tresseno and is attributed to Benedetto Antelami . Under the statue is an inscription mentioning Tresseno —Dominum Oldradus de Trexeno , Pot ( estas ) Mediolani — and dated MCCXXXIII , 1233 , making it the oldest equestrian statue in Milan . Look , too for the iron horse rings on the wall below the relief , each of the rings held by a Visconti snake .
Idiom: make history (used idiomatically: yes)
He was on a visit to his mother 's home at Londubh , Poolewe , during a holiday from boarding school in Fort Augustus . Sentence on Ballantine , a first offender , was deferred until 12 March for background reports , but Sheriff Donald Booker Millburn said it was possible he would impose a jail sentence . The case made Scottish legal history as it was the first prosecution under Section 3A of the Road Traffic Act 1988 . The section , introduced on 1 July last year — less than two weeks before the accident — made it an offence for a driver to cause death by careless driving and while over the drink drive limit . The trial was being viewed as a test case for the law , but Isobel Brydie , co - chairman of Scotland 's Campaign Against Irresponsible Drivers , said that as Ballantine had been as convicted on the dangerous driving charge it did not test the court 's response to the new section .
Idiom: by the back door (used idiomatically: yes)
On the last day of October , I returned to Bristol for my day visit , this time with no fraudulent feeling . I had or believed I had a secondary , and had every right to be there . I was pleased to be able to announce that I had followed many of their therapies , but fearfully expressed my alarm and disappointment that having religiously performed my visualizations , cancer may have returned by the back door . ‘ And what exactly were you visualizing?’ ‘ Oh , you know , the old burning white healing ball .
Idiom: make a clean break (used idiomatically: no)
Carr has taken a back seat since retiring because of persistent injuries in October 1988 . The open side flanker won just 11 Irish caps in a career that was constantly interrupted by knee problems , and was prematurely ended by injuries sustained in a border bomb blast . He made almost a clean break with the game , except for some local television work . Selection was the furthest thing from his mind when he was approached at the Scotland - Ireland game last season . He said : ' It was something I 'd never given any thought to , but it was nice to be asked , and when the Ulster Branch were happy to accept my nomination I was delighted to take up the offer .
Idiom: in the long term (used idiomatically: yes)
Many are empty and act as magnets for arsonists and vandals . Middlesbrough Council wants to buy up 200 properties to clear the area and make a fresh start . Yesterday 's meeting offered options regarding what should be done with the Rivers in the long term . Sheila McCarthy , of Grange Road , said many residents wanted to stay in the area . ‘ Many want to stay , but not in the same place we live in now,’ she said .
Idiom: on edge (used idiomatically: yes)
It 's best she 's told . ' ' At this stage ? ' She sat down on the edge of the worktop . ' I ca n't believe this . Are you sure he 's not faking ? '
Idiom: have a bash (used idiomatically: yes)
Oh . Okay for having a bash though . Right , thank you . Bye love .
Idiom: on the cards (used idiomatically: yes)
and Oxfam . Right . On the card , how often have you used or received items from the main counter during the last year , choosing from fifteen ? Less often . Right .
Idiom: to the tune of (used idiomatically: no)
She had a fake — a trick : just before the contest started she smeared her mouth well with butter . While the women were competing the men were Bowling for Nine - pins at the back of the inn . Then in the evening the fun continued inside the inn : drinking and Singing the Old Songs to the tune of the ‘ cordion’ . Folk - songs — many of them connected with the sea — were the chief items . There was also Stepping or Dancing .
Idiom: on ice (used idiomatically: yes)
In the tiny villages just one or two lights still burned . Twice we nearly drove into a horse and cart and we passed three lorries . When we finally stopped the van behind slid on the hard ice and narrowly missed colliding with us . We were in open country . ' Get out , ' said the bald man .
Idiom: watering hole (used idiomatically: yes)
Bought by BBC in 1989 ; closed by BBC in 1991 . 4 . BLITZ : Massively successful in the Groucho Club ( Soho media watering hole ) . Mostly about the Groucho Club . 5 .
Idiom: to say the least (used idiomatically: yes)
Drachenfels left her dressed in some revealing clothing ( revealing if she still had a body , that is ) to top the effect off . She will try desperately to use seductive charms to lure a male character into freeing her , telling a tragic tale of her spurning of Drachenfels and her long imprisonment , talking in a husky and seductive tone . The effect should be disturbing and bizarre , to say the least . Cell 82 g is also empty , as is 82i , but 82h contains a man wearing the insignia of a Cleric of Sigmar . His torment is that he is forced to face the etched face of a Daemonette carved into the wall opposite , which flicks out a long serrated fleshy tongue which rips into the man 's neck and chest .
Idiom: dead in the water (used idiomatically: yes)
Compaq figures NT will have a tough time on the server , so its server policy will either be in NetWare or SCO , sticking with the latter at least in the short term . Few hats hanging on OSF/1 peg Meanwhile , with SCO 's Open Desktop dead in the water as an operating system for ACE — the prospects for another operating system designed by committee , the Open Software Foundation 's OSF/1 , are now looking decidedly lacklustre . Electronic News has been doing the rounds of the Foundation sponsors and finds that only Digital Equipment Corp of the US and European sponsors is hanging its hat on OSF/1 for its flag ship Unix machines . IBM Corp has launched a version of OSF/1 , but only in the ultra low - volume mainframe version of AIX , but Groupe Bull SA is quite happy to add bits of Foundation technology to its Berkeley Unix brought up to Unix System V.3.2 level , and Hewlett - Packard Co is taking the same tack with HP - UX .
Idiom: on the level (used idiomatically: yes)
The story is of a civil rights leader who was born 25 years ago and it 's a day in his life . Each song is an idea of what 's going on inside the story . Really , it 's what Blaze have always been about : we want to see every nationality come together on a peaceful level . We 're trying to bring the knowledge of black history out so that people know where we 're coming from and have no reason for prejudice and fear . ' Blaze present this knowledge in the sweetest , most delicious manner they can .
Idiom: think twice (used idiomatically: yes)
Fie , Mr Brittlebank , for chiding Miss Phillips on her perfectly correct , and indeed elegant , use of the subjunctive mood . It is dispiriting that few people now seem to comprehend the subtleties of English grammar , and even more dispiriting that the ignorant should presume , publicly and erroneously , to correct the well informed . It is probably pointless to suggest that Mr Brittlebank now seek ( not seeks ) the guidance on English usage so clearly denied him hitherto , but I hope he will think twice before presuming upon your columns on this particular subject in future . I refer to the letter ( 29th January ) from the Athenaeum regarding the spelling of the word ‘ surely’ . Perhaps Private Eye does not penetrate such an august reading room .
Idiom: go hand in hand (used idiomatically: yes)
A CHARTER FOR THE REGIONS OUR goal as socialists is to equalise interests and opportunities across Europe . Growing European integration has gone hand - in - hand with the growth of regional and sub — national movement . Both reflect the declining power of the nation - state to control modern economic forces . It is essential that development of the Single Market does not compound regional inequalities , causing massive emigration from poorer regions and inefficient ‘ overheating’ in richer regions .
Idiom: from scratch (used idiomatically: yes)
Spending too much time on education may actually endanger one 's career as less time is available for more effective ways of achieving success . As long as this biased reward system persists , motivating teaching staff to improve the training of medical students will be difficult . Starting from scratch has a certain attraction but is hardly an option in countries , such as Britain , which have long established medical schools . So how could change be achieved in existing medical schools ? In her article Stella Lowry provides several examples .
Idiom: to boot (used idiomatically: yes)
THE AMAZING HANGING PC Q : I have a Corona Data Systems XT with two 360Kb floppy drives , a 10Mb Tandon TM502 hard disk and 512Kb of RAM . It has worked well until recently , when it failed to boot to drive C and this message came up on the screen : System ROM Version 4.29C Testing complete 512 K Memory installed 496 K Memory available to DOS The drive A light remained on and the keyboard was locked .
Idiom: break the back of (used idiomatically: yes)
David McErlain , the chairman of Anglo , said over 300 potential bidders had shown interest in the eight operations . He said Anglo expects the sales to be completed by Christmas . ‘ These disposals will break the back of our £ 200 m bridging finance , taken on to fund the bid,’ said Mr McErlain . He added that the group would be making further disposals in the new year , including Coalite 's North Sea oil interests and its contract hire operations . Hargreaves Quarries is expected to excite the most interest .
Idiom: down the drain (used idiomatically: yes)
I would retain my commission in the Dutch Navy , and be posted to the far east to be stationed in Java.’ ‘ You would have to leave C 's Circus . That 's an awful lot of training down the drain.’ ‘ I must think of the future . The war ca n't go on forever.’
Idiom: hold someone's hand (used idiomatically: no)
Mark Twain had written somewhere : We are all mad at night . He got out of bed silently , in the dark . So many times he had padded across this bedroom to go to Abigail that he knew it perfectly in the dark , only requiring to hold his hands out before him and , like a blind man , feel the bevelled comer of the wardrobe , the lacquered wicker of a chair back , the top of the radiator , cold at this hour , the glass sphere of the door knob . Outside on the landing he put a light on . Abigail 's door was ajar and he went into the room , bringing a segment of light with him , a triangle that fell short a yard from her cot .
Idiom: dead meat (used idiomatically: yes)
You die real slow in the jungle . Son of a beetch . Miguelito tell El Jefe you real dead meat.’ Trent suspected a trap . He heard Miguelito pushing his way through the bush to his left .
Idiom: do the honours (used idiomatically: yes)
At least Trevor Proby had a reasonable excuse , he was decorating Pahdra Singh 's house . ( I wonder why Pahdra wanted an antique and bric - a - brac dealer to hang his wallpaper ? ) In the end , Lonsdale and Pugh 's usual crew did the honours and old Pugh played ‘ You 'll Never Walk Alone’ on the organ . Even I shed a tear when the coffin was carried from the church to a recording of Jack Charlton 's ‘ Geordie Sunday’ . Mrs Mentle and I both felt it was touching of Pugh to place a sticker in the back of the hearse which read ‘ Do n't follow me , follow Athletico Whaddon.’
Idiom: on the square (used idiomatically: no)
Bad vibes an bodies burning nonsense in de atmosphere De tanks dey work so hard fe build Spill blood on Tiananmen Square . Leff , right , all over people crying out fe change Reform or revolution somehow tings mus rearrange
Idiom: in for a penny, in for a pound (used idiomatically: yes)
That was more than possible . Meredith peered into a couple of loose - boxes and called ' Mr Fearon ? ' but only found herself staring into surprised equine faces . She hesitated , thought ' In for for a penny , In for a pound ! ' and began to walk towards the ramshackle bungalow behind the stables . There was a field just behind it containing red and white poles and some painted oil drums . They lay about higgledy - piggledy but were obviously intended to be set up as practice jumps .
Idiom: come to a head (used idiomatically: yes)
If you have the country parks and already there is no hunting on those parts open to the public there 's just about another hundred acres , that 's the Victoria Park or thereabouts in total . But that 's not the end of it the Director of Property has very kindly plotted where this land is and I will show you the plan , the yellow spots are the land in hand . If the map of Leicestershire were a face it would have a few small pimples on its chin and they would take fifty years to come to a head . If you draw a line from Loughborough down the A six , through the city of Leicester and on to Market Harborough to the east of that line , in that part of the county where most of the hunting takes place , there is one small piece of land , less than one acre , somewhere near Thorpe Satchfield which we actually control . As I said , it would take fifty years before any decision we reach here , even made an impression on the one percent of land we do own .
Idiom: left and right (used idiomatically: yes)
He was n't even offering her a helping hand , she brooded . But perhaps it was just as well , and at least the physical toll the climb was taking had , temporarily at least , driven other sensations from her body . But at last they reached the top and set out along a ridge under the clear blue sky , valleys running steeply to left and right of them . After a while , to Robbie 's relief , Fen threw off his knapsack , suggesting they stop and eat their sandwiches . She had been too proud to announce her fatigue and growing hunger .
Idiom: think the world of (used idiomatically: yes)
it 's really strange is n't it ? yeah , it is , yeah And yet , you know , he 's , he 's marv , he 's super and they think the world of him Just that mum It 's a lot more when they were
Idiom: rough edges (used idiomatically: yes)
As far as the material goes , his is more than equal to that served up by the aforementioned pair . He writes catchy tunes with lavish pop hooks and huge slices of melody . Rough edges are few and far between . Having said that , most of the songs on his latest long player , ' Blink Of An Eye ' , sound very familiar . He uses a formula which has been tried and tested on several occasions in the past .
Idiom: to all intents and purposes (used idiomatically: yes)
Visitor attractions at off - peak times or in off - season periods are unlikely to have any significant effect in reducing peaks , but they may help to spread the loading on staff time . We therefore need to seek alternative methods of information provision at these times , through better orientation , interpretation , labelling , information leaflets , novel technological methods , and through the use of those staff who are on duty as information providers . At present , the first RBG Edinburgh staff contact which the general public has on entering the Garden is with the Constabulary — to all intents and purposes identical in appearance with the Police Force . The image which our visitors perceive is not consonant with the one which we need to project in order to enhance our public profile and to promote public awareness and understanding of our inter - linked scientific and horticultural objectives . To a large extent , garden visitors are self - policing , with very limited vandalism or public order problems .
Idiom: open someone's eyes (used idiomatically: yes)
Please.’ He felt hands tugging at his blindfold . ‘ Look upon us,’ the voice said and the agent opened his eyes . ‘ Oh God,’ he whispered as he stared at his captors , his eyes bulging madly . He gaped round the small room , realizing that he was suspended from a ceiling only fifteen feet high .
Idiom: over the top (used idiomatically: yes)
I daresay she rang him to arrange a date and Dr. Lorrimer did n't like it . I never saw a man more white . Like death he looked , with a handkerchief held up against his face all bloodied , and his black eyes glaring over the top of it . And Mr. Middlemass was turkey red . Embarrassed , I daresay .
Idiom: on the shelf (used idiomatically: yes)
That 's right . I could n't see them and I was and you had to walk round the bread shelves twice and they were right on the bottom shelf when I eventually tracked them down and they had the hot cross buns on the shelves . Mm . Well they had a lot of erm Christmas stuff left anyway .
Idiom: break someone's heart (used idiomatically: yes)
The entire structure depends on denial of pain in the person with whom they are dealing . Their judgement might be affected . A nineteenth century Rothschild is reported as saying , ‘ Throw out that beggar , he 's breaking my heart’ . Any sensitive bank manager must have the same feeling . This denial of pain extends to all aspects of life within the work place .
Idiom: black and blue (used idiomatically: yes)
On his return he was taken to the sleeping cell and , following the usual routine , was locked in , but on the next day the cell was empty ; he had broken the stone to which the iron grid was fixed . Connolly gave himself up to the police and was charged with damage to the cell amounting to ten shillings . Dr. Goldsmith and Dr. Phillips were asked to examine him because he said he had been kicked and jumped on by the labour master , and that his body was black and blue ; no marks of violence were in fact found . Dr. Goldsmith 's comment was that if the man was physically fit to break out of his cell , he should have been fit to do the lighter task of breaking stones . Connolly was sentenced to one day 's imprisonment , after which he applied for a summons against the labour master for alleged assault .