Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: anything goes (used idiomatically: yes)
The American mink Mustela vison was one of the reasons for the speed of the early European exploration of North America . Along with otter , beaver and muskrat , it was relentlessly pursued by trappers , who opened up the continent to all the other stages of civilisation . Anything goes . When mink and otters manage to share a habitat — and , on both sides of the Atlantic , they often do — it 's usually because they do n't compete too much for food . Both animals eat fish , yes , but mink eat almost anything else as well .
Idiom: the rest is history (used idiomatically: yes)
The prospect of a President Dan Quayle was not one many relished . In Arkansas , Democrat Governor Bill Clinton saw and seized his chance . The rest , as they say , is history . Now Mr Bush is heading for his seaside home in Kennebunkport to hang up the sign — Gone Fishin ' . Even before the first exit polls came in he was buying new tackle in readiness .
Idiom: every dog has its day (used idiomatically: yes)
Your owner may not be too happy but persevere and you 'll emerge triumphant and glorious . Other outings will bring further adventure . Owner 's tip : Try to remember that every dog must have its day . A Bona - Fido holiday Chesterfield 's Ringwood Hall is part of the Consort hotel chain , which welcomes dogs to its establishments .
Idiom: go straight (used idiomatically: no)
when you want to put in highlights at the end of your painting , the paint will tend to sink in each time you put on a pale colour if the paper is still damp . I usually wait until the next day when the painting is thoroughly dry , when it will accept the light colour perfectly . If I am painting a small picture which includes figures , I often start with no preliminary line but go straight in , blocking in the face and body , changing the colour as I go . In this case I am actually drawing with the brush and the colours will merge quite nicely as they are painted wet into wet . Any mistakes can be eradicated later .
Idiom: catch someone's eye (used idiomatically: yes)
Enterprising window dressers dressed up in ski outfits to set up a display of sportswear in this store . Like advertisements , window displays aim to attract the customers ' attention and persuade them to enter the shop and buy . When a customer buys goods ‘ on impulse’ it is often because something in the window display has caught his eye . The purposes of window display are : to show the range of goods stocked
Idiom: all over the place (used idiomatically: yes)
Whether it would actually work , though , is questionable . Last year Freedom was expected to cost $ 15 billion over the next five years ; when it comes back , moderately foreshortened , at $ 7 billion , why should anyone believe the new price ? There is much talk of cutting back management costs ; the redesign team hopes to simplify the station 's ghastly management structure , which has different contractors working with different NASA centres all over the place . But would such cuts stay cut ? The risk is that such a redesigned station , while it may prove palatable to Congress , would not actually succeed in its role as a space station .
Idiom: pissed off (used idiomatically: yes)
My nose , bum and Pixies tapes are getting worn down . Do n't get me wrong — the old squaddie faves such as Kylie , INXS , Cher and Rick Astley are in plentiful supply . I am not a scrounging pain in the arse , just your average pissed - off ‘ what the bloody hell am I here for?’ soldier . Please ( grovel grovel grovel ) help me as I am at my wits ' end with all this shit . Cheers , Andy
Idiom: under the sun (used idiomatically: yes)
GENESIS The race begins : events to 23 March 1989 NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN The announcement of room temperature fusion in 1989 has some of the hallmarks of a detective mystery where appearances deceive . Consider ' the facts ' .
Idiom: food for thought (used idiomatically: yes)
Brecknock Branch News — October 1992 Autumn Event — Video Evening and Buffet Supper at Treberfydd on 13th November We thought it might be a good idea to spend an evening aimed at providing some entertainment and some food for thought , not to mention some sustenance of more tangible nature . We have assembled a collection of three videos , covering last year 's National Park Conference in Brecon , the use and misuse of planning guidelines in one corner of Wales caused quite a stir when first televised , and won a CPRW award . Once again our Branch President has kindly offered her home as a venue .
Idiom: sing the praises of (used idiomatically: yes)
DOGGED DISCRIMINATION ? Which shops are dog - friendly ? SINITTA Singing the praises of dog ownership A BONA - FIDO HOLIDAY Sally enjoys a five - bone break ESCAPE FROM EGYPT Scottie travels from Cairo to Chorley
Idiom: under the influence (used idiomatically: no)
He had to tell London what he was doing , and this was not easy . In the prevailing atmosphere , those who had collaborated with Japan were traitors . Mountbatten thought otherwise : he was strongly under the influence of his Cambridge friend peter Murphy , a Communist , whom he had added to his staff . He justified his policy to the Chiefs of Staff by arguing , ‘ We shall be doing no more than what has been done in Italy … in turning people who were satellites … into co - belligerents.’ The Cabinet were much less happy about this , as were Mountbatten 's own staff : however , General Slim , in command of 14th Army , showed more understanding , declaring ( 19 April ) : ‘ Help already given by BNA has gone long way towards expiation of political crimes.’
Idiom: in my book (used idiomatically: yes)
Thomas Poole . Remember ? When I was immersed in my book on Coleridge I used to read you some of his letters . There was one in particular which might have stayed in your mind . I read it to you in bed , a couple of years ago , or maybe longer .
Idiom: take the wind out of someone's sails (used idiomatically: yes)
On the whole , the durability of this remarkable society is the more impressive . Yeltsin has that on his side . But he must do more to suppress the air of lawlessness that now abounds ( which would incidentally take the wind out of the Congress 's sails ) and persuade people that paying taxes is a social virtue ( which would then help balance Russia 's books ) . No part of Russia 's social fabric is more durable than its network of people with research at heart . To be sure , many able people have now gone elsewhere .
Idiom: wipe someone's eye (used idiomatically: yes)
The men who watched us began to feel uneasy . They hinted to all the women dependent on them in various ways that their shrill cries rendered them boring , humourless , sexually unappetising ; they talked of castration by these same women and wept and offered themselves as small soft snails out of their snailshells to be cosseted back by mummy into strength and pleasure - giving . After a long day of wiping her son 's eyes , arse and office floors , mummy was often too exhausted to continue the struggle . My parents loved me without conditions , so they and all the stories told me ; I seek a lover who will do the same . If you will not love me , having won me , I do not know who I am .
Idiom: pick up the pieces (used idiomatically: no)
He ran back and into the house , first to his own room , and then into the other half of the cottage , feeling a strange compulsion to find something , as if there were some crucial thing , upon which everything else depended , which was still hidden and must not be left behind . He went into the downstairs room where he had seen Marcus through the window . He picked up a piece of paper with some writing on it , could not decipher the writing , and dropped it . In the kitchen he noticed the keys of the house lying conspicuously on the table . Had Irina told Busby they were going ?
Idiom: pull a face (used idiomatically: yes)
I interrupted . ‘ We met Taplow in prison and saw the poor bastard die!’ Benjamin pulled a face . ‘ No , the man we met in prison was not Taplow but someone else.’ He smiled at my snort of disdain .
Idiom: in my book (used idiomatically: yes)
I 'll bring my matches when I like take the dog in I 'll nip upstairs and say I 've got ta get something and I 'll just grab my matches out of there in case he 's lost them or something ! Like he probably would do ! In my book I 'm gon na have to write down Mark , and put in brackets all the way through he 's called Shrimpy . m Out in a minute , changed .
Idiom: through thick and thin (used idiomatically: yes)
There was still a pleasant Scots lilt to her Voice . " But I have to take calculated risks sometimes . And I have calculated that you would be on Mr. Stavanger 's side through thick and thin . You see , I am not an accountant . I am a policeman .
Idiom: in the driving seat (used idiomatically: yes)
That sort of personal approach to the individual citizen is , more than anything else , likely to outrage the individual citizen who is being treated by the national health service . Where does the fault lie that produces that outrage ? First , it is clear that putting the National Union of Public Employees , the National and Local Government Officers Association and the Confederation of Health Service Employees back in the driving seat will never solve the problem . The Labour party 's reliance on producers rather than consumers will constantly bedevil its attempts to convince the British people that it is serious on these issues . Differences in quality standards , to which my hon . Friend the Financial Secretary referred , involve issues that are too serious for us to ignore .
Idiom: early bird (used idiomatically: yes)
Morning Billy ! Morning ! Early bird ? Early am I ? Half past nine ?
Idiom: out and about (used idiomatically: yes)
Over 100 Dale Farm milkmen have also been issued with incident report cards which they can pass on to the police through their depot manager . The dawn patrol rolls into action from the Askwith Road depot , Linthorpe , today . Divisional crime prevention officer David Chaplin said : ‘ The dawn patrol grew out of the realisation that by the nature of doorstep delivery , milkmen are out and about during the early hours of the morning.’ Band attempts to hit the high notes A CLEVELAND school band conducted by Labour leader Neil Kinnock hopes to go on to more national acclaim .
Idiom: ride high (used idiomatically: yes)
There were riots in Brixton in April and in Liverpool in July . The inner cities came seriously on to the political agenda and Michael Heseltine made a brave attempt to introduce new policies to tackle the undoubted deprivation . By this stage Labour should have been riding high . However , they were preoccupied with their own internal squabbles and Michael Foot was scoring low personal ratings in the opinion polls . The beneficiary was the SDP - Liberal Alliance .
Idiom: dice with death (used idiomatically: no)
In tests by Gloucester trading standards officers , more than 70 per cent of caravans were found to be over the weight limit . Another survey , by West Mercia police , found 130 faults in 90 caravans . Towing drivers are dicing with death , too . Their safety mistakes range from ' ill - advised ' to ' suicidal . ' With caravan holidays more popular than ever , police fear a summer of tragedies .
Idiom: in black and white (used idiomatically: no)
The guidance warns that ‘ unreasonable’ periods of time may constitute a restriction on liberty . However Yeo refused to state what was unreasonable . ‘ It would be extremely arrogant and impractical to put in black and white , hundreds of miles from where these events are happening , what should be done in all cases,’ he said . General principles have been included to try to avert intolerant regimes being created . ‘ A distinction must be maintained between the use of a ‘ one - off intervention’ which is appropriate in the particular circumstances , and using it repeatedly as a regular feature of a regime,’reads the document .
Idiom: plain sailing (used idiomatically: yes)
While the ANS had been highly successful in pioneering studies of the ultraviolet and X - ray sky , the new satellite would turn to the longer wavelengths of the infrared . NASA and the then Science Research Council , in the UK soon became interested in the prospective infrared mission , and in October 1977 the three countries signed contracts formalising the collaboration . The course since then has not been all plain sailing , as changes in the launch date , originally set for August 1981 , reflect . The problems that have beset the project , however , are a result not of misjudgement or incompetence but of real difficulties associated with infrared astronomy , which have meant that IRAS has required certain aspects of space technology to be developed well beyond previous limits . The primary problem that all infrared astronomers face , whether using instruments on Earth or on a satellite , is that all objects emit infrared or ‘ heat’ radiation .
Idiom: on the back of (used idiomatically: yes)
The cap fixed him securely to the board , with his airborne body trembling behind him like the handle of a plunged dagger . Later on , when he was five and too heavy to play a dart satisfactorily , he became ‘ The Living Gladstone Bag’ . He wore a handle on the back of his costume , stitched there by his hard - driven mother herself because she was n't going to have some theatrical costumier treating her son as if he were a sequin . His on - stage father would unsnap the child 's clothes , which were held together at the back by a clasp , pack them with toothbrush , pyjamas , and reading matter , and throw the patient luggage at an assistant stage manager dressed as a railway porter . The boy went without a name until he was six .
Idiom: in business (used idiomatically: yes)
He needed a ‘ hardness test’ for both . The outcome of the test is revealing : Two would - be polytechnics unwittingly supplied a gauge — syllabi softer than butter , one in business studies and one technological . Being fascinated with the problems of developing highly professional staff , and having many years of experience in recruiting from almost every British campus , I could not accept them as good building stone and felt obliged to turn them down . So did the C.N.A.A.
Idiom: over my dead body (used idiomatically: yes)
Violated , soul - destroyed and possibly murdered . Now and in the next few seconds . Over my fucking dead body . I bolt across the sheets legs first like a tarantula on the run . No lights .
Idiom: run a mile (used idiomatically: yes)
The crofter , thinking of his own personal interest , was more acutely aware of the difference between a live lion and a dead duck . The interesting thing is that Lord Leverhulme , who was so far ahead of his contemporaries in so many ways , missed two essential elements in the situation . Although he was the first to use motor transport on an extensive scale in Lewis — many a time as a youngster I ran a mile to see his fleet of yellow Fords — he failed to see that the advent of the bus made it possible for the crofter to live in the country and work in the town . His policy of urbanising the island was unnecessary and mistaken . He also asserted that the day of the cottage industry was over .
Idiom: in tandem (used idiomatically: yes)
The aircraft proved popular with the pilots and a further three were ordered by the CAA . Apart from these , only four other PJC-2s were ordered by private pilots and together with the prototype , eleven were sold when the need to build - up America 's defences led to a curb on the use of strategic materials and production ceased . While the PJC-2 was being put into production , Max Harlow was also engaged on modifying the design as a trainer , seating two in tandem . This was known as the PC-5A and flew for the first time in July 1939 . In many ways it was the same as the PJC-2 , using the same wing and control surfaces , but the fuselage was narrower and four inches longer .
Idiom: go hand in hand (used idiomatically: yes)
Her concern is not a narrow one of how sexual matters should be treated and presented , but how one is to construct and preserve a society in which the dominant values are Judaeo - Christian . The campaign against the LRSB illustrates this well : It is part of our thesis that sexual and political revolution go hand in hand and that indeed the first is prerequisite of the second . That The Little Red Schoolbook was a revolutionary primer there can be no question . Morality is attacked for political reasons , she argues , and the political beliefs at the core of the attack are fundamentally anti - Christian .
Idiom: off the cuff (used idiomatically: yes)
I took it to Sir Henry Knight and we tried to trace its origin back through the telegraph service . It turned out to be a report from the representative of the New Light of Burma . Simultaneously we had been in touch with Sir Hubert and had discovered that he did indeed give an interview to the representative in London and had spoken ‘ off the cuff’ to quite an extent but not justifying the outright statement attributed to him . A further discussion with Sir Henry led us to agree that the telegram must be delivered , but that I should take it in person to the Editor and see if something less embarrassing could be agreed . The Editor read the cable through and asked what steps I proposed to take .
Idiom: at sea (used idiomatically: yes)
Harsh grating cry resembles Arctic Tern ( p. 161 ) , but briefer . Flight buoyant , feeding off surface of water . Breeds on marshy tundras by fresh or coastal waters , winters at sea . 13 in . ( 33 cm . ) . HERRING GULL Larus argentatus .
Idiom: drop someone a line (used idiomatically: yes)
15/4/93 Dear Tim , Polly , Josh & William , Thought I 'd drop you a line now that things are almost back to normal here . We had a good flight home with excellent connection times , which made it less exhausting than the journey to Jo'burg . In fact , there was only one hitch .
Idiom: up to here (used idiomatically: no)
What do you do ? " " I 'm in films , " I said . " Right up to here . " " Then why are n't you having lunch with Lorne Guyland " ? See what I mean ?
Idiom: fall on deaf ears (used idiomatically: yes)
Sadly , the international community did not respond to last autumn ’s mass arrests of human ~ rights defenders . The 88~Generation leaders , including Min ~ Ko ~ Naing , Ko ~ Ko ~ Gyi , women activists like Su ~ Su ~ Nway , and others bravely expressed their grievances time and ~ again in letters , statements , and public demonstrations prior to the Saffron ~ Revolution . Their courageous calls fell on deaf ears ; they now remain imprisoned . It is time to strongly condemn the exclusion of a considerable number of people from voting and to insist on the release of Burma ’s political prisoners .
Idiom: turn something on its head (used idiomatically: yes)
CAMPAIGNERS last night called for investment in North - East rail services and dismissed the Passenger 's Charter as meaningless . Brian Milnes , secretary of the Cleveland Transport 2000 pressure group , said the charter benefited the South rather than the North . He said : ' It is designed mostly for London and turns reality on its head because it is dealing with late trains . ' The major problem in the North - East is that we have been savaged by cuts in the timetable following on from totally unreliable services . ' We need to go back to 1979 when we had adequate services up here , when there were eleven trains a day from Hartlepool to Darlington , not three as there now are and from May there will be none at all .
Idiom: start off on the wrong foot (used idiomatically: yes)
Stress and trauma are encountered both in domestic situations and in the workplace . If you 're trying to combine both in your life the chances of your being hit by stress are probably higher - no matter how brilliantly you may have organized the family in your absence — and it is even more important to be able to deal with it . Many women , through no fault of their own , appear to start off on the wrong foot . Forty per cent of the women attending a Dow - Stoker Returners programme decide to come back to work because of a trauma . The most common of these is divorce .
Idiom: for a song (used idiomatically: yes)
The progress of the past four years had been an ' extraordinary ' achievement by volunteers , staff and management and Mr. Duggan 's own highlights have included the formation of the successful Kingsley Theatre Club and the occasional meals with visiting chefs . This has allowed local people to enjoy a pleasant evening out at their local Kingsley ' restaurant ' . He 's also pleased that the centre is now the base for several local groups including the Women 's Institute , the WRVS lunch club , a mother and toddler group , and the ' hobby horse ' club for eight to twelves which attracts over 20 on a Friday evening for folk songs and dance . The ' superb ' yoga group , who met on Thursday evenings , had some spare capacity still and attracted people from a wide area . Kingsley Centre also had the Post Office run by Maureen Florence and was looking to extend the shop which , like a planned coffee shop , would also be run by Chainreaction .
Idiom: rough and ready (used idiomatically: yes)
People live together and work together . They are rich people , independent people , egotistical people and often extraordinarily unperceptive people . The sport itself and the money , shelter them from the kind of rough - and - ready exchange that brings ordinary people back from the brink of conflict and leads them to see their adversaries as people . Then there is a natural antagonism between drivers and bosses . Jackie Stewart stated that when he contributed to ' professionalizing ' the sport ; drivers continued in his wake , creating an adversarial relationship between those who drove and risked their lives and those who lived , on sponsor money , high on the hog and risked little but their reputations .
Idiom: blow someone's cover (used idiomatically: yes)
Anything he has to say , therefore , even under oath , needs to be taken with a pinch of salt . The fact that Coleman was also said to have been ‘ terminated’ further underlined the notion of his unreliability by suggesting that , even as a snitch , he was not to be believed . More serious from the point of view of his personal safety , by blowing his cover and stressing that he no longer enjoyed the government 's protection , the CNN broadcast , in effect , declared open season on Lester Coleman . It all but invited every cop - hating drug freak , every aggrieved drugs trafficker from the Bekaa Valley to Los Angeles , every ultra - right , gun - running , Contra - supporting machismo addict , and every thwarted narco - terrorist or Muslim extremist looking for a safe or cheap revenge to ‘ terminate’ him also . CNN also showed Coleman 's picture .