Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: part of the furniture (used idiomatically: yes)
Profits should rise from £ 2.09 m to £ 2.5 m in the year to May 1990 , rating the shares , down 1p to 242p yesterday , on a modest earnings multiple of around eight times . Buy . Column Eight : Sterling is part of DTI furniture By SIMON PINCOMBE Secretaries of State for Trade and Industry may come and go but Sir Jeffrey Sterling , chairman of the P&O group , has long been part of the furniture at 1 Victoria Street .
Idiom: get the picture (used idiomatically: yes)
the rude one to me I dunno I have n't yet cos Jo got a picture of my head when I was sleeping and a close up there 's Jasmine where ?
Idiom: go downhill (used idiomatically: yes)
Strange , is n't it , or perhaps not so strange , that the word is so much used by theoreticians and so little used by artists themselves ? I would like to have read more on the subject by Frank Bowling , whose views seem not to be harmonised with Araeen 's somewhat dogmatic viewpoint . Bowling resembles a number of older artists in the exhibition in that he came to England ( from Guyana , in his case ) to be an artist , had some success , then moved to and fro between London and New York when his public career went downhill in the Sixties . Could it be that there was then more racism in the art world , and that Black artists were being squeezed out at just the time when young working - class artists from the British provinces were finding unprecedented and immediate public fortune ? Hard to know .
Idiom: rank and file (used idiomatically: yes)
NEIL KINNOCK got a huge vote of gratitude from the Party — with a poll - topping return to the national executive . As leader for nine years , he had an automatic place on the ruling body . And yesterday Labour 's rank - and - file kept him there as he won 533,000 votes in the constituency section of the election — which is decided by ballot . Mr Kinnock said he was ‘ grateful for the confidence the movement has shown in me’ . Euro - rebel Bryan Gould — who has quit the shadow cabinet — was voted off the NEC in the same section , with his support halved .
Idiom: face the music (used idiomatically: no)
Altogether 115 horses have been entered for the Mitsubishi Trophy , the first year of the event 's new sponsorship , which equals the 1984 record . The United States and New Zealand , the reigning world champions , will make especially strong challenges , the latter including Blyth Tait and Messiah , Badminton runners - up in 1990 before going on to win the individual world title . Mark Todd , winner of the last two Olympic three - day events and of Badminton in 1980 on Southern Comfort , and third on The Irishman , a ' spare ride ' in 1989 , has 1990 Burghley winner Face the Music among his two entries . Ginny Leng 's Master Craftsman won Badminton in 1989 , but missed the last two runnings because of injury , which also prevented her from defending her European title last season . They will need a good showing to put themselves back in contention for a place in Britain 's Olympic squad .
Idiom: under the microscope (used idiomatically: yes)
However , drying the whiskers out did not seem to have an important effect upon their strength , as far as I could tell . One of the difficulties in the early stages of this work was to find any reasonably reliable method of measuring whisker strengths . We used to bend the whiskers under the microscope with a dissecting needle and , having measured the thickness and radius of curvature very approximately we could estimate the breaking strain by simple beam theory . As one might imagine this method was maddeningly inconvenient and very inaccurate . The whiskers generally began life as exceedingly fine filaments which could be seen to thicken as they got older .
Idiom: catch someone's eye (used idiomatically: yes)
Bright red bete]juice , the brothers noticed , stained the lips of all the Annamese , low and high born alike . But evidence of the betel habit was no longer the most striking sight for the two Americans . Among the slow - moving crowds slender , graceful Annamese girls wearing traditional skilken ao dai caught their eye again and again . The pastel - coloured costumes were at once demure and provocative ; fitted tight from throat to hip , they clung to every line of the delicate , high - breasted figures , heightening the allure of slender shoulders , tiny waists and the swell of young Ranks ; below the waist , however , the gossamer - light , side - split skirts and billowing trousers of white silk shrouded legs and thighs in secrecy , and to Chuck and Joseph the exotic girls of Saigon seemed not to walk but to float gently beneath the tamarinds on the evening breeze . Chuck peered intently at each girl they passed , but without exception they avoided his gaze .
Idiom: weak at the knees (used idiomatically: yes)
Dressed in a plaid shirt and faded jeans that clung lovingly to his muscular thighs , he was leaning against the door - jamb with his usual easy animal grace , and she was forced to swallow hard against a rush of desire that totally unnerved her . What was happening to her ? she wondered hazily ; after this afternoon she should surely loathe the man more than ever . Instead , here she was , going weak at the knees like an adolescent schoolgirl . Suddenly a thought struck her and her eyes grew puzzled . ‘ What did you call me just now?’
Idiom: take stock (used idiomatically: yes)
Then her anger erupted , her hand flashed upwards and she had delivered a stinging slap to his left cheek before she even realised that she intended to . Horrified … and yet strangely relieved and satisfied , and tingling with primitive energy and release , she turned on her heel and threaded so nimbly through the crowded guests that she reached the French doors that opened on to the side veranda before Greg had recovered enough to take a single step . Daring to pause in the doorway to take stock of the reaction her dramatic gesture had produced , she found that only those closest to herself and Greg had even noticed . Perversely , she wished now that Tom had been in the room after all . She felt sometimes that he did n't know how spirited she could be , and this would certainly have shown him !
Idiom: once in a blue moon (used idiomatically: yes)
No way am I living in another flat , no chance . I mean my parents wo n't visit me cos I living here . So I have to go up and visit them , but her parents never come down here , only once in a blue moon when they feel like it . So we 're losing out as , you know we 're losing out all the time . No one that no one 'll visit you .
Idiom: cock a snook (used idiomatically: yes)
Voice over It 's a success story The Chancellor of the Exchequer must be praying will be repeated across the country . A small firm on the brink of disaster two years ago cocking a snook at the recession by doubling its workforce and turning out garden tractors in the face of high demand … today saw number 5,000 roll off the line . Male speaker it 's too easy to roll curl up and roll over in the recession .
Idiom: rank and file (used idiomatically: yes)
The political consequences of marriage were frequently cancelled out by other counter - alliances . On several occasions in the centuries of this book , a single family group ruled over most of Europe . Their relationships and marriage alliances did not conduce to peace , but they commonly gave the warfare of the period the appearance of civil war , even though the rank and file of the soldiers can hardly have felt the bond which united the leaders on both sides . Though warfare came increasingly to be in competition with marriage marketing as the chief business of kings , it lost none of its importance in the eyes of contemporaries : the more indecisive it became , the more attached they were to it . It is remarkable indeed how little understanding we have of warfare in this period ; and we shall never know in detail how medieval kings acquired and held their power unless we can find out more precisely how they recruited their armies and led them .
Idiom: under the table (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ I said … ’ ‘ Teeny!’ he shouted standing up and knocking his packet of cigarettes and lighter on the floor . The dog ran under the table . Teeny opened her eyes wide and gaped . ‘ John …
Idiom: short shrift (used idiomatically: yes)
Punctuating the chat is a chronological sequence of the band 's vids , which neatly illustrate Fishbone 's steady move from scratchy skaa - funk to more MTV - friendly fare . The early efforts are low - budget romps , akin to the kind of shambling college - project material that 's usually the preserve of British indie outfits , but things become slicker as the band mature , as evidenced by ‘ Sunless Saturday’— a cinematic masterstroke that finds Spike Lee adding claustrophobic visuals to a song that embodies the oppressive squalor of Fishbone 's native Los Angeles . It 's a fast - paced , illuminating and frequently hilarious show , but the portrait is left incomplete by the short shrift given to film of Fishbone onstage — surely the one place where their controlled chaos makes perfect sense — and a surprising lack of emphasis on the political apoplexy that makes them so fascinating . Fishbone 's Angelo Moore : get ‘ Real’ -ity There are 20 spanking new copies of this definitive Fishbone compilation going to the winners of this week 's competition .
Idiom: go with the flow (used idiomatically: yes)
I said women should have a choice : the hospital said it had to have a policy.’ He resigned to join the private sector and says there was a massive demonstration of at least 5,000 women , marching in his favour , on London 's Hampstead Heath . So , I suggest , he was tapping into what women wanted — going with the flow . ‘ No,’ he contradicts , ‘ I was ahead of the flow.’ One of his innovations was setting up a group which meets on Wednesdays for a five - hour session of yoga , baby massage , lunch and discussion — attended by an assortment of pregnant women , new mothers , midwives and obstetricians .
Idiom: make light of (used idiomatically: yes)
Most of Iraq 's 800 or so aircraft have spent the war on or under the ground in well - protected shelters and hiding places . The Americans put the first - week total of Iraqi aircraft destroyed , on both air and ground , at 41 ; the British estimate is gloomier . Allied spokesmen make light of the fact that so many enemy aircraft remain intact . While they are on the ground , it is argued , they pose no danger ; if they fly , most will be shot down . General Powell admits to their ‘ latent capability’ but insists the allies now have ‘ air superiority’ .
Idiom: do someone proud (used idiomatically: yes)
Andrew Kay , the Civil Service captain , confirmed yesterday : ‘ We are beginning to play as a team again and as we extend our winning sequence the more confident we are becoming.’ That is certainly not what Menzieshill , their opponents tomorrow at Maryfield , want to hear . The Taysiders will be playing their first competitive outdoor match of the year for , unlike their domestic rivals , they were on international duty last week in Basle , doing Scotland proud in winning the B Division of the European Indoor Championship . Touche Ross and Kelburne meet at Countesswells . Neither side is likely to take any unnecessary risks in a key game for both teams , so a draw is likely .
Idiom: at the coalface (used idiomatically: no)
They had been working about a mile along a blind underground roadway , ending at what is due to be a new coal face , when the roof fell in 500 yards behind them . Within minutes of being trapped behind a 20-feet thick wall of coal , steel and rubble completely filling the 12-feet high and 16-feet wide tunnel , they were in contact with colleagues on the opposite side using the undamaged Tannoy system which runs along the wall of the roadway . They received ventilation through a compressed air pipeline , also running along the side , which is used to power cutting tools at the coalface . Able to see by lights from their pit helmets , the trapped miners cut the pipe at their end of the blockage while their rescuers did the same , pumping through fresh air by fan . The operation to free them involved four teams of three men from mines rescue centres at Selby and Doncaster working in 10-minute shifts to claw away debris from a bottom corner of the fall .
Idiom: to the bone (used idiomatically: yes)
Clarissa did things differently . She served restaurant meals , laying the table with dire artistry , wrapping mousses of fish in fillets of different fish , lapped by puddles of brightly hued sauces , and she provided each guest with his own little plateful of miniature carrots , mange - tout peas and tiny potatoes . She moulded rice and puréed sprouts , slid paper garters on to lamb bones and rolled slices of beaten meat around stuffings which , as often as not , contained pine kernels . Scarlet despised her methods , as she knew Clarissa would despise hers , for Scarlet agitated herself only about the nutritional content of food and held in contempt the misplaced aestheticism of the lily - contoured table napkin . They were talking about advertising when Constance and Scarlet went back upstairs .
Idiom: on the ground (used idiomatically: yes)
Species exhibiting altitudinal descent in the Outer Hebrides include Arctostaphylos uva-ursi , Polygonum viviparum , Oxyria digyna , Salix herbacea , Saxifraga oppositifolia , Sedum rosea , and Silene acaulis ( Currie 1979 ) . The combination of high precipitation , water surpluses , large number of wet days and low insolation experienced in highly oceanic areas is thought to increase the rate of growth and the competitive abilities of bryophytes , notably Sphagnum species , hypnoid mosses and Racomitrium ( Poore & McVean 1957 ) , all of which are very conspicuous in plant communities in the Western Isles . West Atlantic bryophytes are particularly well represented in the upland plant communities of the Western Isles , a feature undoubtedly linked to the high number of wet days on the higher ground of southern Lewis , Harris and South Uist ( Ratcliffe 1968 ) . The Nature Conservancy Council 's Upland Vegetation Survey recorded 14 patches of hepatic-rich Calluna vulgaris heath in North Harris , with a total area of 65 ha , the fourth highest figure recorded by the Survey in Scotland ( Hobbs 1988 ) . Liverworts in these communities include Herbertus aduncus , Scapania gracilis , Plagiochila spinulosa , P.carringtonii and Mylia anomala , as well as the filmy fern Hymenophyllum wilsonii ( Brown 1986 ) .
Idiom: make a move (used idiomatically: no)
The company plans Solaris x86 , Windows and Windows NT versions of these and the ShowMe system , versions for other RISC workstations thereafter . It 's currently recruiting a Paris - based Central European manager who will be responsible for French , German , Italian , Spanish and other markets ; SunSolutions claims 900 ShowMe licensees across Europe . MAKE MAKES MOVE INTO EUROPE WITH ITS NETWORK ASSET MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE Mountain View , California - based Make Systems Inc , which specialises in network asset management software for wide area and router networks , is establishing a UK subsidiary . The new office is to cover northern Europe , and the company also has plans to open a Paris office to cover southern Europe in the near future .
Idiom: eyeball to eyeball (used idiomatically: yes)
As Nigel Lawson and Jock Bruce - Gardyne discovered subsequently through their excellent insider links , This time the argument was entirely over the onus of proof . Heath , in the words of one witness , ‘ made it eyeball to eyeball’ . He refused to budge , and was given full support by Douglas - Home , whose diplomatic skills softened the rough edges of Heath 's ‘ extraordinary resolution’ . Eventually after , in all , three hours of Cabinet discussion of this one issue , the opponents conceded : Heath had won .
Idiom: one of those things (used idiomatically: yes)
Two bells and an orange . Clickity , dickity , clickity . If you had stood as I have done for five hours in a draughty ante - room of a courthouse sticking sixpences into one of those things to see how frequently it paid out , you would n't be so keen to chuck your money away , son . Could n't understand it , could he ? Two or three jackpots a night in the Club .
Idiom: kiss of death (used idiomatically: yes)
We certainly can not create it and thus , in view of our ignorance on one hand and our inability on the other , what right have we to terminate this gift of a beneficent Creator ? Fordyce Maxwell Kiss of death to life - saving ? A SURVEY by the St John Ambulance Brigade came up with the remarkably interesting finding that the man most women would prefer to give them the kiss of life , assuming it was necessary or even if it was n't , would be TV doctor Hilary Jones . Never heard of him , one of those embarrassing admissions the best of diarists have to make at times .
Idiom: on the shelf (used idiomatically: yes)
A central storage and resource room reduces pressure for space in individual teaching rooms , but needs pre - planning and co - operation in order to have equipment available for specific lessons . In preparing particular sections or blocks of work for classes or groups of pupils which include visually handicapped children it can be useful to code in a mark when drafting the programme to indicate the need for a piece of specific equipment to be available , and check this quickly on a daily basis ( for example , closed circuit television tape recorder ; overhead projector ) . Materials and equipment less frequently used or too heavy for pupils to handle easily should be stored on upper shelves . Keeping braillers , typewriters and even magnifiers in their cases , or at least under covers when not in use , helps to maintain them in good condition , since dust and grime can cause damaged surfaces . Insistence on this in the early stages of use helps to make it become simply a good habit .
Idiom: dyed in the wool (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ Help me get out of going to Gran 's on Sunday.’ Once a fortnight on a Sunday afternoon the girls went to tea with Gran Bristow in the little house that had once been their home . Sally quite enjoyed the visits but Paula had no patience for making conversation with Gran , who tended to have very old - fashioned , dyed - in - the - wool ideas and was easily shocked , and she hated having to eat her way through the ham salad and bread and butter , Victoria sponge and tinned fruit and cream which Gran not only laid on but also piled high on her plate because she thought Paula much too thin . ‘ Oh Paula!’ Sally scolded .
Idiom: close to home (used idiomatically: yes)
This was represented in the very early stages by allocations of new council housing in Seaton Valley to workers of incoming firms on a much more generous basis than a simple ' key worker ' system . In addition , Seaton Valley cleared most of the existing colliery housing in the existing pit villages and rehoused their residents in new developments in Cramlington . This involved at least 1000 colliery and ' temporary ' dwellings and was achieved without any of the controversy associated with the Category D policy in County Durham ( see Blackman , 1987 ) , largely because residents got good modern dwellings close to their original homes . These relocated households were ' post - coal ' , and were a crucial part of the labour force for the new industries . In contrast , private sector development was geared to over spill residents from Tyneside and the implicit assumption ( and certainly reality ) was that most of these would commute back to the conurbation for work .
Idiom: in tandem (used idiomatically: yes)
And that takes time . It 's easy enough to say this : I know from experience how difficult it is in practice ! The aim is to balance the left and right hemispheres of the brain -the analytical and the intuitive — using both in tandem . This is difficult as we are not used to doing it , preferring to keep these approaches in separate compartments . We have to learn new techniques to integrate them .
Idiom: shoot the breeze (used idiomatically: no)
This was bad luck on the lady , who was obviously dead keen . Refreshed , I said hi to a few filmstars , briefly joining them at their tables with a selection of apposite one - liners . Invited into a back room , I shot the breeze with a married couple who said they ran the place . She was obviously a madame of some kind , not that this bothered me too much . She denied it .
Idiom: get it up (used idiomatically: no)
There followed a series of spider - like manoeuvres to negotiate the chimney - groove and become ensconced on the ledge belay . Hebbert joined him and moved left to the obvious beetling crack and groove line he had spotted from below — omitting to pause and wonder why this particular line soared up straight as an arrow , on a route called Curving Crack!. The first few strenuous bridging moves sowed the seeds of doubt — not over the route 's identity so much as whether he could get up it . But it was only 4c so he pressed on … and the going got tougher . He came to an impasse and the choices appeared to be an improbable looking layback , a highly unlikely deviation at the left wall , or retreat .
Idiom: man and boy (used idiomatically: yes)
I respond to your articles ' Join Up ' and ' Promoting the Sport ' , Scuba World July 1991 . I have been a member of one of the organisations mentioned in ' Join Up ' for some 12 years . In which time I have been a victim of the clique set , if your face does n't fit , your training can wait ; also the ' Hooray Henry ' brigade , the difference between the men and the boys is the price of their toys , types . A great many divers will know what I 'm driving at . I feel , even now , there is too much prejudice and politics in diving .
Idiom: back to the drawing board (used idiomatically: yes)
Private screening Modern artists are seeking creative scope in the folds of designer screens . CAROLINE CLIFTON - MOGG goes back to the drawing boards Ricardo Cinalli 's plaster surfaced screen with neo - classical images is painted to give a fresco impression ; £ 1,700 , Liberty , Regent Street , London W1 . Left : Sarah Stewart 's Nanking Ware , a wooden screen with swags and vases , from £ 870 ; and , below left , Boutique Fantasque , panelled acrylic on canvas by Alan Powers , from £ 920 .
Idiom: ahead of the game (used idiomatically: yes)
Cyclists and horse riders are keen to progress with the scheme but there has been some opposition from one particular village . We are campaigning through magazines asking people to write to their MPs about off - road cycling facilities and one way they could show their support , or give a sign of their intent , would be to push through the Pennine Bridleway . The Forest Enterprise are well ahead of the game as far as provision for off - road facilities is concerned . Their policy to encourage cycling , not the macho sort but for families , is very progressive . They are waymarking routes which are well graded and not too difficult — an increase in facilities will take people off the roads which ca n't be a bad thing .
Idiom: bite someone's head off (used idiomatically: yes)
The fool , a wise commentator , remarks on the instance showing that Lear can expect no gratitude from his daughters . ‘ The hedge-sparrow fed the cuckoo so long That it had it head bit off by it young ’ They strip him down to nothing , removing every scrap of power and majesty he had left . Although clearly one can sympathise with Lear one can not expect anything else of the two sisters when they are shown such a bad example of love from their father in his dealings with Cordelia .
Idiom: doom and gloom (used idiomatically: yes)
He reports on the feedback from the members of the course : Teachers seem to appreciate an attempt to be positive about the Education Reform Act . So much of what has been written is of the doom and gloom variety . ( Bailey 1989 : 82 ) His stance is as much an attempt to influence the outcomes as it is a prediction of the likely consequences of the Act .