Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: rub shoulders (used idiomatically: yes)
There were brambles up to the first floor.’ They renovated the house , removing the Georgian stucco and revealing the Elizabethan stonework , and set about tackling the garden , growing a lot of potatoes and taking ‘ millions and millions’ of box cuttings to repair and extend the hedging , probably planted by a previous tenant , Lady Strickland , at the turn of the century . Otherwise , they planted in time - honoured cottage - garden fashion , pushing bulbs in here , slips of shrubs there , and gradually building up a very large and varied plant collection , traditional favourites rubbing shoulders with exotics , and everywhere ferns and wildflowers . Things were getting a little out of hand by 1981 , when Lorna , the last Miss Keating , died , and the Trust began a programme of gentle restoration . The present custodian , Mrs Pat Cheney , sensitive to the quiet charm and mystery of the garden , continues to add imaginatively to the planting .
Idiom: at death's door (used idiomatically: yes)
These are only a few of his victories , for he is a consistent and careful horse with more than his fair share of intelligence . But in 1984 , Arthur succumbed to an obscure lung complaint that almost killed him , the first of a long list of lay - offs throughout his career . ‘ He really was at death 's door ’ , recalled David , ‘ He 'd jumped nineteen clear rounds in a row , beginning with three brilliant ones in the Victor Ludorum at Wembley . There was an equine ‘ flu scare on and I was advised to give him a booster , which I did . Suddenly he was winning nothing , and got dreadfully Ill , getting water on his lungs .
Idiom: body blow (used idiomatically: yes)
Malaysia 's tin industry , suffering its worst production slump since the second world war , has been dealt a body blow with the announcement that Malaysia mining corporation , one of the country 's biggest tin producers , is pulling out of tin mining .
Idiom: have a heart (used idiomatically: no)
What Kind of Dinosaur Heart ? Over hundreds of millions of years , as species evolved , they developed better designed hearts with extra chambers which succeeded in separating blood - borne oxygen on its way to the muscles or fins , and back again . Fish have only a two - chambered heart , consisting of an atrium and a ventricle through which the blood passes on its way to the gills and back to the heart . Reptiles and amphibians use a three - chambered heart , where blood goes into a separate part of the atrium on its way to the muscles , but the blood on its way back empties into the same ventricle . This means that in the case of fish some of the blood must make two or three trips around the lung circuit , and some carbon - dioxide - bearing blood makes several trips round the body before returning to the heart .
Idiom: pissed off (used idiomatically: yes)
did he cry ? I would n't blame him if he did . He must , he must get so pissed off with that must n't he ? I know . He must just feel like saying to everybody
Idiom: go through the motions (used idiomatically: yes)
and , you 're losing money , , if you 're not , if you 're not seeing any return you 're No . you 're going through the motions No . I mean , God , you know if I 've got ta go down to London for three days I 'd rather do that cos it 's gon na earn me two or three grand .
Idiom: open someone's eyes (used idiomatically: yes)
Absent - mindedly , Jackie licked his own fingers and ran them round the plate by the bed , picking up the crumbs which he transferred to his tongue . They stood there for perhaps a minute , wondering what to do . Then suddenly the boy rolled over onto his back , opened his eyes — the palest milky blue — and looked at them . It was a plump face , unnaturally rosy , and sleep - creased like a small cushion . When he removed the thumb from his lips , Jackie half expected the puffiness to subside with a gush of escaping air .
Idiom: down the road (used idiomatically: yes)
A young child is running down a gravel road that is covered with dead leaves
Idiom: on the level (used idiomatically: yes)
Despite the reassuring noises of the Royal Commission in 1979 , by 1984 the UK 's Standing Technical Advisory Committee on Water Quality ( STACWQ ) reported that , if present trends of fertiliser use were to continue , mean nitrogen levels in surface waters would increase by 2–3 mg / litre ( as nitrogen ) by 1994–2004 and this would cause widespread breaches of the 11.3 mg / litre nitrogen level ( 50 mg / litre nitrate ) . Supplies to millions of people would be affected . The Department of the Environment ( DoE ) had foreseen difficulties with the Directive , and now asked the Department of Health for advice on nitrate levels , most probably so that the UK could argue for laxer standards . Unlike the US agencies and the EC , the DHSS / DoE Joint Committee on Medical Aspects of Water Quality proposed in 1984 that it would be acceptable to relax the EC standard by 60 per cent , from 50 to 80 mg / litre . The Department of Health issued a ' guidance note ' to Chief Environmental Health Officers in 1985 which , in the words of David Wheeler of Surrey University 's Robens Institute , ' dismissed the possibility of a link between nitrates in water and stomach cancer in the UK ' .
Idiom: in the raw (used idiomatically: yes)
The starkness of the landscape revealed by the headlights penetrated the car like a draught . Zen sat there unhappily taking it all in . He did n't much care for nature in the raw : it was messy and wasteful and there was too much of it . This was a fertile source of incomprehension between him and Ellen . The wilder and more extensive the view , the better she liked it .
Idiom: tough as old boots (used idiomatically: yes)
the game was more of a head on crash than a classic … lots of hard tackling … neither side were prepared to surrender … Newcastle the league leaders looked as tough as old boots … Swindon tried to play their game but in the first half did n't have much joy … United have fought hard to get to the top and they 're in no mood to let promotion slip …
Idiom: apples and oranges (used idiomatically: yes)
It suits managers , producers and directors to encourage naïvety in their dancers . That way , they query nothing and never answer back ; as a result they are not known for their political judgement , but , during the Depression they were jolted into social awareness . They saw men trying to make money by selling apples and oranges at street corners and the brave attempt of others to look smart with well - polished shoes , pressed suits and hidden frayed cuffs . The obvious unfairness of such poverty side by side with conspicuous affluence reminded them of their vulnerable parents back home . Mary Read continued to manage the school in New York after John 's death .
Idiom: take root (used idiomatically: yes)
Yours in fellowship CHURCH LIFE DEVELOPMENTS IN ALBANIA Gail Smith writes ‘ The burden God has given me for Albania took root in 1982 the first time I ever heard mention of the country and people . All I knew then was that they were not allowed to hear about Jesus . The Lord wonderfully provided for me to visit the country in March 1990 and later that year He revealed that I should prepare for service among Albanians .
Idiom: over the top (used idiomatically: yes)
Then we all packed up . It was good fun , that . In a rough - house , there were some constables who , even their colleagues recognized , could go over the top . W. S. Saturday nights , there were battles everywhere . We had a mobile reserve at St Anne 's Street .
Idiom: out of the question (used idiomatically: yes)
Change was slow : divorce rose from an annual average of 148 in the decade after 1851 to 582 in the decade before 1900 ; and divorce remained a strong social stigma . Even innocent parties were excluded from court until 1887 . In the working class , though the stigma might be less , the difficulties were even greater and divorce was quite out of the question for most . It is likely then that marriages , at least amongst the propertied , in fact lasted longer during the Victorian period than ever before or since . The decline in mortality rates , which had traditionally cut off marriage after about twenty years , was not yet offset by rising divorce rates .
Idiom: over the counter (used idiomatically: no)
Instant access , 24 hours a day ! The money in Saver Plus is earning interest right up to the day you take it out . If you need to withdraw more than £ 500 you can do so over the counter at your Midland branch . For the majority of personal customers interest is paid net of basic rate tax liability . This means that unless you are a higher rate tax payer there is nothing else to pay .
Idiom: put someone in mind of (used idiomatically: yes)
Arthur found the reasons for this unfathomable , but took it that they had to do with a comparison to his own looks . The sight of her bare toes made him feel slightly religious . When she wanted not to reply to something , she would lift her ravishing upper lip over her opened teeth in a way that put him alarmingly in mind of a horse wanting to be bridled . He grew very hot and thought that he was probably looking runnier than ever , but felt it would be courting horse trouble to take off his jacket . She was wearing schoolboy shorts herself , and what seemed to be an eleven - year - old 's prep - school cricket blazer .
Idiom: green light (used idiomatically: yes)
Mam!’ and scream them for me . You understand that you are dying in no man 's land , and when you hear the Royal Welch sing , I will give you a cue light and then scream for me , woodjew , there 's a good chap . And the Royal Welch did sing in the rehearsal , it was a record of course , and they sang of what you could see from the hills above Jerusalem , and it was in the minor key and sad as the devil or death , and the green light flickered , and Dylan , short , bandy , prime , obese , and famous among the bars , screamed as I have never heard , but sometimes imagined a scream , and we were all appalled , our pencils silent above the crossword puzzles , and invisible centuries - gone atavistic hair rose on our backs . And there was a funny silence and Dylan said that he 'd bet I could n't do that scream like that with a cigarette in my mouth and I shook off the centuries , stopped staring , smiled a little , noted that he had indeed monumentally screamed with a cigarette in his mouth and went stunned back to my crossword.’ So .
Idiom: no strings attached (used idiomatically: no)
Later in the same year , however , appearing on television in a news item on vandalism , Mr Rees was to be found closing the commonsense consensus . ‘ You only have to look around,’ he explained , ‘ and see that something has happened in the last twenty years.’ It is a simple enough invitation , with no strings attached . So let us take a look around and see what is to be seen . TWENTY YEARS AGO : TEDS UNDER THE BED
Idiom: out of line (used idiomatically: yes)
The main reason that I was allowed to do the research was , I learned later , because their press was so bad the Moonies could not believe that someone who would listen to what they said could possibly come up with worse stories than those already in the media . Another point which is not always recognised is that covert research can itself impose severe restrictions on the kinds of questions that one may legitimately ask and the sorts of people to whom one may have access . If the covert researcher is not to arouse suspicion , then he or she must behave like a believer , not stepping out of line by questioning or exhibiting too much curiosity about the functioning of the organisation . Many underground investigators have become highly frustrated because they are unable to pursue the sorts of questions that an acknowledged researcher could pursue ( see Bulmer , 1982 for a relevant discussion ) . Some of the disadvantages of being treated as a believer rather than a researcher were experienced in a rather dramatic fashion by a sociologist who , while studying a Hindu sect , underwent a perfectly genuine conversion .
Idiom: on the rocks (used idiomatically: yes)
But things have changed in the West country . Now shipwreck looters brave a police helicopter circling overhead as they carry their spoils away by bicycle . Souvenir hunters revived the centuries - old tradition after a huge tanker washed up on the rocks below East Prawle , Devon . Thousands of tourists from as far away as Essex have flooded to the area to strip the wreck of the 10,000-ton ship Demetrius . A coastguard said : ‘ People are trying to nick everything they can lay their hands on.’
Idiom: up in the air (used idiomatically: yes)
So I said well I 've never been in the situation but I said if it , if it was , if I was in that situation I , asked to see the manager or person in charge , make an offer to pay for any damage that was done and if that did n't suffice then I would say well I am the care officer for a Mencap home and the only thing I can do is say will you er get in touch with my boss and it 'll have to be sorted out from Head Office and she said perfect , you could n't do anything better , then she give me all different things that we 've gone into the next day and the patient 's done everything down the bed , what would you do ? Mm So I told them what I would do , but once again I 've never been in the situation but this is what I 'll do , said as if they were me own parents make them as comfortable as I could while I 'll cleaned up and give them a bed bath or if they could shower , shower them and erm and get everything back to normal as quick as possible , fine , that were all fine she , and then as , as I got up from it they all said thanks a lot Joy it has been great you really have been great you 've made it easy , we 've got an easy day in front thanks to you , you know you 're bubbly and all this and then when she phoned me on the Sunday she said hello Joy it 's Sue here and I , I said will you let me know one way or the another cos I said I hate being left up in the air Yeah , that 's right she said oh yes you will , then she said to me I 'm sorry to tell you you did n't make , she said you made exc , but she said I do n't want you to feel erm disgruntled she said because er , you done a fabulous interview , the only thing that let you down was of lack of experience , so I said well you 're never gon na get any cos you , nobody let 's you in , they do n't open the door
Idiom: come to mind (used idiomatically: yes)
When considering a whole range of variables it is found that those social characteristics indicative of a low position of wealth or status do not appear among persons treated as criminal more often than one would expect from their proportion among the general population . In some instances better - off persons are disproportionately numerous . Three possible explanations come to mind . It may be that the Sri Lankan system of crime control was more fair than most others , that it did not discriminate against those least able to defend themselves , and that the ‘ real’ profile of Sri Lankan lawbreakers was not much different from those of other societies . It could even be argued that in the special circumstances of colonialism the judicial system was biased against mainstream groups in order to increase the state 's control over them , and that in fact the poor and marginal , as in all societies , committed most crime .
Idiom: see the light (used idiomatically: no)
It really is time for the courts to stamp down on motoring infringments . Drink-driving , for example , should carry an automatic prison sentence . And I 'd like to see police motorway units given the power to throw those who ignore hazard lights and warnings straight into jail , confiscating their cars to boot . It seems to me there is no other way to get the message over to some of the morons out there . Until we can ram that message home , we are going to see more families robbed of their nearest and dearest in the most senseless of tragedies .
Idiom: at loggerheads (used idiomatically: no)
The Americans as well as the British were helping to bring this about . The US State Department in its preparations for Bermuda reiterated the interesting claim that the two powers in combination , both in Europe and the Middle East , formed a " more persuasive combination " than the United States alone . Indeed the Americans soon found themselves moving yet closer to Britain , especially once they discovered that their own initiatives ( not least their pressure on Israel ) still left them at loggerheads with Egypt and the Arab radicals . Secretary Humphrey , for instance , spent time with Macmillan trying to find ways to protect Western oil companies from hostile action by Arab radicals . The American government was also aware of the limitations of the recently proclaimed Eisenhower Doctrine ( 5 January 1957 ) .
Idiom: in stitches (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ Just like the Japanese , you tend your gardens , have tea ceremonies , revere royalty , are inclined to be puritanical and drive on the left.’ Le Gall brought a TV crew to Britain to research our national eccentricities . A plate of jelly in the White Cliffs Hotel in Dover had the film crew in stitches . ‘ Look , it wobbles on the plate , it wobbles down the throat , it probably wobbles in the stomach,’ he said . ‘ It comes in red , yellow or green and it looks like plastic.’
Idiom: get a move on (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ I do n't like eating a lot late at night,’ said Scarlet . ‘ I would n't appreciate it.’ And she 'd be sitting on the edge of her chair with a smile stitched to her face as she willed the rest of the party to get a move - on so she could go and make sure Camille was home and safe . ‘ Now , mind you eat these courgettes,’ she said to her daughter , as she sliced them into the pan . ‘ They 're good for you.’
Idiom: spot on (used idiomatically: yes)
We spent a day ashore on Barentsøya where the Dutch party went off inland on their own and met up with a polar bear with two cubs , which ran off when they saw the party . We stayed mainly near the shore and saw ringed seals and a nice flock of Brent geese . Later in the evening , as we sailed south along the coast several more polar bears were spotted on the mountain - sides . Next day we went ashore near Kapp Lee on Edgeøya , and had a long walk up through Rosenbergdalen , a fine valley which was much more vegetated than any we had so far seen . There was extensive ground cover of polar willows , yellow and white whitlow - grass , scurvy grass and many others .
Idiom: in the driver's seat (used idiomatically: yes)
In town , this becomes tiresome and the £ 359 optional power assistance looks a good bet . Rear passenger space in Furio — and , similarly , in all the three and five - door ZXs bar the Volcanes and the 16-valver , which benefit from an adjustable rear seat — is borderline for taller adults . A six - footer behind some - one of the same size in the driver 's seat would have to sit in a splayed knees / bent neck posture . The upside is that getting in and out is made simple by the front seats sliding well forwards . Also the seats return to their previous position when pulled back .
Idiom: in the dock (used idiomatically: no)
The dominant Labour Party included large sections of industrial South Wales which was openly hostile , fearing that devolution would separate Wales from the economic and social structure of England and perhaps become a paradise for linguistic nationalists . Plaid Cymru itself was distinctly half - hearted on the issue . There was never any prospect of a ' Yes ' vote being recorded , and the treasured plans for a Welsh assembly to occupy a derelict corn exchange in Cardiff docks were put on ice . In the event , on 1 March 1979 there was a 4 to 1 majority in Wales against devolution , 243,048 votes in favour and 956,330 against . In Glamorgan and Gwent the votes were overwhelming , but even in Welsh - speaking Gwynedd , with its two Plaid Cymru MPs , there was a 2 to 1 majority against devolution .
Idiom: go by the board (used idiomatically: yes)
By PAUL WILSON NICK FALDO was accused of ‘ disloyalty’ yesterday after opting to miss his defence of the Volvo Masters title at Valderrama , Spain , later this month , and play in the Nabisco Championships in the United States instead . Mel Pyatt , the Volvo spokesman said : ‘ It is all very sad ; loyalty seems to have gone by the board . It is a shame that the players feel they can put sponsors to ransom like this and that they are bigger than the sport.’ Faldo said at Wentworth yesterday that he made the decision because he feels he can not now finish at the top of the European order of merit by playing in Spain .
Idiom: around the clock (used idiomatically: yes)
It will go through the House of Commons and people should know about it before Voice over It has sixty four pages with one hundred and ninety thousand words They spent two days working around the clock typing it into a computer , now their master disc is being used by a Sunday newspaper to publish the whole thing this weekend . It 's been given away on computer disc in a wideselling magazine as well . Voice over
Idiom: whoop it up (used idiomatically: yes)
That 's a problem for my grandchildren to contend with . But , in an uncanny moment of premonition , I am able to see through the mists of time to Judgement Day . And who is that whooping it up at the bar with a glass in his hand ? Why it 's Jones junior … Wimbledon 's success won them the Barclays Performance of the Week award .
Idiom: dog tired (used idiomatically: yes)
They were never importunate , never servile ; they never tried to lure Europeans into the kind of patron - client relationship which is often assumed to be vital to the functioning of the colonial psyche but which many Englishmen in fact found more annoying than gratifying . ‘ People in England say we slave - drive the Africans’ , a white Kenyan once told the journalist Richard West , ‘ but , my God , it 's the other way round . You come back dog - tired in the evening , and they start coming up to you : somebody 's stolen my wife , somebody 's raped my daughter , my eyes hurt , I want a new pair of trousers … ’ There was no danger of this with the Masai , who preferred to solve their problems in their own way , without the assistance of Europeans . Throughout the colonial period they made little use of the judicial system set up by the British and made few requests of their administrators .
Idiom: call it quits (used idiomatically: yes)
Alan Noble , another former Darlington director , said he would not rejoin the board because of business commitments . DICK Corden yesterday resigned as chairman of Darlington Football Club which is threatened with relegation . The Middlesbrough businessman cited work commitments and the need for a clean break as his main reasons for deciding to call it quits after three years at the helm . Mr Corden 's departure comes less than a month after Frank Gray was sacked as manager of the Third Division 's bottom club . Would - be business tycoon Mrs Mandy Field was this week chosen as the Cleveland Top Young Entrepreneur in the Livewire UK competition .
Idiom: put your foot down (used idiomatically: yes)
Her work was recognised at Crufts when she won the breed rescue section of the Rescue Personality Of The Year Award , put together by Pet Plan and Dog World . You might think anybody involved with caring for animals would be soft to the core , but in Gillian 's case , you 'd have to get through a tough layer first . When irresponsible people pepper your day with their various shortcomings , you really have to put your foot down — sometimes . ‘ When instinct tells me a dog would be better off with me than people who might just leave it on the motorway , I have to bite my tongue , but I 'm noted for being blunt . I 've no words of wisdom , but there are certain people who drive me to distraction,’ she said .