Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: save face (used idiomatically: yes)
Commitment to the war also determined the Unionist response to Lloyd George 's disputes with the generals in the winter of 1917–18 . Sympathy was with the generals rather than the Prime Minister , hardly surprisingly in view of past events , but sympathy never went far enough to weaken Lloyd George 's position greatly . Haig was saved from dismissal by defenders on the Unionist side , but Robertson 's removal caused a small stir , and Unionists voted in force to save Lloyd George 's face in the Maurice debate . It was doubly difficult for Unionists to resist the substitution of Sir Henry Wilson for Robertson , for Wilson was the most Unionist of all the General Staff and Robertson had not enjoyed good relations with Unionists ; Derby 's weakness at the War Office and Law 's loyalty to Lloyd George were sufficient to defuse the situation . The dismissal of Haig would have been much more serious , but with Law 's advice Lloyd George did not take the risk .
Idiom: in the bag (used idiomatically: yes)
pick it up if I farted ? Not with me , no . Oh yes I have in my bag . Have you ? Shall we listen to it in a minute , please ?
Idiom: in the sticks (used idiomatically: yes)
TIME FLIES We were watching Feuillade 's Judex . Insulated both against the cold and the ordinary activities of the town we abandoned ourselves delightedly , there amidst countless panelled enclosures in this little cinema in the sticks , to the all - consuming comfort of another era . Suddenly on the screen there appears a clock set in the centre of the kind of sumptuous salon that epoch , and Feuillade , alone had a taste for ; it shows 4.40 p.m. One of us automatically consults his watch : 4.40 to the second .
Idiom: out of the question (used idiomatically: yes)
She was refused entry at the dentist on formal hygiene regulation grounds , and luckily , oh so luckily , I 'd met an old friend in a shop opposite the dentist so he took Bella off for a walk . He and his wife have two puppies , but he was thankfully alone and ready to rise to the occasion . Unusually for me , I saw a few paintings and so on which I thought were lovely , but of course purchase is quite out of the question — and anyway we have no wall space left here ! I saw a lot of old friends , and wore a dashing outfit purchased at perhaps an extravagance in a London second hand shop — but from the compliments , I feel now it was worth it and that , feeling good in it , I will wear it quite a lot . Better stop and walk to the Post Office Sorting Office — the light is closing in and I would rather do the mile there and mile back in daylight .
Idiom: push the envelope (used idiomatically: no)
‘ You call me if you find out anything,’ Laidlaw said . ‘ Any time , day or night.’ Barak nodded then pushed the envelope into his pocket . ‘ I still say you are wasting your time . Bernard is dead.’
Idiom: on the house (used idiomatically: no)
I am sorry that the Minister has not found it possible to agree with the reasonable amendment . I do not want to add to the controversy that we had earlier by saying that , yet again — and I congratulate them on this — our colleagues have obtained more in the English legislation than we have — The Minister indicates dissent , but I won the last argument and I am not sure whether he wants another one at this late hour . But as he was profoundly unconvincing , and as another place is at present still considering the English position , I would not wish to force the point on the House . Interruption I hope that another place will have a perhaps more inspired attitude to these matters .
Idiom: rough and tumble (used idiomatically: no)
There are walks to Bothwell Castle where we picnic with tomato sandwiches and lemonade in the unkempt , wooded grounds or inside the ruins , always in a group of girls . These are my childhood idylls , when summer holidays were always hot and sunny . In the rough and tumble of my street there was less luxuriance . I had a sense of belonging , but I felt awkward with my body . Children of all ages played together , at kick - the - can and peever , hide - and - seek and steps and tig .
Idiom: get the picture (used idiomatically: yes)
He studied Nigel 's particulars and started to read them out slowly , looking up to query various points and making notes on a pad in front of him . ' You say you 're divorced , or is it separated ? It might help us to get the full picture if we could talk to your wife . Perhaps you could give us her phone number . Did she remarry ? '
Idiom: keep up with the Joneses (used idiomatically: yes)
A washing machine?— 75 per cent owned one too . Vacuum cleaners , pop - up toasters , food mixers — by 1960 they were common to 70 per cent of American families . Britain could not match these percentages but it was catching up , ‘ keeping up with the Joneses’ . In 1958 , when hire purchase restrictions were finally abolished , the throttle was opened . You could become the owner of a Ford Popular for a down payment of £ 4 . 8s . 5d . or of a refrigerator for £ 3 . 3s . 3d . , with years to pay .
Idiom: go public (used idiomatically: yes)
To regain fitness and to find fresh enthusiasm , he joined a new club , Granta Harriers . He said : ‘ My lack of enthusiasm was due to alcohol ! And that 's my reason for going public now , to advise , WARN OFF , discourage other runners from falling into the same trap as me . ‘ I had developed a penchant for Southern Comfort over the years and when not running I soon began to surpass the 20 units of alcohol per week ‘ allowed’ by the experts if you do n't wish to become addicted . ‘ The standard unit is half a pint or a single spirit measure , but my standard glass , poured with a generous hand , would contain four or five single measures .
Idiom: go public (used idiomatically: yes)
The report identified five challenges that face the Health for All strategy . First , accountability by governments to their least - favoured populations ; second , definition of the role of governments in health care ; third , resources for health care , health inequalities , and human rights ' issues ; fourth , implementation of health measures ; and fifth , international cooperation over health . Sexuality goes public in Turkey The surprise election of the first woman Prime Minister in Turkey has coincided with other small signs of liberalisation in an otherwise traditional society . Two weeks ago , for example , Halim Hattat , professor of uroandrology at Istanbul University , issued a well publicised invitation for Turks with sexual problems to come forward for treatment .
Idiom: in the long term (used idiomatically: yes)
Does n't protect people 's jobs , does n't protect the consumer , short - termism that does n't seek to safeguard our vital natural resources for future generations . Quick political fixes that have a complete disregard for the environment . The efficient use and planning in a coherent , coordinated and balanced way of all our energy resources is essential in the long - term , to safeguard in the long - term , the energy needs of our nation for ourselves and our children . We have the resources but we import coal . Columbian coal , mined by women and children , we have the resources , but we import electricity via an undersea cable from France .
Idiom: go through the motions (used idiomatically: yes)
For fourteen or fifteen years no man could have been less conscious of himself and of his own life , less informed about the world than Antoine Bloye . He was alive no doubt ; who is not alive ? All you need is a well - fed body to go through the motions of life . He moved and acted , but the springs of his life and the driving force of his actions were not within himself … his strength was being spent on the grindstone of alien work ; he was not putting it to his own account . He was not using it to further his own human development , he was using it up for the profit of the people who paid him , the anonymous shareholders and their abstract interests .
Idiom: wipe someone's eye (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ I will always love him . You know that.’ Surreptitiously wiping her eyes , Elizabeth asked eagerly , ‘ What news have you ? How is he ? And Beth … what of Beth?’
Idiom: take liberties (used idiomatically: yes)
Yet here they are at the Lyric , Hammersmith , with a magical production of The Winter 's Tale , which honours this great play while doing full justice to Complicite 's distinctive eccentricity . This is not a show for those who like their Shakespeare straight . Great liberties are taken , and the verse - speaking from the multi - racial cast is at times atrocious . Yet you never feel that the company is introducing novelty for novelty 's sake . Complicite 's use of movement and body language brilliantly illuminates the text , and almost every scene has a vitality that forces you to consider the play afresh .
Idiom: in the black (used idiomatically: yes)
There were statues on pedestals , angels or statesmen , he could n't tell . A great many people sat at the feet of the statues or stood about in groups near by . They were all dressed in black . They were all crying . Some dabbed at their eyes with handkerchiefs , others covered their faces and wept into their hands .
Idiom: for a song (used idiomatically: yes)
YES ! PASSIONATE songs and groovy diversions and a voice that cracks and soars and makes you aware of the rich possibilities of your lot , instead of burying your feelings in a horrible , orthodox genre . Iris has a raw style that ancestral artists The Carter Family would recognise instantly , and a facility for a great story song that never makes you feel insulted or nauseous . Expect to hear lots more about Iris in the next year , 'cause she 's better than a million of those smug Nashville fat - cats . MARY - CHAPIN CARPENTER : Come On Come On
Idiom: get on someone's nerves (used idiomatically: yes)
Oh it does n't matter . cos I swore at Ma I swore at Martin yesterday because he was getting on my nerves like he was saying Did you listen to it yesterday ? What ?
Idiom: over the top (used idiomatically: yes)
There 's a lot of truth in the criticism and South African supporters at the World Cup who dismissed all the sides as sub - standard would do well to take note of it . However , just look at the way that refereeing has influenced certain facets of the international game . Ruthless penalising of malingerers and also of sides going over the top has brought about a quiet revolution . Attacking sides can now repeatedly drive and place the ball safe in the knowledge that , providing support is there , possession will be retained . This applies to backs as well as forwards and centres have become , once again , key players in the strategy of committing opponents and then moving the ball wide .
Idiom: set eyes on (used idiomatically: yes)
But he was dangerously attractive . She could not afford to allow her guard to slip . There was no doubt of her employer 's beguilement , she thought , as Lady Merchiston set eyes on the visitor coming into her room behind Miss Kyte . ‘ Benedict ! My dear boy , what a lovely surprise!’
Idiom: to the tune of (used idiomatically: yes)
From a surplus of £ 385 million in 1970 , Britain had reached an annual deficit of £ 3,410 million by 1979 , as seen in Chapter 2 . Between 1981 and 1991 the United Kingdom ran an overall deficit of some £ 80,000 million with the EEC . Over the same period Britain was in surplus with the rest of the world to the tune of £ 78,000 million . In 1990 alone the deficit with the EEC was £ 13,000 million ( some £ 30 million per day ) ; with the rest of the world Britain 's surplus in 1990 was £ 2,000 million . These deficit figures do not include levies paid on non - EEC imports , net capital outflow , or the loss of Commonwealth and Efta market preferences .
Idiom: come to terms with (used idiomatically: yes)
One can not come to terms with the past , one can not find peace or reconciliation unless one faces up to history in its entirety .
Idiom: in someone's pocket (used idiomatically: yes)
They obtained an injunction which prevented compulsory observation from June 1981 to January 1984 , when it was finally overturned by the Court of Appeal . Full observer coverage of the US tuna fleet was not achieved until 1989 . The NMFS , the US government agency charged with administering the MMPA , has often been accused by environmentalists of being in the pocket of the tuna industry . In 1984 , during re-authorisation hearings on the Act , the US Congress directed the NMFS to develop regulations that would require an automatic embargo of tuna from any country which did not comply with the US dolphin-kill quota and requirements for dolphin rescue . It was a full 4 years before the regulations were released .
Idiom: on the carpet (used idiomatically: yes)
Some normal household policies do not include cover for fish tanks and damage arising from the water which will inevitably pour on the floor . Although such experiences are relatively rare,(providing the tank glass is of the correct thickness and the stand is strong enough to take the weight ) , it 's important that you can rest assured in the knowledge that you are insured if such a disaster should occur . After all , the average three footer holds around twenty gallons of water , which can make an awful mess on the carpet ( or on the living room ceiling if the tank happens to be upstairs ) . Your best bet is to let the insurance company know that you have a fish tank before you take out a policy . Check that you are covered for the tank and any furnishings , such as carpets , which could be ruined if you have a disaster .
Idiom: follow in someone's footsteps (used idiomatically: yes)
Fri 20 Mansfield Civic Centre ( with the Cantamus Choir ) ; Sat 21 Queen Elizabeth Hall , South Bank , London SE1 ; Sun 22 Dartington Arts Centre Great Hall ; Mon 23 Bristol St Georges Church ; Tue 24 Padiham Town Hall ; We d 25 Darlington Arts Centre , Vane Terrace ; Thur 26 Aberystwyth Arts Centre ; Fri 27 Brighton Concorde Club ; Sat 28 Llantwit Major St Donats ; Sun 29 Birmingham Midlands Arts Centre . JOE HARRIOTT Memories of the great altoist are evoked by a quintet featuring three members of his band : trumpeter Shake Keane , bassist Coleridge Goode , and drummer Bobby Orr . The pianist is Michael Garrick and altoist Martin Hathaway has the daunting task of following in Harriott 's footsteps . Fri Cheltenham Queen 's Hotel ; Sat Berkhamsted Civic Centre ; Sun Birmingham Midlands Arts Centre ; We d Leeds College of Music ; Thur 26 Northampton Arts Centre ; Thur 2 Nov London , University College School ; Sat 4 London , Pizza Express , Dean St , W1 ; Sun 5 Brentwood Monkey Club ; We d 8 Nottingham Old Vic ; Sun 12 Newcastle Corner House ; Fri 17 Brighton Concorde Club ; Sat 25 Swindon Link Ctr . ART BLAKEY The godfather marks his 70th birthday with a reunion band featuring past and present Messengers .
Idiom: take stock (used idiomatically: yes)
Pied - fly numbers have increased dramatically since nest box provision has become widespread practice in the sessile oak woods they prefer . A brown and white female appeared with a crane fly in her beak . She landed on a twig , took stock , and shot into the box — to feed her brood . I crept back the few yards to the way marked path and walked on down the track . Sessile oaks ?
Idiom: break new ground (used idiomatically: yes)
Jack Maurice of the Institute 's Ethics Committee also warned that , although Channel 7 may not be ethically improper , practitioners should ‘ consider carefully whether to spend money on it’ . INTERIM REPORTS GRE breaks new ground Insurance group Guardian Royal Exchange has broken new ground by publishing a review by auditors Price Waterhouse in its interim results statement for the first half of 1992 . According to director of corporate communications Keith Luckton , GRE felt that issuing an interim report clearly labelled unaudited did not fully inform shareholders of the work done by the auditors during the year .
Idiom: down the road (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ I will stay,’ Luib said quietly . The others trooped out of the healer 's house on to the sunlit street , glad to breathe fresh air and to feel the breeze on their faces . They almost ran down the road , drawing looks from the passers - by . But they did not care . They were glad to be free of the flatboat and the smell of death that had been with them ever since the battle .
Idiom: by and large (used idiomatically: yes)
Here we have the notion that as the system of technology ( the domestication of animals and the formation of herds ) develops , it becomes incompatible with the social system , especially the system of inheritance and familial authority , This growing incompatibility , or contradiction , then leads to a revolutionary change in the social system , in this case the change to father right , a system which according to Morgan and Engels was better adapted to pastoralism . Engels and Marx therefore saw in Morgan 's ideas about the passage from one stage to another a confirmation of their general theory of social change . This is perhaps the most important reason why Marx and Engels concentrated so much on Morgan 's work , and by and large accepted the main lines of his account of the early history of mankind . Morgan 's work offered to Marx and Engels the early history of the processes which led to the creation of capitalism . It also enabled them to show that the same processes had governed history from the earliest time and that a science of history was therefore possible .
Idiom: fight shy of (used idiomatically: yes)
Until radicals grasped the need to conduct their affairs in absolute secrecy , their chances of conspiring effectively were remote . Their views might have attracted wider sympathy if the regime had been engaging in repression across the board , but although the tsar appeared to move to the right when he appointed Valuev to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Admiral Putiatin to the Ministry of Education , he was very far from abandoning the cause of reform . He was determined to restore order in the countryside , to avoid giving the impression that nobles could force him into concessions , and to silence the most determined of his critics , but he neither abandoned the task of implementing the emancipation statutes nor fought shy of enacting the additional measures to which freeing the serfs gave rise . The appointment of Valuev was not quite the retrograde step that some contemporaries thought it to be . The worst that can be said of the new minister is that he " undoubtedly possessed a definite political programme , but he was too cautious and too indecisive to carry it out " .
Idiom: put paid to (used idiomatically: yes)
Manchester claimed its services for disabled people were so good , people moved into the area to benefit from them . How many SSDs will be able to say the same in five years ' time ? Cuts and capping have sadly put paid to that . Cynics may even suggest the whole exercise , from the Griffiths Report onwards , is a rationalisation of the need to control the public costs of private residential care . The fact that these have spiralled up from £ 10 million in 1978 to about £ 2 billion this year , simply confirms the cynics ' view that the government has little grasp of cause and effect .
Idiom: free rein (used idiomatically: yes)
Yelton was even nearer to Grimspound than High Tor . The temptation to see Tops would increase . It was just as well that he would soon be yoked to Virginia , so that his desire for his headstrong gypsy would never be allowed free rein . " Are n't you pleased ? I thought you would .
Idiom: in the driver's seat (used idiomatically: no)
Until both are established , there is a grave risk that Russia will use new blockades to continue the kind of divide - and - rule policy that the world has witnessed since Vladimir ~ Putin came to power . The planned Nord Stream gas pipeline on the bottom of the Baltic ~ Sea is a good example of the problems that everyone in Europe is facing . The pipeline has been established as a Russian - German - Dutch consortium , but it is the Russian energy giant Gazprom that is in the driver 's seat with 51 % of the shares . Nord Stream will enable Russia to deliver natural gas directly to Germany without using the existing land - based connections . At first glance , there seems to be no problem .
Idiom: all over the place (used idiomatically: no)
Then they will see , eh?’ I also learned in the store - room - of - secrets that Anwar was looking forward to having grandchildren . According to Anwar , Jamila would become pregnant immediately , and soon there 'd be little Anwars running all over the place . Anwar would attend to the kids ' cultural upbringing and take them to school and mosque while Changez was , presumably , redecorating the shop , moving boxes and impregnating my girlfriend Jamila again . As Anwar and I had these conversations Jamila liked to open the door to the store - room and just point the black barrel - ends of her eyes at me as if I were sitting with Eichmann .
Idiom: come to grips with (used idiomatically: yes)
It was clear that the Government were not able to get their legislation right at the first attempt . That will be the case in respect of this legislation , and a host of anomalies will come to light . Guillotining the Bill at this early stage shows that Ministers are frightened to come to grips with the legislation and face scrutiny of the details of their own Bill . We all want the poll tax to be abolished as soon as possible . A large number of people seem to share the Prime Minister 's belief that the poll tax is already abolished .
Idiom: full marks (used idiomatically: yes)
He walked over to the mantelpiece and stood looking at her cards , a cynical smile twisting his lips . ‘ You come under the sign for twins , if this card is anything to go by,’ he said , picking up the card Myra had sent . ‘ I give you full marks for a vivid imagination but … ’ He paused and flicked the card to her . ‘ If you really do have a twin then the chances of finding Garry can only be better if you 're with me.’
Idiom: on someone's mind (used idiomatically: yes)
Fierce fiery warriors fight upon the clouds … The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes . Death was very much on my mind , yet I could not tear my attention away from the cavortings of those two inhuman beings . Almost as if they had been awaiting the signal of an extra moon , they now took their prancings into a more intense phase . They stayed much more closely together , weaving intricate patterns round each other .
Idiom: party animal (used idiomatically: yes)
’ Yeah , small in feel like Stand By Me and 1969 ( out in May ) , sort of coming - of - age movies with a small , intimate feel to them.’ Perhaps Sutherland 's life is like a’ small’movie . Not for him the glitzy party animal networking of the Beverly Hills A - list . He talks about’ having a wonderful family and two wonderful children’and how recent press coverage in Britain has defaced them slightly . ( For the record , he claims never to have met the girl linked with him in a recent Sunday supplement expose . )