Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: on the face of it (used idiomatically: yes)
If they 're not going to score now they never will . ’ Striker Kevin Campbell looks the most likely to drop out as Arsenal ponder a run of six games which have brought them just two points and one goal . On the face of it this may seem a strange tactic for a side who , on paper , possess probably the most lethal front-line in the Premier League , but Graham , still likely to be without ankle-injury victim Paul Merson , is seeking to restore stability to stop the slump . In a furious outburst after their match at Highfield Road , Atkinson described Villa 's performance as ‘ the worst since I took over ’ . Atkinson fumed : And he was scathing in his condemnation .
Idiom: muddy the waters (used idiomatically: yes)
The NSFU " urged its members to assist the government in every possible way and has in numerous cases been the means of healing differences and preventing stoppages " . It encouraged the owners to voluntary arbitration , but rarely with success . But for the Munitions of War Act of July 1915 which enabled the Board of Trade if necessary to impose arbitrated settlements on unwilling employers , the union 's policy of patriotic co - operation must surely have failed and within a month of the passing of that Act the waters were muddied by another development which the union considered to be even more sinister — the demand from the " Reptile press represented by the Daily Mail , Times and associate journals " , for conscription . The issue of conscription was a particularly tender one for the union , for it had for some time been under pressure from the Admiralty over breaches of the obligation of seamen , nominally enforced by the Board of Trade , that sailors should be on board their ships on time and hence not delay sailings . Transports , were , the Admiralty declared , frequently held up by drunken and indisciplined seamen , to the detriment of the war effort , and seriously proposed that all men in the mercantile marine should he conscripted into the Royal Naval Reserve under naval discipline .
Idiom: in someone's pocket (used idiomatically: yes)
Male speaker He took me back to the house and the other one was inside . They got hold of me and pushed me to the ground then they took the money in my pockets . Voice over That was seven hundred pounds .
Idiom: have a ball (used idiomatically: no)
Unusually among popular music entertainers Mr Faith has always had a strong awareness of financial matters , trading up his homes and investing wisely . He has always appreciated the finer things in life and can often be seen lunching at London 's Savoy Grill . Although fox hunting has not taken place in Hyde Park for many years , an impressive Hunt Ball was held in the Polish Hearth Club in Kensington last week for Shropshire 's United Pack . Six Masters of Fox Hounds turned out resplendent in their hunting pink ( their red coats ) , including the United Pack 's Rory Knight Bruce . Other literary figures and socialites present included Jesus Christ 's biographer A N Wilson , Winston Churchill 's granddaughter Emma Soames and Wessex regionalist campaigner Lady Henrietta Rous .
Idiom: neither here nor there (used idiomatically: yes)
In due course she would dispose of it , but not just yet . Think of what was , she told herself , since only that is relevant . What might have been is neither here nor there . She tried to reconstruct the physical Peter Datchett : tall , thin , black hair that tended to flop forwards , a mole on one cheek . He taught at the College of Further Education a few miles from Spaxton ; she had met him through a rambling club .
Idiom: do the right thing (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ But thankfully the days of the rack and burning at the stake are gone , even in Ireland.’ He still stays in a church house and has converted part of it into a chapel , where he celebrates mass for 200 people every Sunday . He is convinced he is doing the right thing , despite the disapproval of the church authorities . ‘ All these people could have been married in a registrar 's office , but they want a religious and spiritual dimension to their marriage , which I think is very noble of them.’ The couple from Edinburgh to be married by Father Buckley said they did n't want to talk about their wedding plans .
Idiom: all over the place (used idiomatically: no)
Well now , the problem you say it 's emotional shall I say it was blasphemous , it was Rushdie . Now , erm , the situation there was that my vicar came to see me and , erm , what happened was that we 've got three churches well luckily , one of them only has about twelve in it another has eighty and another sixty and he said well what did he do about Rushdie ? And so well I did n't like what he was doing but at any rate it happened on Sunday morning er , somebody read the lesson and it was Saint , Saint John and there were chapters and of course it was skipping about the verses all over the place , you just got fed up with verses . Right he then went to the pulpit and he said that he was gon na preach about Lazarus actually but he 's a quiet fellow and he shouted at the top of his voice I 'm speaking about satanic bondage ! Yes , is
Idiom: rank and file (used idiomatically: yes)
Pressures for change had been building up within the legislature for some time and these were to be given added impetus by the events surrounding the resignation of President Nixon . In 1970 the first Congressional reform bill for more than two decades was passed — the Legislative Reorganization Act . Among other things , this bill strengthened the position of rank - and - file committee members vis à vis chairmen . Thus , in the absence of the chairman the ranking majority member of a committee would preside . There was also an attempt to ensure full and free participation in committee hearings by all members and restraints were imposed on the use of proxy votes by chairmen ; in addition , all votes in committee and on the floor were now to be recorded and open to public scrutiny .
Idiom: in the club (used idiomatically: yes)
Similarly , in taking a feminist perspective in her youth work , Jenny Ball was aware that considerable care needed to be exercised so that neither the work nor her position became vulnerable . J.B. I do n't want to be too obvious about feminism . Well I 'm very hot on that in the youth club . The girls are getting very hot on it too . Actually we 've got some nice strong girls coming up through that .
Idiom: have been around (used idiomatically: yes)
Yet , curiously , when Philip himself was a young man he was not so concerned about the ' dignity of the Crown ' . The man who is now so Victorian in his manners and morals was a rampant socialite . Had the paparazzi been around in the early days of his marriage it 's doubtful Philip would have escaped criticism . Revelations about his string of dancing partners and unsuitable friends might have earned him a reputation not unlike Fergie 's . But the Prince seems to have forgotten his youthful adventures .
Idiom: man and boy (used idiomatically: yes)
Those men leading the movement , like Alfred Dyer and Wilson , projected a chivalric vision of masculinity which championed the ideal of asexual , dependent womanhood . Boys were to be taught their knightly duty to serve their mothers and sisters . Many purity leagues drew on emblems from the legends of Christian chivalry , appealing to men and boys by a play on protective and gallant manhood . In the emblem of The White Cross League , founded in 1883 , white stood for purity , the league for disciplined strength and the cross for the underlying truth of the fight for Christ . The language of purity opened a space for women to define their own images of female sexual identity .
Idiom: know the score (used idiomatically: yes)
The recollections are vivid . If those boys in Karachi had found an 8 to hook on the scoreboard those 33 long winters ago , instead of rummaging fruitlessly about on all fours , the runs he sought on a misfield from the penultimate ball of the day would never have been attempted . ' If I 'd known my score was 4998 not 496 I might not have runs at all . ' But for that , the first entry in the Wisden records section would almost certainly have read 500 . Too perfect , and far too boring .
Idiom: do the right thing (used idiomatically: no)
Indeed , as a general problem , it is unlikely that two divisions will arrive amicably at a suitable transfer price . It is normal for a transfer price to be imposed and then to let the divisions get on with making their own decisions . As managers , we hope that they will do the right thing . The easiest case to consider is when there is a ‘ perfect’ market for the intermediate product . Then a division can trade as much as it wants with that market at the market price
Idiom: cap in hand (used idiomatically: yes)
By summer 1991 the workmen were in . A staggering £ 300,000 had been raised from local people and businesses , some of it in the form of covenants . Mr Quarmby describes himself as going ‘ cap in hand to the recording companies and asking them for advance rental income’ . Subsequently , the Baring Foundation , the Wolfson Foundation and the Foundation for Sport and the Arts provided £ 250,000 , which will cover all the debts from this phase of building . The Great Hall reopened in October 1991 .
Idiom: she'll be right (used idiomatically: yes)
She preferred the sizzling animosity between them to this … this awkwardness . She wanted to erase forever the faint concern etched into the darkness of his brow as he watched her , his gaze unrelenting , seeming to see in to her soul . He was looking at her as if he was wondering , will she be all right ? Will she try and make more of this than it was ? She had to salvage her pride , forsake forever the tenderness that ached within her for this man …
Idiom: at sea (used idiomatically: yes)
The existing blacklist of substances not to be dumped at sea would be superseded by the blanket ban . A survey was to be carried out by the North Sea Conference to gain a clear picture of where dumping occurred , and it would be the responsibility of signatory countries to prosecute those of their own ships which transgressed the convention . The ban was initially opposed by the France , the Soviet Union , the UK and the USA , which wanted to keep open their option of dumping nuclear waste at sea . It was also argued that the ban was premature and that developing nations would have their industrial development impaired as a result . Such arguments were strongly opposed by environmental groups such as Greenpeace , which described the final result as " a strong signal from the international community that dumping nuclear waste at sea is unacceptable " .
Idiom: swings and roundabouts (used idiomatically: yes)
The project crew has yet to appear in Punta del Este , so the crew has no money to pay bills already incurred , and their passports have been left in France to be given Australian visas . Skipper Patrick Tabarly , brother of Eric , was yesterday trying to enlist the help of the French Embassy in Montevideo in the hope of preventing his yacht being impounded should the bills remain unpaid . On the swings and roundabouts of crew changes , Grant Dalton , skipper of the New Zealand ketch Fisher & Paykel , issued a denial that Britain 's Chris Law would be joining the crew , while Lawrie Smith , skipper of Rothmans , said that on 20 October he would announce that David Powys would boost the crew to 14 , plus one or two others . A new , hard - edged approach is expected from the joint services maxi - yacht , Satquote British Defender , in the second leg to Fremantle , Western Australia . Taking over as skipper from the Army 's Lt Col Frank Esson is the yacht 's navigator , the Navy 's Lt Commander , soon to be Commander , Colin Watkins , and the crew is being increased in size from 15 to 16 .
Idiom: pull a face (used idiomatically: yes)
It 's a bloody shame.’ Annie had been brought up and educated within the walls of a convent and she had never become familiar with the more colourful words that people used . The young man noticed her reaction and pulled a face . ‘ I 'm sorry , I should n't ' ave swore , but it is a shame , none the more fer that,’ he asserted . Annie let a smile touch her lips and she passed off her embarrassment by wiping Rachel 's mouth with a spotless white handkerchief which she took from her coat pocket .
Idiom: on the face of it (used idiomatically: yes)
These days about 15 per cent of our energy is obtained at the flick of a switch . Yet only 0–75 per cent of the fuel used for transport is electricity ; the rest is virtually all oil . On the face of it electric traction has many advantages . The electric engine is extremely efficient at converting electrical energy into movement , far more efficient than petrol , diesel or steam engines . ( Although this advantage is offset by the inefficiency of power stations ) .
Idiom: take root (used idiomatically: no)
Rose at six dressed hastily got some breakfast and had a pleasant row to the island . found the tent pitched in a cleard [ sic]spot in the midst of the bush where nature appeared in her wild luxuriance . The Immense parasites twining round the trees taking root some of them at the tops of the trees and hanging down to the ground , others surrounding the trees like a crown — heard the bell bird with his incessant ting ting , the coachwhip bird & c. — a heavy shower of rain accompanied by lightning — soon cleared up — every green thing looked more beautiful for its sprinkling.’ The forests on these islands abounded in honey - eaters , regent - birds , satin - birds and wood - pigeons ; Mosquito Island was also where Gould saw his first live brush turkey , or wattled talegalla , scratching about on the forest floor . It also yielded the rare Sphecotheres maxillaris or southern sphecotheres , and a fine specimen of the southern fig bird ( Sphecotheres vieillori ) among others ; and provided Mrs Gould with plenty of ideas for botanical backgrounds .
Idiom: touch wood (used idiomatically: yes)
When wood is coloured with a penetrating dye and then sealed with a transparent finish , there is no change in colour , other than after the first coat of finish has been applied , whereas with an exterior type of wood stain , each extra coat will make the surface deeper in colour . Until a few years ago most wood dyes tended to fade in strong sunlight , but now many of them contain transparent iron oxides , which do not fade and can be used on interior and exterior woodwork . Wood dyes are best applied with a cloth , because if applied with a brush , there will be dark areas where the brush first touches the wood . It is important that if wood is being dyed , areas round joints are completely free from any glue , as this will prevent the dye penetrating and will leave a lightercoloured patch . Some woods , such as mahogany and teak , darken considerably even when a completely clear finish is applied and before dyeing wood .
Idiom: follow suit (used idiomatically: yes)
He rose to his feet and struck up a reel . The Tans immediately began to prance around him , laughing and howling . One of them broke into a wardance like a Red Indian and the others followed suit , but their captain quickly intervened . ‘ Hey ! We do n't want any of your bleedin ' Irish jigs !
Idiom: take root (used idiomatically: no)
She says she was very impressed with the work . The visit was full of the usual souvenirs . For the Duchess , a cake for her daughters and for Macintyre , a cherry tree to mark a friendship which has taken root . ( WES AD LIB)(ANNE ) Still to come on Central News , making art out of old cars . Welcome back .
Idiom: smell a rat (used idiomatically: yes)
Must be a rum cove , thought Grunte . Some people have all the luck . For a moment he thought he smelt a rat ; could it be one of Marjorie 's ' little jokes ' ? The Gruntes had gone thehere was Hyacinth Scragg . He rang her hotel , and after a long wait she came to the phone .
Idiom: spill the beans (used idiomatically: yes)
Jack Fuller 's Brightling , E Sussex ( 042 482 212 ) . Leadon 's Brasserie Beaufort Square , Chepstow , Gwent ( 0291 627402 ) . Superchefs spill the beans Robyn Foyster Roux and Co cook up a treat at Food Show .
Idiom: in the flesh (used idiomatically: yes)
How often I have watched , nay studied it , and wasted more honest words upon it than I can [ on]most men ! … I have hinted that the dawn has many times come to me through the leaves of the willow , but it is less the tree itself nowadays that transmits things seen to my mind — than something of which the willow is a visible type . I saw once the head of a dear friend among the leaves and was less astonished at what first seemed an apparition than by his disentangling himself and in the flesh bidding his good morning , so accustomed was I to looking for my thoughts and news among the leaves . Men and books I see through Nature in the first place … Edward Thomas 's fifteen months at St. Paul 's helped to shape the early pattern of his life as a writer : I was considered to excel in this form of rhetoric .
Idiom: in the red (used idiomatically: yes)
With your binder you receive a tab with the volume numbers relevant to the issues in your binder ( 1991 or 1992 ) . We also offer bound volumes of the magazine . These , too , are in red , and gold embossed with the ACCOUNTANCY logo and Institute crest . Each bound volume holds six issues and carries the volume number . Binders can be purchased for £ 8 ( including postage ) .
Idiom: hear things (used idiomatically: no)
Has she left ? I do n't know , Jenny said she thought she 'd left . no one 's heard any thing about it . Well , I 'm pretty su- . Maybe she has n't told her best friend that she was leaving .
Idiom: bear fruit (used idiomatically: yes)
The message of the way ahead in 1993 was communicated via Team Briefing and a special newsletter . MAR 1993 Dr. Jeffrey began his ‘ Walk the Talk’ sessions . TOP Time Out and Improvement Team recommendations beginning to bear fruit with improvement in many areas and integration of TOP principles into day - to - day work . APR 1993 At the first TOP Surgery Allan Paterson met team leaders to find out first hand the progress of their teams . MAY 1993 During the Khmelnitski exchange visit to Hunterston great interest was shown in TOP and the Director and Deputy Director of Khmelnitski NPP sat in on a team meeting to see it in action .
Idiom: within an ace of (used idiomatically: yes)
His plane flipped upside down FRANK CORLESS / NIC NORTH LESTER Piggott and three other jockeys came within an ace of death yesterday when an RAF jet missed their plane by just six feet . The riders ' six - seater aircraft was turned upside down after being caught in the Tornado 's slipstream . Lester said : ‘ It almost blew us away.’
Idiom: round the clock (used idiomatically: yes)
Around 27 per cent of adults in Brighton , for instance , saw a London evening paper in 1963 , but only 7 per cent did in 1975 . With the much lower production costs of the late 1980s , small circulation was no longer the same barrier to profitability . Robert Maxwell launched the London Daily News as a ‘ round the clock’ paper in February 1987 . It lasted five months . Partly it died , no doubt , from its own defects ( including distribution difficulties ) , and partly from the spirited response of the Standard .
Idiom: one of those days (used idiomatically: yes)
It is the Underworld indeed , with rain slashing down out of a black sky , and the wind tearing the roses off the side of the house . We had some hot weather , but with an eiderdown of cloud under the sun . One of those days was last Friday , when I had a terrible time going to lunch with Herman to meet Ivy . There was a derailment on the railway - line ahead of our train and , after sitting fretting for forty minutes , we were all turned off it . Time was getting short and I ran in this awful heat to the nearest Underground , waited ages for a train , and then had an interminable journey into London .
Idiom: by dint of (used idiomatically: yes)
We are aware of the limited value of both as guides to comprehending the true nature of insanity , especially the more positive aspects we see reflected in the creative mind , and we fully agree with Lyndall Gordon who , when writing about Virginia Woolf , comments ‘ Our language has , as yet , no term for madness which is not demeaning.’ Even when used , with effort to avoid evaluative overtones and as a purely descriptive device , psychiatric classification leaves much to be desired ; for example in its inability to distinguish clearly between different varieties of psychosis or draw sharp boundaries between the manifestly and the marginally insane , points we shall have cause to enlarge upon later . Set against these deficiencies is the fact that psychiatry — if only by dint of the accumulated experience that comes from having to observe the more unusual among us — has developed a ‘ language of symptoms’ that can prove useful in throwing the features of that deviance into high relief . It is in that spirit that we shall use conventional psychiatric terminology here . Although precise categories of mental illness are difficult to arrive at , there is at least reasonable consensus about the meaning of the more inclusive terms , ‘ psychosis’ and ‘ psychotic’ .
Idiom: over the top (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ We 're not going back . We 're going to Disneyland.’ Keith thinks this is over the top . Just because she did n't get to Disneyland when she was little does n't mean she should forget John . ‘ I do n't want to go to Disneyland,’ Mark says .
Idiom: in the saddle (used idiomatically: yes)
Let your tack dry away from a direct source of heat ; do n't put it in front of a radiator or fire , or the leather will become brittle . When it has dried , oil it if necessary . If time is at a premium or you really hate tack cleaning , think about investing in a synthetic saddle and bridle for everyday use and keeping your leather tack for best . Wintec and Thorowgood saddles have come a long way since early designs and Thorowgood also make wipe - clean bridles that look smart enough for most occasions . Synthetic tack , such as this bridle from Thorowgood , will save you time and money .
Idiom: walk all over (used idiomatically: yes)
that itself was a a sur surprise in in the town amongst the the women that the quarry men as being local people would n't talk with th their own kind . Yeah I I dunno how s much of a surprise . I suspect that there 'll there 'd been a certain amount of alienation for a long time things that the men had to accept because the people with the money and therefore the power said that they had to you know a I think quarry men are very proud on one level great sort of craftsmen in a way and erm I 'm sure that you know th the last couple of years well I 've heard them say really tha that there 'd been things niggling them with the management but I suppose this was just like a blatant smack in the face and they realize that if they accepted this if they let the management walk all over them this was the thin end of the wedge you know that . And for the women you know I mean it 's i in a situation you probably I do n't know you know this comment that , Oh my my wife 's gon na nag me back to work , or whatever that was made in the beginning probably could be that the women were saying , Oh my God you know we ca n't afford to have you on strike just accept it you know just I 'm definitely not I think really they have felt they have really changed fund fundamentally they 've found a self confidence that they can say no you know it 's not good enough . And er certainly Amanda who who 's on strike then you know I mean they do n't get equal pay the women the the the three women that came out I mean one of them 's gone back an Amanda and Helen you know I mean they they were on they were on terribly low wages .
Idiom: go to town (used idiomatically: yes)
you used to play darts ? used to play at youth club and so why come when we went to town that time you could hardly hit the board well having said that you