Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: in no uncertain terms (used idiomatically: yes)
The man she had just interviewed , a Mr Liam Groves , had not been too happy to be interviewed on Boxing Day . He was not at all impressed by her explanation that it was just to eliminate him from their inquiries . In fact , he had told her in no uncertain terms to go forth and multiply . Only not in the biblical words ! She finished her notes and looked at the list of suspects .
Idiom: drop a hint (used idiomatically: no)
They climbed back into the jeep and went on along the rutted lane , lurching and splashing through deep puddles , the Brigadier worrying audibly all the way because ' things were n't as they should be . ' This remark did not , as his passengers might have thought , refer either to the condition of the road or to his not having thought on about Easter , but to the problem of where the other two were going to eat lunch . He hoped fervently that they would go back to Florence and had dropped several hints in the hope of getting this information out of them , but the Captain was always concentrating on the job in hand as if nothing else mattered and the magistrate only smiled and nodded distractedly , his mind apparently elsewhere . Outside the Demontis farm a little dog shot out of a barrel and came to be petted by the Brigadier . A short round woman in a big flowered apron , her long grey - black pigtail wound into a thick bun , came out of her cheese room and sent the Captain and the Brigadier along the edge of a muddy , sprouting cornfield to a distant pasture , leaving the Substitute to keep his shoes dry near the farmhouse .
Idiom: on the square (used idiomatically: yes)
Born and reared within its environments , joining up straight from school as an eighteen - year - old seemed at the time no great trauma . Indeed , even going into a war was a welcome escape from my poorish Higher Certificate results . Yet once behind the sentry box , guilt and failure lay stacked on the barrack square . Like many of my generation I enjoyed playing soldiers . I enjoyed painting my little armoured scout car and sticking my head out of the lid .
Idiom: in light of (used idiomatically: yes)
They should also recognise that writing is often more formal and more impersonal than speech : lexical and grammatical features of language both reflect and create these contrasts . 17.52 ( i ) Pupils working towards level 7 should develop a sensitivity to the different styles of vocabulary that are used in different types of writing . ( ii ) In redrafting their work they should be encouraged to think of the first draft as tentative so that they are prepared to rethink their whole approach in the light of their own critical appraisal or of their discussions with their peers or teacher . ( iii ) In the context of their own writing and reading , they should learn about some of the frequently occurring words and roots that have been absorbed into English from other languages , so that they become familiar with the common word - building processes and spelling patterns that derive from them . ( iv ) If they use a computer spelling checker , they should learn about its limitations , for example in not distinguishing homophones , eg fair , fare , or different parts of speech , eg their , there .
Idiom: on the money (used idiomatically: yes)
Both cars blew up at Aintree , but the start money saw us through . All the stack - pipes fell off in the Daily Express Trophy at Silverstone , but Graham won again and that race carried a lot of money . We won for a third time at Zandvoort , the first grand prix of the season : apart from the prize money , that moved us up a scale on the start money and suddenly I could see our way through the rest of the season . ' Graham led from the first lap to the 97th at Monaco , and then ran out of oil . At Rouen the fuel filters were so good that they took all the dye out of the fuel and became clogged , so we only finished second .
Idiom: knock someone's socks off (used idiomatically: yes)
I spend part of the afternoon in the refreshment tent , enjoying a few reminiscences with some mates I have n't seen since Moses 's big match against Pharaoh 's magicians . I am stopped mid - anecdote by an imperious tap on my shoulder . It 's Lil , power - dressed to knock your socks off , with all eyes blazing . ‘ Kokos ! Did n't you hear them paging ?
Idiom: run riot (used idiomatically: yes)
For instance , there almost certainly was no free oxygen in the atmosphere . Though the chemistry of the world may have changed , the laws of chemistry have not changed ( that 's why they are called laws ) , and modern chemists know enough about those laws to make some well - informed speculations , speculations that have to pass rigorous tests of plausibility imposed by the laws . You ca n't just speculate wildly and irresponsibly , allowing your imagination to run riot in the manner of such unsatisfying space fiction panaceas as ‘ hyperdrives’ , ‘ time warps’ and ‘ infinite improbability drives’ . Of all possible speculations about the origin of life , most run foul of the laws of chemistry and can be ruled out , even if we make full use of our statistical fall - back argument about numbers of planets . Careful selective speculation is therefore a constructive exercise .
Idiom: off the shelf (used idiomatically: yes)
The OU offers an enormous range of subjects at many different levels . Courses can last from a few weeks to several months depending on what you want to achieve . Some courses can be bought off the shelf as self - contained study packs . From health and nutrition to high energy physics , from caring for babies to the latest manufacturing techniques — the choice is yours . Perhaps your interests lie in the more traditional university subjects such as history , chemistry , mathematics , psychology , economics or literature .
Idiom: with a view to (used idiomatically: yes)
Requests the Secretary - General of the United ~ Nations , in cooperation with the Secretary - General of the League of Arab ~ States , to encourage periodic consultation between representatives of the Secretariat of the United ~ Nations and the General ~ Secretariat of the League of Arab ~ States to review and strengthen coordination mechanisms with a view to accelerating implementation and follow - up action of multilateral projects , proposals and recommendations adopted at the meetings between the two organizations ;
Idiom: in your face (used idiomatically: no)
‘ It should talk about its benefits — the way the Church can enhance the quality of life and , dare I say , the afterlife , as opposed to threats of hellfire and damnation . ‘ It 's soft-selling , but that can be very successful — as the Gold Blend couple have shown . Instead of sticking a jar of coffee in front of your face and saying ‘ Buy this , drink this ’ , they have drawn you into a whole lifestyle . ’ ‘ I am not sure the Church should use television advertising at all . Television is a very evangelical medium and I do not think the Church of England can afford to or wants to compete with the evangelical churches .
Idiom: green light (used idiomatically: yes)
The psycannon likewise was adorned with supernumerary ribs and moulded flanges painted with esoteric , exorcistic glyphs . Jaq drew Meh'Lindi 's attention to the bio - scanner in its filigreed , jade - studded frame . A blotch of green light registered the psychic throb of life deep in the interior of the hulk . However , his scanner was fogged by emanations from the aspect of the hydra that was alive , almost masking the trace . That pocket of life was plainly still some distance away , yet it was apparent to Jaq that the instrument was attempting to distinguish more than the single sharp blip that would represent Carnelian alone .
Idiom: for good measure (used idiomatically: yes)
In his haste to leap out of the way Vincent dropped and broke his paintbox . He reported the event to Theo laconically as ‘ another expense’ . If it rained or snowed and he was trapped indoors , he composed beautiful word pictures in ever - lengthening letters to his brother , and for good measure added lightning sketches from memory . He complained now and then of feeling curiously weak and faint . This feeling of exhaustion would pass , he said , if he kept busy .
Idiom: on the face of it (used idiomatically: yes)
Fish - oil lamps were casting a yellow light on the damp paving stones of the quay , and a quarter moon was rising above the village . The last fish were tossed into the barrels and the last handfuls of salt ; and then the crowd pressed closer as old Jan Treffry started the barrel count . On the face of it , Harry seemed to have won , and people in the crowd were impatient to hear Treffry announce the result ; but the old man kept scratching his chin and shaking his head until the villagers started chanting for a decision . He called Harry over for a private word , and the two men walked across to Harry 's collection of barrels . A lever was sent for , and Harry himself was required to open up one of the barrels filled some days before .
Idiom: go to the wall (used idiomatically: yes)
Property giant goes to wall ONE of Britain 's most prestigious property firms has gone bust with debts of £ 350 million . The crash of the giant Rosehaugh development company , once the most glamorous outfit of the Eighties , is the most graphic evidence yet of the slump in property values .
Idiom: name names (used idiomatically: yes)
The rough play in the final , the last in an undistinguished postwar series , which all ended 1–0 , inevitably led to recriminations . The FA , which usually refrained from comment on its Cup finals , was led to express its ‘ great regret’ at the behaviour during the game , and hoped that ‘ there will not be any similar conduct in any future Final tie’ . Huddersfield asked the FA to name names , but they declined and rebuked the club for not recognizing misbehaviour when they saw it . The bickerings were forgotten in the scenes of wild excitement that greeted the Cup in Huddersfield . In London the winners held their celebration dinner at the Hotel Great Central , Marylebone , where Chapman praised the Town for carrying off a major prize while still relatively young ( the club was founded in 1908 ) .
Idiom: be my guest (used idiomatically: yes)
A little blearily Edward laughed . I said , ' That sounds like a good idea . ' ' Be my guest . ' ' You do n't mind ? ' ' Should I ? '
Idiom: straight from the horse's mouth (used idiomatically: no)
Inside your intelligent , sociable and docile pony is an intelligent , sociable , docile wild horse . And the reason it likes you is not because of the bucket of wild oats you bring but because it thinks you are a horse too . To help you get a lot more information straight from the horse 's mouth ( and nose , and ears , and tail),Lucy Rees breaks you in gently to the basics of equine body language . The horse galloped madly round the pen , head turned to the outside as he searched for an opening . But there was none .
Idiom: on the hop (used idiomatically: yes)
Anyway , do n't you know if you look good in photos?’ ‘ No , I — er — actually no , I don't!’ Ace had caught her on the hop again . He looked down at her incredulously . ‘ Do you mean to say no one 's ever photographed you?’
Idiom: off the beaten track (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ It 's your dough , sister.’ Cook manhandled the meter flag . It ran like a click - click - clack off the beaten track as the Brownsville Train comes through , like the tick - tack - toe of Old Black Joe … Susan snapped , ‘ I ai n't your sister , bud!’ Was that correct ?
Idiom: run a mile (used idiomatically: yes)
On one occasion she refused to go . She kicked and screamed her defiance until her father told her that it would be considered very bad manners if she did n't join the other children . If anyone had told her then that one day she would join the royal family she would have run a mile . If the atmosphere at Sandringham was uncomfortable , at Park House it became unbearable as Diana 's little world fell apart at the seams . In September 1967 Sarah and Jane went to boarding - school at West Heath in Kent , a move which coincided with the collapse of the Althorps ' 14-year marriage .
Idiom: tell tales (used idiomatically: no)
You 've got a couple of hours . ' ' Thank you . ' We went out to breakfast with Mr Robinson , a pleasant but prosy old gentleman who told us a complicated tale of a bust of Wieland , retrieved by himself from unworthy oblivion , to the great delight of Goethe and other literary eminences . Not much of interest was said , and certainly not by shadowy me , though that is as I would have it . Present were Mrs Jameson , Mr Bagehot , Ash the poet , without Mrs Ash , who was indisposed , and some younger members of the London University .
Idiom: doom and gloom (used idiomatically: yes)
The merely mortal Kevin Keegan had to suffer with the rest of us as Newcastle laboured to break down Barnsley 's proficient five - man defence . The point apiece was fair , the football fairly turgid , and Newcastle are still knee - deep in the clarts , thirteen games from Third Division football . ‘ It 's not all doom and gloom,’ insisted Keegan . But brightness was in short supply as his players trooped off to a crescendo of boos . Newcastle may have their Messiah manager and their financial rescue package in place , but they could n't afford to turn on the floodlights in the fading light on Saturday and they ca n't ignore the darkness still descending at the foot of the Second Division table .
Idiom: rough and ready (used idiomatically: no)
There I got on a bus that took me to Le Hospitalet près l'Andorre , and through the frontier post at Pas de la Casa , over the Envalira pass and down into a land whose mountainous beauty at once put me under a spell I shall never forget . In those days Andorra was still a rather primitive country , the resort of contrebandiers . Accommodation was pretty rough - and - ready but the people were friendly and warm - hearted , and I took endless delight in exploring on foot the wild landscapes of lakes and forest , mountain waterfalls and paths as rich with alpine flowers as a medieval tapestry . On that first brief visit I made up my mind that one day I would return there . I started learning Catalan and reading fine modern Catalan poets , whom I intended to translate — Foix , Espriu , Bartra and many others of the emergent Catalan school whose work , and whose very language , were banned by Franco .
Idiom: hope against hope (used idiomatically: yes)
It was almost as if he 'd vanished into thin air . Pride and hurt would n't allow her to ask where he was , and Gaston had volunteered no information , so it had remained a mystery . To her shame , she 'd postponed her departure to Bordeaux until the last possible moment , hanging round Les Hiboux , hoping against hope that he would come there to find her — to say a formal goodbye at least , even if she could hope for nothing else , she 'd thought achingly . Even at the airport itself she 'd maintained a fantasy that he would appear from nowhere , and prevent her , somehow , from getting on the plane . It was pitiful and degrading , and she knew it , but she could n't help herself .
Idiom: hands down (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ Here.’ She handed him the two parts of the torch and waited for him to piece the thing together . He made to shine the torch into her face , but she pushed his hand down . ‘ No,’ she said . ‘ Not there .
Idiom: go to ground (used idiomatically: yes)
It 's easy for a woman.’ He touched her breasts , briefly , as if her nakedness confirmed her as the victim . ‘ Get clear , go to ground , stay there . Ditch the car and take a train . No problem .
Idiom: get to grips with (used idiomatically: yes)
Sandy , a divorced mother of one , has played Cupid to scores of couples since setting up the business at her home in Rhosesmor , Clwyd , six years ago . But when she read Brian 's application , she decided to nab him for herself . ‘ I did n't waste any time getting to grips with him,’ joked Sandy , now slimmed down to a comfortable 14 stone . ‘ Although I had seen a few people through Plump Partners — some of whom are still great friends — romance never really blossomed for me . ‘ But everything with Brian clicked straight away .
Idiom: sign of the times (used idiomatically: yes)
twentieth of April , seventeen ninety - two , France declared war on Prussia and Austria . It took four or five days for that news to reach Strasbourg . Sign of the times , is n't it . Two hundred years ago it took five days for news to get from Paris to Strasbourg . Now it 's done in less than a second .
Idiom: make a move (used idiomatically: yes)
Agfa - Gevaert NV of Leuven , Belgium seems to fit that bill , and Telmat Informatique SA , doing parallel machines is a possibility for the other . IBM ' TO ADD LOW - END RS/6000s , PARALLEL SERVERS ' IBM is expected to make its long anticipated move into massively parallel computing this Tuesday when it launches parallel processing machines running from eight up to 64 PowerParallel RISC/6000 processors . Technical details of the machine , developed at IBM 's Highly Parallel Supercomputing Systems Laboratories , were reported in detail last November following previews at Supercomputing ' 92 in Minneapolis ( UX No 412 ) . IBM is going after the scientific / technical crowd as well as those into workstation clustering and computing .
Idiom: on ice (used idiomatically: yes)
Aprotinin ( 10000 IU / ml ; Bayer , Leverkusen , Germany ) was added to the perfusion solution ( 10 ml aprotinin / l ) to inhibit possible proteolytic activity in the effluent . The perfusate fluid was collected by the outflow channels from the isolated segments . After 50 minutes of continuous perfusion to obtain steady state conditions , samples of the effluent were collected on ice . The total recovery of perfusion fluid was almost equal to that infused . After centrifugation of the samples , the supernatants were immediately frozen at -70 ° C until they were analysed .
Idiom: at cross purposes (used idiomatically: yes)
It is our view that a lack of consensus about the nature of study skills and their appropriate organisation and delivery has characterised the project from beginning to end . Not least , participants at all levels have failed to establish clearly in their own minds the definition of , and relationship between , such concepts as " study skills " , " library skills " , " information - handling skills " and " RBL " . As a result , the deliberations of library committees and the Inservice Panel have often included debates held at cross purposes . Even in the Coordinating Team , the development of such skills has tended to be accepted as self - evidently a good thing rather than debated or interpreted in a systematic way . These observations have a particular point since it is arguable that a study skills " tail " is in danger of wagging a library project " dog " in at least some schools , and in the work of the Inservice Panel .
Idiom: in the club (used idiomatically: yes)
Fred was killed in a car crash at the end of the year . By that time Arthur had started again as near as possible to the place where he had begun . He played in working - men 's clubs in the North of England . They did n't pay much , but they were more like the old music halls than anything left in the South . With an enjoyment that came back as soon as he started to work , he invented a solo routine that was deliberately and taxingly physical .
Idiom: turn someone's head (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ No , no , you 're not supposed to,’ she said . ‘ Mind your own business.’ He turned his head slightly towards me and spoke in the direction of my tie . ‘ Double Scotch , at the double.’ ‘ Do n't get it,’ Xanthe said .
Idiom: fall from grace (used idiomatically: yes)
The pathetic image of one of Scotland 's greatest players , labouring outside a bar owned by another soccer genius , is a far cry from the corporate image of drink and football peddled at Ibrox , where they sell a specially bottled vintage Rangers wine and where the name of the club 's sponsors McEwans Lager is brazenly emblazoned on the club 's shirt . Football is a drama of extremes , and in the case of Jimmy Johnstone he became both the partner and victim of drink . Johnstone has confronted his fall from grace with the kind of honest self - awareness that is rare in habitual drinkers . His thoughts border on the day - at - a - time religion of the reformed alcoholic . ‘ Today I can have a drink like the next man without going over the top,’ he wrote in his self - confessional biography , ‘ I suppose I have learned my lesson the hard way.’
Idiom: on the money (used idiomatically: yes)
Voice over Most of Ray 's cows were grazing in another field when it happened but those he lost were his most valuable . They were to be sent to market next month and Ray was depending on the money . He 's claiming almost one thousand pounds per cow from Midlands Electricity . Male speaker
Idiom: by dint of (used idiomatically: yes)
No fewer than 708 of the convicts ( 75 per cent ) had been aged 31 or over , and 573 ( 61 per cent ) had been illiterate . As one would expect , the majority of the sentenced prisoners coming in through the gates had received short terms , but 121 ( 13 per cent ) had been admitted to serve sentences over five years and 84 of these had received life imprisonment for murder . Only 23 were classified as ‘ habitual offenders’ by dint of having one or more previous convictions of substance . To guard the 600 prisoners , there were just under 200 uniformed warders , who worked three eight - hour shifts . They were not required to escort prisoners from court or to other prisons , this being a police responsibility in India , so during the day there might be 70 or so warders in the prison at any one time .
Idiom: know the score (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ I know every inch of that stone,’ said Adam jealously , leaning to finger the carved leaf with a gesture of ungovernable tenderness . ‘ You could n't so much as bruise the mosses on it but I 'd know . And I know the scores of an iron crow on stone too well not to know how these frets were made . We 've lost him,’ he said , grieving . ‘ Even his poor bones we could n't keep safe.’
Idiom: serve someone right (used idiomatically: yes)
He was bought a few drinks by workmates then took off on his own , round various bars , to finish the job properly . ‘ I 'm gon na be stinking pissed when I get home,’ he muttered . ‘ That 'll serve Gina right .’ Four Bacardis , three gins and two lagers later — he 'd bought the lagers himself — he was stinking pissed . The barman even told him he 'd had enough — something they rarely do unless they think a client 's about to throw up over the upholstery or start taking his clothes off .
Idiom: on top of the world (used idiomatically: yes)
In a change of programme tonight , the remaining races will be shown from 11.55pm to 12.20am . Graphic accounts of Everest conquest On top of the world ON June 2 , 1953 , the world watched as the Queen was crowned in London . Britons were at last letting their hair down after the grey years following the Second World War .
Idiom: keep your chin up (used idiomatically: yes)
If you find that after a day or so you have aches and pains that wo n't go away , shower again , using hot water for three minutes and cold for one on the affected area . If after two days , it 's still the same — go to see a practitioner . When you run , he advises that you do n't keep your chin up . The posture puts an unnatural stress on the spine and shortens the neck . Instead hold your head just five degrees lower .