Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: up for grabs (used idiomatically: yes)
MORE than 11,000 civil service jobs in Scotland are under threat and thousands more could go over the next few years , the Civil and Public Services Association leader , Barry Reamsbottom , will state at a rally tomorrow . The rally , at the City Halls , Glasgow , will be attended by civil servants from the West of Scotland to protest at the Government 's market testing ( or privatisation ) programme . ‘ Everything is up for grabs with this Government . Even jobs which have been successfully relocated in areas such as East Kilbride , increasing employment opportunities , could end up being moved away again should they be privatised . The impact of any such moves on areas of high unemployment will be devastating,’ he said yesterday .
Idiom: in a fog (used idiomatically: yes)
One diver saw the neck bend and the head dip into the water several times . The divers panicked and leapt into the sea . In the fog , they lost sight of one another . According to the only survivor , his comrades went under one by one , screaming in terror . They were never found .
Idiom: in the black (used idiomatically: yes)
No grieving widow , no bereft children . Instead , his two stony - faced sisters , who had never approved of him , led the mourners with their husbands . They were supported by a phalanx of the Senior Management , only one or two of whom were in black . The rest were drab but decent , in grey , in beige , in brown . Portia Forbes was absent .
Idiom: bear fruit (used idiomatically: yes)
The Digital board , which is reviewing its international operation and cutting 25,000 jobs from a worldwide payroll of 102,000 , intends to concentrate its resources on a single computer manufacturing base for ease of access to the European market . Digital , the world 's second - biggest computer company , has a major presence in Livingston and a microchip unit at South Queensferry which supplies the Alpha chip for the hard - ware assembled at Ayr and Galway . Tree to bear fruit of appeal for Eric Liddell memorial By Severin Carrell A METAL tree bearing leaves of brass is to become the symbol of a £ 900,000 appeal towards a community centre dedicated to the memory of Eric Liddell , Scotland 's first athletics hero .
Idiom: lend a hand (used idiomatically: yes)
Her grandmother , his elder sister , would have been seventy if she had been still living , and there were several years between them . Probably sixty - three or sixty - four , and according to the photographs she had seen in newspapers and geographical magazines , and his occasional appearances on television , he looked considerably younger than his age , and very fit indeed . Say a well - preserved sixty - four , highly sophisticated , speaking at least three languages , enough to get him out of trouble in most countries , and with a select if scattered network of friends and colleagues all across the Middle East , to lend him a hand if required . And on his last known move obviously still in full control of his actions . A taxi had dropped him and his luggage at the main railway station , he had walked in through the entrance with a porter in attendance ; and that was that .
Idiom: under fire (used idiomatically: yes)
Fortunately , the Panel did not have to test its theory in court this time , although Review Panel secretary Sydney Treadgold told ACCOUNTANCY that ' we were prepared to go if necessary ' . He added that , as Panel procedures dictate , Trafalgar 's auditors , Touche Ross , have been reported to the appropriate regulatory body , since the accounts were unqualified . Sir Eric : Under fire AUDITING Expectation gap can be bridged
Idiom: blow a gasket (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ Oh , he already knows . I told him this morning.’ ‘ I 'll bet he blew a gasket ! Well , I 'm very sorry , Merrill . I 'd say you 're a real asset to the old firm , not to mention highly decorative .
Idiom: fall into place (used idiomatically: yes)
Overnight , it appears , he became infatuated with you . He brought you back here , and you stayed with him long enough to get him to part with the doge 's ring … ’ One piece of the puzzle fell into place . So that was what they thought she had . And that was why he 'd been so bitter on the subject of rings .
Idiom: at sea (used idiomatically: yes)
He subsequently became a national figure and a wealthy man before dying in poverty . Robert Jeffrey was brought up by his stepfather in Polperro at the time of the Napoleonic wars . He was taught the trade of a blacksmith but , like so many from that village , elected for a life at sea . He sailed from Polperro on the ‘ Lord Nelson’ in 1807 , out to do some privateering . After an unsuccessful week in the channel the ship put into Falmouth for stores .
Idiom: time will tell (used idiomatically: yes)
Even the amount of time saved by not having to fiddle with reel - to - reel tapes is noticeable , and in a home environment where space is at a premium it helps with the problem of tape storage . Considering the overall sound quality and taking into account how much is in such a compact package the retail price of a touch under £ 1500 might seem a tad high , but it compares more than favourably with reel - to - reel machines aimed at the same market . In fact , from the simplicity aspect alone it could well mark the beginning of the end for reel - to - reels around the small studio , but of course only time will tell … RRP : £ 1499.00 inc VAT DOLLARS AND CENTS Peterson R450 Strobe Tuner
Idiom: out of the blue (used idiomatically: yes)
My ex boyfriend just called me out ~ of ~ the ~ blue .
Idiom: fall in line (used idiomatically: yes)
Raimo Vistbacka was appointed Minister of Communications and Transport on Sept. 29 , 1989 , in succession to Pekka Vennamo , who had resigned to leave politics [ see below ] . The appointment was made amid controversy over Vistbacka 's comment that Finland accepted too many refugees and that only women should be allowed to come to Finland as refugees " to be wives for unmarried Finnish farmers " . The Prime Minister , Harri Holkeri , subsequently warned the SMP , the coalition partner of which Vistbacka like his predecessor was a member , to fall in line with the government 's policy on refugees . Formation of new left - wing alliance At a congress in Helsinki on April 29 , 1990 , attended by over 4,000 delegates , the country 's splintered communist and left - socialist forces formed a new party , the Left - Wing Alliance .
Idiom: give and take (used idiomatically: yes)
Er the situation is that what has happened is that government has lowered the mandatory ceiling from fifty thousand to twenty thousand . We have no indication yet that any district council is thinking of reducing the amounts it pays merely because the mandatory limit has lowered from fifty to twenty . Erm , we are aware of a number of those take place and if necessary we 'll have to enter into discussions with the district councils er about and there is an element of give and take there . There 's still the statutory position with the occupational therapist of this department makes a recommendation to the er on the f on the proposals submitted to us by the district council but it 's purely a , a lowering of the mandatory limit , the discretionary limit remains the same and it remains to see how that will work in practice . Erm I think we probably envisage those as no bigger than six at the outside people in any one house , domestic scale housing is what is envisaged there .
Idiom: bottom drawer (used idiomatically: no)
It was n't as if she were married to him . The kitten had to go to the vet three times in as many weeks and was more expensive than the baby . The baby slept in the bottom drawer of the dresser : the kitten had a feather cushion . Ken had to take on more and more gigs to keep the family boat afloat . It was a good thing , Ken admitted , that Wendy had such a placid and loving temperament .
Idiom: call the tune (used idiomatically: yes)
Geraldine Norman looks at the latest developments By GERALDINE NORMAN THE AMERICAN art market , overblown on investment cash , is calling the tune internationally . It is fashionable among rich Americans to buy art , donate art , exhibit art and appreciate art . But they would not be so rich if they were not adept at minimising tax and maximising profits .
Idiom: friends in high places (used idiomatically: yes)
President - elect Bill Clinton , who takes over from Bush on January 20 , said Mr Bush 's decision gave the message : ‘ If you work for the government you 're above the law.’ Mr Walsh added : ‘ Action will certainly be taken to learn the facts.’ Officials with ‘ friends in high places’ could now commit crimes and get away with them , he said . Mr Walsh said Mr Bush had shown an ‘ arrogant disdain for the rule of law’ and called the president 's action a ‘ final attempt to cover up the scandal’ . He accused Mr Bush , who was vice president at the time of the affair , of misconduct by failing to make his own notes available to investigators .
Idiom: at the end of the day (used idiomatically: yes)
Here we ran a daily contest in association with Interflora , a service which has sent fresh flowers and customers ' greetings from one end of the country to the other for almost 70 years . Interflora florists can send flowers worldwide so the team at the Royal were quite unperturbed that about 10 % of showgoers are international visitors . Contestants were invited to complete an entry coupon with four simple questions — all the answers could be found somewhere on the stand — and at the end of the day a draw was made and bouquets sent by Interflora to the first three correct entries drawn from the bag . Dried flowers on an edible rockery Anne Ballard often raids the larder to find food to bake rock hard and add texture to her dried flower arrangements .
Idiom: in light of (used idiomatically: yes)
The system model , although not intended to reflect ideal functional groupings , also indicated that a sub-division of activities to those directly concerned with course delivery ( ie the operational functions ) , and those concerned with non-teaching tasks ( ie the support functions ) , was appropriate to align systemically-related activities . This tended to support the broad structure at most Colleges at that time , ie reflecting a division to operations and support . There were , however , certain functions grouped under the generic support heading that were involved in the delivery of courses ( eg departmental assistants and technicians ) , and Colleges were advised to consider their position in the organisation structure in light of the expressed argument . Similarly , the library and student services functions , which also related to the delivery of courses , could be regarded as part of the operations group . In high-level terms , cost-control and management information functions seemed to fit comfortably within the generic support heading .
Idiom: cast your mind back (used idiomatically: yes)
Right . Okay let 's just er pick up from where we er left off last week . Cast your minds back , last week we were looking at the relationship between price elasticity of demand and marginal revenue , and what that relationship could tell us about er prices and total revenue in an industry . If you remember I used the example of agriculture , right , where it is generally observed that agricultural products have a price inelastic demand , okay . So that any changes in output .. right .. lead forget that diagram it does n't really show what I am about to say , but er when we have a price inelastic demand .. changes in output .. lead to changes in price , but the changes in output are overcompensated changes in price , so .
Idiom: in cold blood (used idiomatically: yes)
And the Duke made sure that they no longer gave employment in the studios to these conspirators . It may have disappointed the fearless patriot , Mickey Spillane , who wrote these lines for his detective , Mike Hammer , in One Lonely Night ( 1951 — sales three million ) : ‘ I killed more people tonight than I have fingers on my hands . I shot them in cold blood and I enjoyed every minute of it … They were Commies . They were Red sons of bitches who should have died long ago.’
Idiom: come to think of it (used idiomatically: yes)
Mm . Oh yes , yes . When you come to think of it though it 's s to me it makes sense to start at the top where we have done and work your way down does n't it ? In some ways it is sensible , yes because you 're carrying muck down . Well of course you are .
Idiom: set eyes on (used idiomatically: yes)
We are abandoned by the United States , by Great Britain , by Germany , by France , what else is left ? The centre was brought to a halt as the procession made its way to the National Parliament . Few here had ever set eyes on the man they were mourning , but they saw in his act the ultimate sacrifice for their dream of independence . They responded in their thousands hearing President Landsbergis call Stanislovas Jamaitis ‘ an idealist’ . His memory providing Lithuanians with a renewed sense of purpose as they continued to build their nation .
Idiom: have a heart (used idiomatically: no)
The book claimed that cancer and other deformities were mistaken wills , were new organs to meet new needs dreamed up in the deep unconscious , and that therefore they should be treated not with surgery but with interest and affection — humanity was limiting its potential by cutting out the tumours , blasting the cells . Phoebe , like her mother , did not believe a word of it , but part of her knew it was true . She had wanted to fall in love , she had willed it , and her body had produced the lover , close to her heart , fed by her own blood , watered by own needy greedy wanting . Secret and adored . She knew it was not sane .
Idiom: spring to mind (used idiomatically: yes)
What is the historical status of this image ? The account I have given of the Zuwaya image of statelessness is a composite , created from local materials , arranged in a pattern which is partly determined by academic culture and expectations , partly by the need to translate Zuwaya understanding for non - Libyans . One analogy which might spring to mind is of an archaeologist who reconstructs a fragmented mosaic . But that is misleading for it implies a real object now dismembered . Rather than an archaeologist engaged in reconstitution of broken pictures , the enquirer is like the secretary to a historiographical commission which never meets , and which evolves its consensus through bilateral talks with an outsider .
Idiom: in my book (used idiomatically: yes)
Yes , and what ever you , whatever they say , catch is it ? . Actually I looked up in all my reference books . is a fisher it 's the only one I know , I mean I know a few . If I 'd tried I 'd of said yes .
Idiom: all over the place (used idiomatically: yes)
So the capillaries are the very fine tubes that carry the blood around the body . And for the biologists again if er if you look at the capillaries in the body , there is no cell in the body requiring a blood supply that is more than one fortieth of a millimetre away from a capillary . So your capillaries are all over the place . Now if you damage yourself by whatever way , and the classic one that we see at school is if you get banged in the eye in rugby , somebody elbows you in the scrum or something similar , you then get a swelling caused by what ? What 's happening ?
Idiom: go from strength to strength (used idiomatically: yes)
But unlike their counterparts at Nissan and Toyota , none enjoys the full benefits of trade union membership . Now the country 's biggest manufacturing union — the AEEU — is pressing Honda for recognition . While the company goes from strength to strength , the union claims , its employees are losing out . But Honda says its industrial relations are excellent . Staff are called associates , not workers and everyone 's on Christian name terms .
Idiom: in the running (used idiomatically: yes)
All fourteen were the victims of incessant interrogation and brutal mental and physical torture , which in most cases included repeated beatings and electroshock treatment . For Black people in South Africa , apartheid - capitalism means no political rights , starvation wages , unemployment , insubstantial education , inadequate housing and immense poverty . When activists like the Cape Town Sixteen fight this system of oppression and exploitation , they are demanding a democratic say in the running of their lives and and the right to determine their own futures . They are fighting one struggle with the youth in Palestine , the youth in Namibia , the youth in Korea . The Cape Town Sixteen express the very demands of the youth in Britain , like Mark Braithwaite , Engin Raghip and Winston Scott , Trevor Monerville , the Guildford Four and the Birmingham Six .
Idiom: below par (used idiomatically: yes)
For example , if the current price is 103 , the bond is not likely to be called until three years before maturity . In this case , the operative life is three years less than the number of years to maturity . Similarly , the operative yield is either the yield to maturity or the yield to relevant call depending on whether the bond is trading above or below par . The yield to put is calculated in a similar manner as the yield to call . But the put is exercised at the option of the investor , and he will exercise it only if this strategy maximizes the value of the bond .
Idiom: as a rule (used idiomatically: no)
What we have is an excess of definitions around the feminine whereas men are the undefined norm . There is a school of thought ( embodied by Dale Spender 's book Man - Made Language ) that says we can think of language itself as being ' male ' . Dale Spender describes the tendency to refer to the male as the norm and women in pejorative terms as a ' rule ' of language ; she use the term ' sexist syntax'to describe this . She also uses studies of women 's habits of speech to suggest that women use a slightly different language . This is somewhat inaccurate .
Idiom: take stock (used idiomatically: yes)
The plight of the injured was an unenviable one ; several of them could not be moved . They had to lie on their stretchers in the back of a lorry listening to the din of battle all around them . Finally , as dusk fell , the aircraft departed and Stirling had to take stock of the situation . He had lost twenty - five trucks and their valuable contents , plus twenty - odd jeeps . Four men had been killed .
Idiom: fly in the face of (used idiomatically: yes)
There 's plenty of room for that sort of thing . Mm . I mean , that flies in the face of all the current pressures , all of the current political about , if you 're a naughty boy , into prison you go , and for the longer the better . And now we have another er , sub - crop of people who have been discharged into community care from mental hospitals , Mm .
Idiom: err on the side of (used idiomatically: yes)
Where accounting methods are changed this should be disclosed . Prudence . All items must be determined on a prudent basis and should err on the side of caution and in particular:(a ) Revenue and profits must not be anticipated , but should be recognised by inclusion in the profit and loss account only when realised in the form of cash or of other assets , the ultimate realisation of which can be assessed with reasonable certainty . ( b ) All liabilities and losses which have arisen or are likely to arise in respect of the financial year to which the accounts relate or a previous financial year must be taken into account , including those which only become apparent between the balance sheet date and the date on which the balance sheet is signed . Accruals .
Idiom: come to terms with (used idiomatically: yes)
But by 1187 Urban had died at Ferrara , and within two months , his successor Gregory VIII also died , at Pisa , while on his way to a meeting with Barbarossa . The next pope , Clement III , soon issued a solemn appeal for a crusade . Furthermore , he made real attempts to come to terms with the Emperor , and it seemed likely that the papal imperial conflict would now be resolved . By March of 1188 , Frederick seemed finally to have defeated his opponents on the major domestic and imperial fronts . In the summer he made his last will , and assembled a vast army to take Jerusalem from the great Saracen leader Saladin .
Idiom: born and bred (used idiomatically: yes)
In fact , Chen was always more concerned with consolidating his own power than with defending Taiwan . His most controversial political moves were aimed at his domestic opponents , not the Chinese government on the mainland . He led a vicious campaign to portray all Taiwanese with mainland Chinese roots , even if born and bred in Taiwan , as untrustworthy carpetbaggers – wai shen ren , or “ not native people ” – as if they were aliens from a different culture . This official effort to portray native “ Taiwanese ” as a separate ethnic group , with scant relation to Chinese culture , was extended to language , as Chen favored using the Fujian dialect in lieu of the Mandarin spoken by 1.3~billion Chinese and taught all over the world .
Idiom: on the blink (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ Yes — only I 've broken your cup and spilled tea on your dressing - gown , she said breathlessly , running a hand down over the dampness on her chest . ‘ What 's happened?’ ‘ The confounded generator 's on the blink again.’ Penry struck a match and lit the oil lamp nearest Leonora , his face Mephistophelean over the flame as he replaced the glass chimney . Leonora felt better instantly once there was light .
Idiom: out of line (used idiomatically: yes)
The most crucial example of this is trade policy , for access to markets in the industrialized world may be critical to a recipient country 's export programme . Thus the EC remains highly sensitive to the origins of garments made up within African countries when the woven fabric is imported from elsewhere , and may reject such imports on the grounds that they are not wholly manufactured within the exporting country . Another example is the need for co - ordination between national aid agencies and national export credit agencies , where the latter may be seeking to guarantee finance for , say , a large steel mill which is clearly out of line with national development priorities agreed in different agencies between the donors and recipient governments . PEAKS AND TROUGHS Volatility in aid flows is notoriously difficult from the recipient 's point of view , and the US Congress has made American aid a dangerously - poisoned chalice to the recipients .
Idiom: watch this space (used idiomatically: yes)
Now for the cholesterol controversy . Evidence is mounting against the received wisdom that interfering with a person 's cholesterol intake can reliably alter his or her destiny . All those who have been sticking religiously to their macrobiotic diet sheets while dreaming wistfully of soft boiled eggs and buttered soldiers can probably breathe again ( but watch this space ) . Unless your cholesterol level is off the scale ( by which I mean approaching double figures when measured in millimoles per litre ) , the degree of change in absolute coronary risk that you can bring about by dietary measures is spitting in the wind . This is partly because eating foods you do n't like ( and avoiding those you do ) day after day is nigh - on impossible , and partly because your personal cholesterol level is as normal and natural for you as your shoe size , so your body has various feedback mechanisms to keep it at that level .
Idiom: at your fingertips (used idiomatically: yes)
Stars of stage , screen & radio welcome you to the ‘ World of Entertainment’ . Hear the songs that sold millions and in the Exhibition 's very own cinema , enjoy excerpts from the greatest movies of all time . Using the latest in audio visual technology , the wonders of these six fascinating ‘ worlds’ are at your fingertips . Guinness World of Records — Fascinating in the Extreme . GUINNESS WORLD OF RECORDS EXHIBITION