Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: keep a low profile (used idiomatically: yes)
Guests had been arriving for some time , for they had heard cars coming and going , but she had n't met any yet . Not that she minded . She knew Jonas expected her to be present , but , in the circumstances , she felt it might be best to keep a low profile and retire early . Glancing up at the sky , she saw the storm clouds gathering on the horizon . It would be good to clear the air , but she hoped it would hold off until after the party .
Idiom: hit the headlines (used idiomatically: no)
He 's spent most of his life teaching . He was the head of fine art at the school of art for 20 years until he gave it all up to paint fulltime . He hit the headlines when he won the prestigious Singer and Friedlander Sunday Times Watercolour Prize in 1990 , with a painting of the Malverns called January Bonfires . An exhibtion of his work is on at the Midlands Arts Gallery and you can also see his work at the Malvern Festival at the end of May. He says it is natural for an artist to be concerned with the environment , as he 's exposed to it so often when working outside .
Idiom: face to face (used idiomatically: yes)
An Irish TD will probably have been born in his constituency and reside there . He may well have attracted public attention initially by excelling in hurley or Gaelic football , and have achieved some prominence as a county councillor . He will attach great importance to face - to - face meetings and so will his constituents . He will be on first - name terms with many of them , and if he fails to contact his supporters individually in the course of an election campaign he will risk losing their votes . These extraordinarily close ties between TD and constituents are not spontaneous or disinterested .
Idiom: night and day (used idiomatically: yes)
When Madeleine offered him a cigarette , he hesitated , then took one . Thérèse glanced away in disdain . No wonder enclosed nuns had to pray night and day for priests when they were so worldly . Madeleine pushed a green onyx ashtray within his reach . You 'll have to forgive me , Father , but I ca n't repress my curiosity .
Idiom: make history (used idiomatically: yes)
Dayflower a good bet DAYFLOWER a strong finishing fifth in the Newmarket 1000 gns , may find conditions more to her liking at the Curragh tomorrow and I make her the selection for the Irish ‘ 1000’ . Dayflower made history last week at York when she became the first Dubai trained runner to win in England and 31-year - old trainer Indian Satish Seewar will be hoping for a similar landmark in Ireland . Dayflower has been supplemented for tomorrow 's race as has Felawnah who was fourth at Newmarket and should run well under Willie Carson . Ajfan third in the Newmarket race will also come into the reckoning and Dermot Weld thinks highly of Asema who won on her seasonal debut at the Curragh last month .
Idiom: lay odds (used idiomatically: yes)
Educated — oh , yes . University , well we know that — you were there with Billy . Have n't gone much further back but I 'd lay odds on a comfortable middle - class upbringing ; do n't know for sure , though . Definitely a perennial student who never grew up . Never accepted responsibility .
Idiom: make a meal of (used idiomatically: yes)
Mr. Kirkwood That is helpful . I do not want to make a meal of this , but the point has obviously been well made . If Ministers were tempted to give undertakings to the Committee , on which unfortunately I could not serve because I was dealing with other orders such as the Scottish seed potato order at the time , what has happened is a bit below the belt . I hope that the Minister will reassure us that the fact that some of these orders have not been considered by the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments will not happen again .
Idiom: one of those things (used idiomatically: no)
And for very good if slightly mean - spirited reasons . I mean , could one do the Tesco superstore , pick up the bedding begonias and the kids from their respective nurseries , shell peas for the boss 's wife and remove the rotary drier from its rotospike so as not to offend the neighbours who 've stuck a Sky dish up against your patio view , whilst obsessed by lust ? I 'm asking … could you do any one of those things as well as eat , sleep , do it a lot , and phone your mother , if you were permanently in the chemical state induced by falling in love ? To put it another way : when the cat is on heat ( which she has n't been since the vet gave her the unkindest cut of all ) , nevertheless when she was , she had very little time for chasing moths hanging unsubtly round the fridge or cuddling up for a neck scratch . She was out cruising for a bruising from morning till night , and when she was apprehended soliciting for trade up the high street and gated for the evening , she spent it flat up against the back room window , flashing her underparts at any passing Harry , Dick or certainly Tom , and making the most loud and ear - curdling noises by way of enticement .
Idiom: all over the place (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ We were n't in helicopters ourselves — that was just Steve 's band and Eric 's band , because they were going straight back to Chicago . We all ended up staying at this inn about five miles down the road , and in the morning I was woken up really early by a phone call from Andrew Love , one of the Memphis Horns , who told me there 'd been an accident , and he was just checking to see if I was in my room . Nobody knew where anyone was , and there were rumours flying about all over the place . So I turned on the TV to find the news , but they had n't found out who had been on board yet ‘ Everybody was just completely shook , all the musicians , all the crew , and it 's been pretty much that way ever since — everybody 's still shook .
Idiom: in the short run (used idiomatically: yes)
Part , at least , of Ho 's enlightenment was the approximation and future projection of political power in Vietnam , the need to maintain the appeal to Vietnamese patriotism , and , most of all , a temporary but overwhelming necessity for Chinese support . By the rime Ho had been released by the Chinese in September 1943 the US was beginning to make its major contribution to the war against Japan and various strategies were being considered for a drive on Canton or Hanoi . In either case principally Chinese armies would have been involved and , in the short run at least , Vietnam 's political future seemed to lie in Chinese hands . The Chinese , for their part , needed reliable intelligence on conditions in Vietnam — some genuine Vietnamese support , too , if they could get it — but not simply that which was promised by émigrés who had lived in China for years and who had little or no contact with or contemporary knowledge of Vietnam . While he was in Chinese captivity , and apart from writing poems in classical Chinese ( some of which , while they may not have been of the highest order classically , are nevertheless moving and rather beautiful ) Ho had also translated Dr Sun Yat Sen 's modern political classic the San Min Chu I into Vietnamese and this expedient flattery of China and Chinese continued after Ho 's release .
Idiom: think twice (used idiomatically: yes)
I have two young children , so my wife Denise does n't work and I have a £ 50,000 mortgage . ‘ Luckily , I won £ 60,000 in 1991 and we 've been digging into that.’ But Ralph did n't think twice about returning to the school , nicknamed the Killing Fields because so many fledgling careers are buried there with only 40 tour cards on offer . Ralph , who first went to the school with Ian Woosnam in 1976 , said : ‘ It 's almost impossible to play your natural game , there is so much pressure . ‘ I have hit shots this week I have n't seen in a long time .
Idiom: two a penny (used idiomatically: yes)
Portuguese , spoken officially , fades into Kikongo , Kibundu and other African languages which finally all mix together into Angolan slang . A young girl selling sugar doughnuts on a street corner is symbolic of the threshold , where one of Angola 's economies , the official , meets the other , the parallel . Her freshly baked treat goes for 100 Kwanzas , about £ 2 at the legal exchange rate but just two pence on the open market . The Angolan government , increasingly looking to free market policies to revive the economy , last month joined the International Monetary Fund in Washington , and says , as it has for the past three years , that a devaluation of the Kwanza and the lifting of controls on many goods is imminent . Markets like Rock Santeiro did it long ago .
Idiom: follow in someone's footsteps (used idiomatically: yes)
' You 'd better make sure that she does , Jack . You 're not doing it for me , you 're doing it for her . She 's so damned intent on following in Chrissie 's footsteps … do you want to see her end up in a box , as well ? ' ' There 's no call for that kind of talk , ' Ashdown said , clearly hurt , but Joe did n't back off . ' No ? ' he said .
Idiom: man and boy (used idiomatically: yes)
We took them home in jam jars . Hardly anyone comes here now . Way over there , a man and his boy walk a dog . They keep it on a lead , away from the sheep . Down there , the old man potters with his cabbages .
Idiom: take someone's word for it (used idiomatically: yes)
I want it to wipe in , though , and not just appear , so I 've chosen a growing rectangle to do the job . That 's it , my short movie is complete , and , once the actors and backgrounds have been sorted out in their respective editors , it only takes a matter of ten minutes to assemble the final movie . It 's a pity we ca n't animate the final movie for you to see , but take my word for it — and the editor 's — the results are certainly superb . Animation Works Interactive is the kind of program that will make you want to go out and buy a Multimedia PC upgrade kit!. THE SOFTWARE MAGAZINE : REVIEW £ 1 ISSUE £ 1
Idiom: money talks (used idiomatically: yes)
I have recently returned from the tropical rainforests of South East Asia where the almost negligible cutting down of trees by ' native peoples ' caused no real destruction over millions of years . Now unscrupulous logging companies assisted by corrupt officials are destroying forests at the rate of 50 million acres a year . Money - talks I disagree with your directive to ' pay up cheerfully'(NI 185 ) when taking photographs of people in the Third World . I think this reinforces a beggar mentality which does not help the photo subject and encourages a form of prostitution .
Idiom: have a few (used idiomatically: yes)
He waved to Adam to turn off the lights . Adam grinned , his blackness gone as danger touched him . He gunned the engine when he only had a few metres to go , felt the Jeep claw at the hard ground and hurtle forward . Curly Top dived out of the way , grabbing for his revolver as Adam drove past . Go , Marcus .
Idiom: go straight (used idiomatically: yes)
About half past nine was n't it ? Mm . I mean , we 'd just gone straight away well in fact , we fell asleep down here that 's why we went . You did ! Mm .
Idiom: presence of mind (used idiomatically: no)
Sheldukher grabbed the carrying case and followed with Postine . The Doctor took a last look around . With his usual presence of mind he nipped back and picked up Sheldukher 's hard copy map of the planet . He ran out into the companionway . The heat and the smoke were almost too much for him .
Idiom: slip through the net (used idiomatically: yes)
In 1663 an Act of Charles II had placed a partial ban on the importation of foreign cattle to England ; the ban became total in 1666 and permanent in 1680 . In Scotland , Irish imports were banned , and after the Union in 1707 the total ban on European imports extended to Scotland and at the same time free trade between England and Scotland was allowed . Prohibition of imports continued , in theory if not in practice , until 1842 , though many European cattle did manage to slip through the net . During the eighteenth century the population of Britain as a whole doubled and politicians and farmers began to worry about how to feed the people . The nineteenth - century agricultural historian Youatt calculated that in the second half of the eighteenth century every Londoner purchased an average of half a pound of meat a day — more than twice as much as the average in Paris or Brussels .
Idiom: off the wall (used idiomatically: no)
Damn idiot do n't trust no bitch , bitch , bitch , bitch . No , is n't He 's got it take it off the wall . By the way , I 'm recording this . Oh yeah , erm can I erm use a pen I need to write down on the log , on the log . shit it you wanna know , I give you it .
Idiom: odds and ends (used idiomatically: yes)
But , I repeat , Dostoevsky wanted the cap for its own sake . The overlooked hood in the newspaper scanned by the parajournalist would not have done equally well , nor would the cudgel . The cap is comparable with , while absolutely distinguishable from , the broken horn comb and other odds and ends — the disjunctive flotsam — of Crime and Punishment . On one level it is yet another accident , and on a second level it is inevitable , it must be so because it belongs here and nowhere else , as the foreign restaurant bill belongs to a novel about human birds of passage , and as the whistle belongs to a novel , in fact the only late Dostoevsky novel , with no children in it but haunted by the toys of absent innocence and peace : the governor of ‘ our province ’ where these crazy terrible events take place was disappointed in love as a young man and consoled himself by making a paper theatre with curtains , actors , audience , orchestra , conductor — the lot . Then he wrote a novel and sent it to a magazine which rejected it .
Idiom: in the long run (used idiomatically: yes)
People describe me as ‘ hysterical ' ; this only makes me feel worse . Sometimes I go out and pick up strange men in clubs because that seems to fit the self - image that I 've adopted — I do n't know if that makes sense . But in the long run it only makes me feel worse about myself . I do n't know if I could ever have a relationship , the way I feel about my body . I 've never even managed to get through a job interview , even if it 's a woman doing the interviewing ; I just have this feeling that she is looking at me and judging me for all the wrong reasons .
Idiom: go overboard (used idiomatically: yes)
Senior backbencher Sir Marcus Fox said : ‘ There is a feeling he has been hounded and forced out of office.’ And that was not good for relations between Parliament and the press , he warned . But Hugh Dykes , MP for Harrow East , said : ‘ I hope politicians will not go overboard and seek to bring in tough laws to curb the press . ‘ Despite the excesses of some tabloids , freedom of the press is sacrosanct and should remain so.’ Shadow Heritage Secretary Bryan Gould said he was right to quit as he could no longer perform his duties .
Idiom: break someone's heart (used idiomatically: yes)
" The old , old fashion " and " the older fashion yet " are the culmination of a chain of verbal echoes which begin , in Chapter 8 , with the mention of Paul 's having " a strange , old - fashioned , thoughtful way " , and which develop from a whimsical sign of his premature aging to a portent of his premature death . From this high point of religiosity we descend to an ironic concluding sentence , recalling another leitmotiv which makes its first appearance in passage [ 3]:[6]"Dear me , dear me ! To think , " said Miss Tox , bursting out afresh that night , as if her heart were broken , " that Dombey and Son should be a Daughter after all ! " And directly after this , at the beginning of Chapter 17 , there is another abrupt change of tone:[7]Captain Cuttle , in the exercise of that surprising talent for deep - laid and unfathomable scheming , with which ( as is not unusual in men of transparent simplicity ) he sincerely believed himself to be endowed by nature , had gone to Mr Dombey 's house on the eventful Sunday , winking all the way as a vent for his superfluous sagacity , and had presented himself in the full lustre of the ankle - jacks before the eyes of Towlinson ( I ) . Hearing from that individual , to his great concern , of the impending calamity , Captain Cuttle , in his delicacy , sheered off again confounded ; merely handing in the nosegay as a small mark of his solicitude , and leaving his respectful compliments for the family in general , which he accompanied with an expression of his hope that they would lay their heads well to the wind under existing circumstances , and a friendly intimation that he would " look up again " tomorrow(2 ) .
Idiom: on edge (used idiomatically: yes)
The dolphins that live in the large , silty , turbid rivers of Asia and South America are strange , almost mythical creatures with long sensitive beaks , small near-blind eyes , and broad short flippers . They show features once considered primitive , but many scientists now consider them to be highly specialised . Their story is one of the saddest , as two species , the Indus River dolphin and the Yangtze River dolphin ( baiji ) , are on the edge of extinction , and their continued survival seems unlikely . The survival of the other species of river dolphin is also precarious and to a certain extent unknown , as accurate figures on population numbers are lacking . No one knows whether river dolphins were once more abundant or whether their numbers have always been low because of their restrictive and specialised habitat .
Idiom: read between the lines (used idiomatically: yes)
No . No . But goi reading between the lines , you can usually have a a rough working idea Oh yes he obviously likes it better than when he was at er at that erm what do they call themselves ? Oh I ca n't remember now .
Idiom: under fire (used idiomatically: yes)
A Denmark deal could pave the way for a successful second Danish referendum next May. That could lead to full ratification of the Maastricht treaty by Britain shortly afterwards . Delors under student fire RIGHT - WING anti - Europe students ambushed EC Commission president Jacques Delors yesterday as he received an honorary degree from Edinburgh University . The students , who call themselves the EC Unwelcoming Committee shouted : ' Its your slump , we wo n't pay . '
Idiom: carry the can (used idiomatically: no)
‘ British tourists do not realise that most muggers here carry guns and do not hesitate to use them , ’ says Barry Jolly , chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in Orlando . He was backed by the Foreign Office which is advising visitors to America to follow police advice and not resist muggers . ‘ People should carry a few dollars which they can hand over . The rest should be in travellers ’ cheques which can be replaced , ’ says a spokesman . Meanwhile , despite US murders hitting a record 23,700 last year , Disney World continues to do its best to distance itself from the disaster unfolding down the road .
Idiom: way to go (used idiomatically: no)
Clive Nelson THE Queen Mother will not be attending Princess Anne 's wedding to Commander Tim Laurence at Balmoral on Saturday because it is feared the 1,000-mile round trip would be too much for her . ‘ It 's a long way to go for a 45-minute service and a reception — even if you 're not 92 years old,’ said one of her aides , who insisted that her absence was not intended as a snub . Instead , Anne and Tim are expected to call at the Queen Mother 's London home , Clarence House , on their return from Scotland . News of the Queen Mum 's absence sparked a health scare but staff members stressed that she was ‘ perfectly well’ .
Idiom: slippery slope (used idiomatically: yes)
It does not need great intelligence or ‘ professionalism’ to realise that the dispersal of those kinds of books is not the same thing as clearing popular fiction . But , as we shall see in a minute , that was exactly what was happening . It is not clear whether the transition from one quite understandable activity to another that would have made the old commercial librarians blush even to contemplate ( one thinks of Day 's library ticket with its ‘ Scarce books and books out of print carefully searched for’ ) was simply a question of the slippery slope in a semi - literate world . A half - understood commercialism seems to have permeated the library schools where readers are referred to as ‘ customers’ . Armed with this perspective , library staff may perhaps be more likely to respond to the specious logic of their political masters , eager to turn an honest penny as long as it will cause controversy and save money from the Westminster rate - cappers .
Idiom: at sea (used idiomatically: yes)
On Thursday delegates approved a resolution calling for a two - year ban on dumping radioactive wastes in the sea . And the following day Britain lost its battle to impose the burden of scientific proof on those who oppose radioactive dumping . The two - year moratorium is not binding , and Britain , which is responsible for 90 per cent of all radioactive waste dumped at sea , has already said that it will not comply with the ban . The moratorium was a compromise , suggested by Spain , off whose coast Britain dumps its waste . Originally two Pacific island countries Kiribati and Nauru , who fear Japan 's plans to dispose of radioactive waste near their shores , tabled a binding amendment adding radioactive waste to the convention 's annex of banned substances .
Idiom: make history (used idiomatically: yes)
He says he 's offering £ 10,000 reward , he wants to know who 's behind the attacks , not just who carried them out . The garage owner is also installing more sophisticated video surveillance equipment and alarms to help prevent a repeat of last nights arson attack . The Queen will make history tomorrow when she attends a unique church dedication service . She 'll join with Britain 's protestant and catholic leaders at a brand new city church which will be run jointly by all the main christian denominations . Mike Rowbottom has been looking at the history of this remarkable experiment in Christian co - operation .
Idiom: with a vengeance (used idiomatically: yes)
One element of his appeal related to the right to be heard in an oral planning hearing . The 1962 Planning Act upheld the right of any applicant to have their case heard at an oral hearing , but the 1976 Planning Act made this a discretionary matter for An Bord Pleanala to decide . The opposition to Raybestos then appeared to die down for the following year , only to return with a vengeance in 1980 . When the factory started up the women 's group dissipated . ‘ It was one thing to challenge it before it set up and another thing once they 'd got going’ , a member said .
Idiom: in the hole (used idiomatically: yes)
But if you think that the $ 2~trillion figure is already huge , the latest estimates by my research consultancy RGE ~ Monitor suggest that total losses on loans made by US financial firms and the fall in the market value of the assets they hold ( things like mortgage - backed securities ) will peak at about $ 3.6~trillion . US banks and broker dealers are exposed to about half of this figure , or $ 1.8~trillion ; the rest is borne by other financial institutions in the US and abroad . The capital backing the banks ’ assets was only $ 1.4~trillion last fall , leaving the US banking system some $ 400~billion in the hole , or close to zero even after the government and private - sector recapitalization of such banks . Another $ 1.5~trillion is needed to bring banks ’ capital back to pre - crisis level , which is needed to resolve the credit crunch and restore lending to the private sector . So , the US banking system is effectively insolvent in the aggregate ; most of the British banking system looks insolvent , too , as do many continental European banks .
Idiom: take the floor (used idiomatically: yes)
Moreover , other Bolshevik leaders have taken the floor in a series of meetings , and also made an appeal to immediate insurrection .
Idiom: play games (used idiomatically: no)
Of ~ course , it 's not only the number of trumps that determine whether one plays a suit game or not .