Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: under fire (used idiomatically: yes)
At worst frauds . Healers who use their hands rather than pills and potions are still treated with scepticism . Even though their skills may date back thousands of years , faith - healers and spiritual healers continually come under fire from the medical profession and lay people alike . But one practitioner , Eileen Reilly , says that while some unscrupulous healers bring the area into disrepute , there is evidence to show that it does work . Eileen , who is based in Birkenhead , Wirral , mainly practices reflexology which treats ailments through foot massage .
Idiom: have a few (used idiomatically: yes)
Do n't ask me where he got it from . We had a bit of a play about with it . The only problem was that we nearly had a few fatalities . After a day 's work , it was a bit of light relief to use it . There was no shortage of volunteers or helpers .
Idiom: foot the bill (used idiomatically: yes)
These tend to be the more expensive home improvements ( or , at least , the ones for which people borrow money ) . You could also add things like a new porch or garage , improved security measures , or make improvements to interior decor . Footing the bill Small - scale improvements can often be paid for out of savings , but if you are spending more substantial amounts , it might be better to borrow the money and keep your savings for regular maintenance work . Many of the large home - improvement companies can arrange a loan for you , or you may be able to arrange a loan or overdraft yourself .
Idiom: eat someone alive (used idiomatically: yes)
Your old man started out OK . When he got called up he was good as the best of them . First time I see him in his uniform , he looked that lovely I could 've eaten him alive . It was thinking too much , about the fighting , what did for him , got him all confused . It was a kind of illness , in the head.’
Idiom: fly the flag (used idiomatically: yes)
5 . It is uncontested that , as Community law stands at present , competence to determine the conditions for the registration of fishing boats is vested in the member states . The court confirmed this in Pesca Valentia Ltd. v. Minister for Fisheries and Forestry ( Case 223/86)[1988]E.C.R. 83 , 107 , para . 13 , in which it held that , although the Community regulations on fisheries referred to fishing vessels ‘ flying the flag’ of a member state or ‘ registered’there , they left those terms to be defined in the legislation of the member states . 6 . This does not mean , however , that the member states may exercise that competence in complete liberty without regard to the principles of Community law .
Idiom: up for grabs (used idiomatically: yes)
The argument is simple and reflexive : if the body of this book has been about helping teachers to be more able to deal with uncertainty , conflict and change — in a word , to become better learners — then the tail asserts that the core of their job should be to help young people to become good learners in their turn . I believe this must be the heart of education , not just because every human being will have to cope with the unexpected , with disruption to routine and the loss of what is dear , but because it is singularly appropriate to the current generation of young people who find themselves growing up in a world that is characterized by instability . They are born under the ancient Chinese curse , ‘ May you live in an interesting time’ , a time in which values , lifestyles , relationships , employment are up for grabs , and in which traditional answers to the question ‘ How to live?’ are weak and conflicting . In such a time anyone who lacks the courage to be curious and questioning , the capacity to grow into new competencies , and the confidence to communicate and collaborate with others , is severely handicapped , and his or her educators are guilty of gross dereliction of duty . ( I am reminded of a passage in a book by Doris Lessing , where she says : ‘ I want this court to condemn Volyen utterly , root and branch , for failing to instruct its young in the rules that its own psychologists and anthropologists have extracted from research and study : for failing to arm its youth with information that would enable it — the youth — to resist being swept away with any system of ideas that happens to be available’ . )
Idiom: pull strings (used idiomatically: no)
' In any case — ' He looked back at Siban . ' It is Artai I serve , and not Burun . ' ' The whole world knows who pulls Artai 's strings , ' Siban said sourly . ' There is no one with the power to gainsay him . ' Alexei took out his knife .
Idiom: have a heart (used idiomatically: no)
His crime-and-punishment existence is a process of endless self-monitoring : What Razumikhm had just said about Porfiry also disturbed him . ‘ I 'll have to play the sick ma act with him too , ’ he thought , white in the face , his heart pounding , ‘ and I 'll have to do it naturally . But the most natural thing of all would be to do nothing . Make a point of doing nothing .
Idiom: hum and haw (used idiomatically: yes)
These days Airlift is quite a big and respectable business , and , judging by the tans of the proprietors , a healthy one . Mushroom is respectable too , I should add — but we do n't go in for tans , we 're too worried about skin cancer . Everyone else I met at the LIBF was welcoming , even when I was humming and hawing over buying singles or two copies of a small number of titles . Coffee and croissants And then back to Nottingham on The Bookseller coach .
Idiom: make waves (used idiomatically: no)
If you missed the last two issues but want to enter the competition , you can send off for vouchers 1 and 2 . Cut out and keep this voucher , together with vouchers 1 and 2 from our previous issues , and look out for the final one next month Making waves Microwave ovens have come a long way since they first appeared in our kitchens about 20 years ago , but how do you know which type will suit your style of cooking ? Annette Yates puts some of the latest models to the test
Idiom: go straight (used idiomatically: yes)
the intention of , the day 's over before Aye , what what 's what 's your er what 's your sleeping like , is that quite good or is it broken ? No , well mostly toilet in the middle of the night but I go straight back to bed and go back to sleep again . No problem getting to sleep again , No .
Idiom: a hair's breadth (used idiomatically: yes)
How gauche and transparent she must seem . The thought made her anger flare up again . ‘ Of course I do,’ he replied , relaxing and stretching his long legs out in front of him , so that they were within a hair 's breadth of brushing against hers . ‘ In my profession , it pays to have an eye for art . Besides,’ he shrugged , ‘ I collect paintings .
Idiom: what's your poison? (used idiomatically: yes)
' Well , I think that 's your decision . ' ' Frank , get Mr Newman a drink . What 's your poison ? Then you can tell me what you want . ' Newman thanked him , shook his head , sat in the chair Hauser ushered him to with a wave of his large hand .
Idiom: in living memory (used idiomatically: yes)
The same four offences were prominent south of the border , though there the police revealed a propensity for more serious charges , including , by the end of the strike , 509 of unlawful assembly and 139 of riot . ( Many of these prosecutions were later to collapse . ) The authorities in England and Wales also brought over 600 charges under the Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act 1875 for ‘ watching and besetting’ premises , including the homes of working miners ; this was the first significant use of this section in living memory . When cases came to court , the police often dropped charges in return for binding - over orders , issued under an even more ancient statute , the Justices of the Peace Act 1361 . This did not require proof of any wrongdoing and involved the defendant undertaking , on pain of a financial penalty , either to keep the peace or to be of good behaviour , depending on how the matter was treated by the magistrates .
Idiom: in bed with (used idiomatically: no)
That 's why the workers ' weekly pennies went to pay men like Bobby to speak for them and that 's just what Bobby Keith could do best . He did n't always win , and occasionally he came a cropper — just as he 'd done at Masons ' gates a few days before . Now he was in bed with severe bruising , a sore throat and a dislocated left knee and being tended by Rachel . ‘ Sure you 're comfortable?’ she asked . ‘ No,’ he grumbled '
Idiom: follow suit (used idiomatically: yes)
Only this time , the opponents of culling would be armed with more evidence that such a cull is not justified on scientific grounds . On the other hand , if the government were unable to demonstrate any benefits of a cull to commercial fisheries , it would do nothing to placate fishermen . While South Africa ponders the results of its workshop and reevaluates its perceived need to cull Cape fur seals , Namibia would do well to follow suit . Namibia continues to kill these animals in what is still variously called a harvest or a cull . This year 's quota is 25,400 , composed of 23,400 pups and 2,000 adult males .
Idiom: throw in the towel (used idiomatically: yes)
Leeds need no telling that they were not as bad as the scoreline suggests but that matters little with only five games to play . The damage done to their morale could be irreparable . Howard Wilkinson , the manager who has revived a slumbering Yorkshire giant , offered a brave if predictable public stance —‘We're not throwing in the towel … if we win our last five matches it could be interesting’— but privately he must realise that an outstanding opportunity has been lost . With time running out , it was crucial that Leeds at least regained the leadership by taking a minimum of one point from a Manchester City team who had not scored in any of their previous four outings . On another day , Leeds ' performance might have been good enough to claim some reward .
Idiom: win the day (used idiomatically: yes)
Westland became the centre of a political storm between Michael Heseltine , then Defence Minister , and Leon Brittan , Secretary of State for Trade and Industry , over the form the rescue package should take . Heseltine was anxious to set up a link between Westland and a consortium of European helicopter companies , whereas the DTI was adamant the company should make up its own mind . There was a lot of emotive talk about the UK 's only helicopter company selling out to the Americans , but in the event the Sikorsky - Fiat minority involvement won the day and Heseltine resigned from the government . The political storm disguised the fundamental problems facing Westland which Cuckney , as chairman , and chief executive Hugh Stewart set about tackling . The work - force was pruned by two thousand people and a new management structure was introduced to reduce Westland 's dependence on helicopter sales and place greater emphasis on new technologies and components for the aerospace industry .
Idiom: take a bow (used idiomatically: yes)
farewell In October 1956 , the RAF bid farewell to the Lancaster . Stuart Taylor was lucky enough to be on RF325 as it took its last bow . IT FELL to RAF St Mawgan and to Coastal Command to fly the last - ever operational sortie by the Lancaster . A small number of Lanc GR.3s had been employed by the School of Maritime Reconnaissance ( SMR ) alongside the Air - Sea Warfare Development Unit ( AASWDU ) at St Mawgan .
Idiom: out of order (used idiomatically: yes)
is your hair thickener working ? I do n't use it That was out of order that Oh that was tight that moment get him back , is that spot cream working ?
Idiom: make the grade (used idiomatically: yes)
Gone cuckoo Mike Crouch WITH a meaningless tournament offering a first prize of $2 million , tennis finally made the grade as a cuckoo 's nest this week . And the players promptly set about taking over the asylum . The United States Davis Cup team are now insisting on John McEnroe being made captain next year .
Idiom: night and day (used idiomatically: no)
I do n't know it 's a dead end road so it 's called night and day is n't it ? The eye is it ? Yeah
Idiom: come a cropper (used idiomatically: yes)
MODERN VICTIMS Kathy Page 's Frankie Styne and the Silver Man ( Methuen , £ 13.99 ) might have been a bleak novel of misfit neighbours hiding from the world . In less imaginative hands , Liz — an unmarried and uncommunicative mum of a handicapped baby — would surely come a cropper . Likewise John , the horror - story writer neighbour whose face is disfigured by a livid birthmark . Both Liz 's social worker and John 's literary agent ( arguably life 's more serious victims make brisk efforts to smoke their recluses out of their antisocial cover .
Idiom: in light of (used idiomatically: yes)
The College was unable , during the dispute , to continue its ordinary programmes with Yorkshire and Derbyshire miners . While this might have been expected , neither did it explore alternative ways of allowing mineworkers to use its educational resources . The opportunity for a serious educational intervention was missed : a sad contrast to the rapid organisation of adult education lectures by Yorkshire WEA and Nottingham University during the 1926 miners ' lockout , especially in the light of the College 's unambiguous commitment to a working - class adult education that is independent and emancipatory , that analyses and seeks to explain the structures of inequality and power that operate in British society and elsewhere . Of more long - term concern is the degree to which the frontiers between trade union and other courses have or have not been broken down . The intention was always to develop the College as a learning community , which deliberately sought to emphasise the common experiences of working - class people through the full use of the residential setting by
Idiom: third time lucky (used idiomatically: yes)
Well , after answering questions on the Highway Code , Barry Silk told Roger he 's passed . Then it was brother Alan 's turn to get behind the wheel and he passed . Finally , after 180 gallons of water and three hundredweight of coal going through Jesse , Gerry Williams made it third time lucky . Now all three drivers would be zooming around Gloucestershire 's roads . Look out for them .
Idiom: go straight (used idiomatically: yes)
Ca n't th 'see he 's ill?’ She went close and bent over Midnight , scolding herself for ever having left him . She should have gone straight to Miss Phoebe . Explained . Begged for her help .
Idiom: thick and fast (used idiomatically: yes)
And the drive and the carriage and all the animal and the fruit and the gardens and every brick in every wall and every slate on every roof , all mine , every single tiny plant in my land , mine , mine . She sat down in a chair by a table and as she had done once in Michael Swinton 's kitchen , put her head down on her folded arms and burst into tears of passionate gratitude . Callers , suitably and sombrely attired , came thick and fast . The Rector and Mrs Chamberlin , Lady Pemberley , Mrs Burrows and Harry , a tribe of Langleys , George Langley on his own several times , and a host of others Alexandra had never seen , but to whom Aunt Emily had been a fixture for more than 50 years . They stayed only minutes , most of them , pressing her hand and uttering the easy ritual phrases of sympathy and then departing , leaving their cards in the hall until the salver seemed endlessly overflowing .
Idiom: hard cheese (used idiomatically: yes)
Norway also produces Gjetost , a sweet , dark brown , fudge - like cheese that should be pared or sliced very thinly . It can be used to accompany dishes of herrings and other pickled fish , and helps to offset the acidity of these foods . Of the French semi - hard cheeses , Chaumes , Pyrenees , Gaperon and Port Salut are probably the most famous . Chaumes and St Albray are washed rind , garage - type cheeses , having a firm , even - textured paste that oozes when ripe . The flavours of both cheeses are less powerful than the bouquets .
Idiom: fun and games (used idiomatically: yes)
1 Barely a fortnight away from their wedding a young couple offered to babysit the bride - to - be 's younger brother while her parents spent the evening out having a well - earned break from the wedding preparations . Alone together they fell to tender embraces that rapidly shifted up a gear to heavy petting , and before long they had retired to the girl 's bedroom for more adventurous fun and games . Only when they were both naked and in bed did the girl remember her mother 's final request , to put on a load of washing . Worried that leaving it in the basket might suggest that she had been up to no good , the girl ran downstairs starkers with her boyfriend in hot pursuit , playfully offering to help .
Idiom: first up (used idiomatically: no)
We retired to a hot bath and glimpsed them only briefly over a sweet trolley later at dinner . The next morning was drizzling , damp and miserable and our man and his party were not at breakfast . ‘ You 're not first up this morning,’ said the waiter . ‘ That other lot left at 6.30 to do The Five Sisters and The Saddle . We ate a leisurely breakfast and then drove to Skye to have some scones .
Idiom: above par (used idiomatically: yes)
In contrast with the power of a company to purchase its own shares in accordance with that Part , the power to issue redeemable equity shares has been little used and when redeemable shares are to be found they will normally be preference shares . If the terms of redemption merely provided for their redemption at par , their holders would be highly vulnerable ; for if interest rates fell since the date of issue it would clearly pay the company to redeem them and to borrow money at a lower rate of interest than the fixed dividend . This , following the House of Lords decision in Scottish Insurance v. Wilson & Clyde Coal Co was , in effect , done by capital reductions even though the shares were irredeemable and quoted at above par , for the Lords decided in that case and in Prudential Assurance v. Chatterley - Whitfield Collieries in the same year , that the courts had to confirm the reductions since the preference shareholders were being treated in strict accordance with their class rights . The obvious unfairness of this led to the practice of providing , on issues of non - participating preference shares by public companies , that on redemption or any return of capital the amount repaid should be tied to the average quoted price in the months before . This , so - called ‘ Spens formula,’ affords reasonable protection in the case of listed companies but preference shareholders in unquoted companies still remain at risk .
Idiom: by the same token (used idiomatically: yes)
In discussing identity formation at adolescence , Erikson posits that it is partly ‘ dependent on the process by which a society ( often through subsocieties ) identifies the young individual , recognising him as someone who had to become the way he is and who , being the way he is , is taken for granted . It seems clear to me that no such thing was happening to me , either at home or at school , the former structure being too self - absorbed to take me into account and the latter too rigid . When the process described by Erikson is successful , ‘ the community in turn feels ‘ recognised’ by the individual who cares to ask for recognition ; it can , by the same token , feel deeply — and vengefully — rejected by the individual who does not seem to care.’ My play was my last bid for recognition and the last occasion on which I was prepared to recognise the community in reciprocity . From then on , the school had as much reason as I did to feel rejected , and if they perceived my rejection as vengeful , they were right .
Idiom: game on (used idiomatically: no)
Two children ( the combatants ) each chose a ‘ soldier’ and held battle until one managed to chop off the head of his opponent . Often the winner could go into battle many times with the one sturdy ‘ soldier’ as there were some stems of the plantain which ( according to a veteran Uist player ) were ‘ like grizzled warriors and would knock out hundreds!’ It was a popular game on several of the Hebridean islands and though there were regional variations , this version is from the Rev. N. MacDonald who was recorded by the late Calum lain MacLean of the school of Scottish Studies in 1953 . Originally in Gaelic ( and here translated ) it gives a general account of the game which was played as follows : ‘ Well , we played it during the interval at school when I was a little boy .
Idiom: in the hole (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ Let 's go on Saturday and see.’ There was cub - hunting on Saturday on the next - door farm ; their father talked of going . The cob that pulled the cart on weekdays was brought in and cleaned up , the saddle softened with the yellow soap that stuck in the holes of the stirrup leathers . ‘ He ca n't stay there all winter,’ said Libby as they slipped out early , the house having been woken by their father getting up , trying to pull his boots on , shutting the dogs in the boiler shed so that they would not follow . There was a haze over the fields , a thin aqueous mist , turning the trees into one - dimensional blobs of blue grey colour .
Idiom: to boot (used idiomatically: yes)
Even the much - heralded shale - gas revolution is a lot of hype – similar to the gold rushes and stock bubbles of the past . Shale - gas wells deplete far more rapidly than conventional fields do . And they are environmentally dirty to boot . The United ~ States has developed many new low - carbon energy technologies , but other countries are currently far more intent , far - sighted , and decisive than the US to put these technologies to large - scale use . Politically , America is still the land of Big Oil .
Idiom: come of age (used idiomatically: yes)
Certainly , the phenomenon of a Black man bidding for the most powerful office in the world has raised , irreversibly , the expectations of Americans who , prior to Jackson 's candidacy , never even dreamed about accurate , or responsive , political representation . Indeed , the compelling personal history of Jesse Jackson must inspire the least powerful and most despised segments of our body politic . Born to an unwed teenage mother in South Carolina , Jackson came of age when no Black man or woman would ever request a public cup of coffee , or enter a public bathroom , or undertake to register to vote , without calculating the easily fatal risks attached to such a simple act . Jackson 's example illuminates the value of an aggressive and rallying self - respect that will not yield to hostile stereotypes , or worse . Moreover , 1988 's election results suggest that Jackson will take the Presidency in 1992 , over the dead body of the Democratic Party .
Idiom: under the influence (used idiomatically: yes)
In case you 're wondering why MacGowan is called Number Six , it 's because he was particularly fond of that brand of cigarettes . As for Manchester 's resignation , it was inevitable . It had already received three written warnings ( one for fighting , one for being under the influence of drugs while in charge of a wood - turning lathe , and one for lateness ) and either had to leave or face the sack . Sensibly , it chose the dignified way out . It is now in a dole queue alongside 30,000 miners , Fergie and John Major ( soon)— IM
Idiom: in the can (used idiomatically: no)
The small device which enables Canned Draught Guinness to pour as if from a pub fount looks simple , but well over 100 techniques were designed and tested before the final development of the patented in - can system . This revolutionary technology required the development of a new canning process at Runcorn in the UK . We designed a new machine that could pick up the in - can system and position it within the can , without damage . A new filter was also designed . The new product was tested in 1988 and launched in the UK in 1989 and has since been launched in Ireland , Australia and in Canada and the USA , where it is known as Pub Draught Guinness .