Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: off the hook (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ It was a long time ago … ’ ‘ That does n't answer the question.’ I was determined not to let Alec off the hook . He looked at me as if he was now wondering quite what it was he had invited into his home . His smile had gone .
Idiom: get stuck into (used idiomatically: no)
When I was in the Signals this was . Thirty six English . And I knew I know this bloke eh , when he was a sergeant I think , anyway he was an officer , and eh , said we go to Sheppeards , I said you silly devil I ca n't get into Sheppeards Hotel I 'm a signal man I had to laugh he said , shame , he said cor , you're about my size , get stuck into one of my uniforms we had a couple of weekends at Sheppeards Hotel , we had a great time . Oh dear , yeah . Who was that contest , .
Idiom: take it easy (used idiomatically: yes)
Those for whom relaxation means minimum effort will find that watching the world go by from a deck chair on the Prom is a riveting experience . There is , after all , so much more to watch going by in Brighton & Hove . Or you can take it easy amid the blooms of Stanmer or Preston Parks . You 'll also find the special park for the blind at St. Ann 's Well Gardens , where the flowers are chosen for their fragrance , a delightful experience for everyone . How about breezing along the sea - front on Volk 's Railway ?
Idiom: betwixt and between (used idiomatically: yes)
that I had and I show them . Although lately if I 'm flower arr er showing at the yeah flower arranging at shows I 've then got time to show the flowers . I 'm caught you know betwixt and between , which do I like the best . We 've put enough in this floral fiesta . I do n't know whether we 'll get a you know , any places or not .
Idiom: champ at the bit (used idiomatically: yes)
Rain spoiled the opening day of Durham 's first match as a first - class county to the extent that play was possible for only the morning session , which allowed Paul Parker and John Glendenen to put on 119 in an untroubled manner off 34 overs . A galaxy of cameramen and reporters gathered to witness the performance of the first county since 1921 to join the Championship . No Botham and no Larkins , but Dean Jones sat champing at the bit and it will be a great pity if he is prevented from emptying the nearby chemistry laboratories with the prospect of his thrilling strokeplay . On view yesterday was a well - organised 50 from Parker , the former Sussex captain , and an entertaining and promising 64 from Glendenen , who last year scored an unbeaten 200 against Victoria , the Sheffield Shield champions . Glendenen , who also hit a century against Glamorgan in the NatWest Trophy , drove straight and powerfully on a slow wicket and he and Parker hit seven fours apiece .
Idiom: on the level (used idiomatically: yes)
( Thus from this point of view the rationality of the exact sciences is on a level with the rationality of the Egyptian pyramids ) .
Idiom: on the run (used idiomatically: yes)
Most of them got thirty years . The judge said he would never expect to see another crime like it . Bruce Reynolds and Buster Edwards were eventually senetnced after being on the run in Mexico . Jimmy White laid low in Britain and was finally caught in 1966 . Buster Edwards now runs a Flower stall outside Waterloo Station .
Idiom: go to ground (used idiomatically: yes)
So all the excavations are filled in for the sake of tidiness , and all the bolt - holes and entrance holes are filled in to help assess what 's been left . The surviving rabbits will emerge from the system , digging their way out through favoured holes almost overnight . Since they have been disturbed and more than a little frightened in the process they will vacate the burrow , will very likely feed and then either lie rough on the surface somewhere or go to ground in a completely fresh burrow system . If the warren and burrow systems are first cleared in the autumn , subsequent work in the area on other systems is likely to lead to rabbits evicted from one set of burrows going to ground elsewhere . This then inevitably means that by the early spring it is worth working the same ground a second time .
Idiom: sail close to the wind (used idiomatically: yes)
Hari heard him beating at the bushes with his truncheon and then he opened the door to the workshop . After a few moments he returned . ' You have been sailing very close to the wind , miss , ' he said as Dai returned to the room . He pointed his truncheon at her . ' This house will be watched , make no mistake about it , we shall be out for blood . '
Idiom: in the loop (used idiomatically: yes)
In very light cross winds there is always the possibility of dropping a wing on to the ground and swinging badly . In these conditions it is vital for the pilot to have a hand close to the release , ready to pull it if the need arises . If the grass is long , touching a wing - tip may result in a serious ground loop . But worse still , if the pilot is able to pick up the dropped wing after the initial swing , because of the acceleration the controls suddenly become effective , and this often results in the other wing touching just as the aircraft becomes airborne . This can cause a cart - wheel and major damage or even injury .
Idiom: out of the blue (used idiomatically: yes)
I felt I could ask questions , I felt she would n't mind . ‘ Do you wear make - up?’ We 'd been discussing something else , and I said it out of the blue , but in my mind it was as if we 'd just been talking about Oliver , and the way she answered , as if she thought we 'd just been talking about Oliver too and there was n't any break in that conversation even though we 'd been through lots of different subjects in the meantime , made me feel very cheerful . ‘ No . Ca n't you tell?’
Idiom: at the end of the day (used idiomatically: yes)
It 's easy and it would have been easy for me to get up on a platform or to go into the department and say , look lads , you know , we feel that you 're justified in walking out the door . But there 's a procedure and the procedure , our stewards recognized that the procedure was there to be effectively operated and if words can resolve a problem , and that 's how we became trained in the situation affecting all our members . Erm if words can resolve the problem , then at the end of the day , there 's no need for a man or a body of men to lose money . And we did that effectively . And that 's why I 'm saying that , leading up to the Donovan Report and because I was caught up in a situation along with my colleagues , that we were changing a system er and you know , a new incentive scheme , that we were increasing production .
Idiom: for the time being (used idiomatically: yes)
More important for most purposes of private law than citizenship is domicile . The question , for instance , whether the goods of a person who dies intestate ought to be divided among his relations according to the rules of English or of some foreign law , will be decided by an English court , not according to the citizenship , but according to the domicile of the deceased at the time of his death . A person 's domicile is the country which is in fact or in the eye of the law his permanent home for the time being . Seeing that our law refuses to contemplate the possibility of any person either being without a domicile or having more than one domicile , the rules on this subject are not only intricate but highly artificial . In 1987 the Jaw Commission recommended some radical change and simplification , but this has not yet been adopted .
Idiom: come to terms with (used idiomatically: yes)
The mind is tranquil but alert , its consciousness commanding the body 's movements . The object is stillness in movement , a kind of unity of stillness and motion . One of the first things required in the practice of tai chi chuan is to come to terms with its slow , dreamlike movements . Students tend to want to move faster than the form dictates . The form begins with the practitioner standing naturally , his feet shoulder - width apart and his arms hanging loosely by his side .
Idiom: give someone the slip (used idiomatically: yes)
A DEFENDANT on trial for a horrifying knife murder was on the run last night after walking out of the Old Bailey . Police were hunting 47-year - old Clive Wells who disappeared among crowds of City workers on their way home . He had been in the ‘ custody’ of psychiatric nurses but after his trial was adjourned for the day , he gave them the slip . ‘ Anyone accused of murder is regarded as a danger to the public and there should have been more control here,’ said a senior City police officer . Jobless Wells had been on trial since Monday charged with murdering 64-year - old Vincent McGuire , his neighbour at a council - run hostel in central London 's Covent Garden last December .
Idiom: on the level (used idiomatically: yes)
The project examines in some detail the ways in which Western economies ( the member countries of the European Communities , the US and Japan ) have responded to this environment . Two exercises in particular are carried out : One develops an econometric model in which the differential structural change pattern in the major OECD economies is shown to be interdependent . It is demonstrated by means of both cross - section and time series studies on a disaggregated level that the evolution of relative supply - side characteristics ( productivity growth , renewal of the capital stock , product composition , etc ) of the different national industries affects their respective market shares in domestic and international markets and thus their growth performance . The other exercise involves a detailed examination of industrial statistics since 1973 in order to detect the various stages and compare the strength by which structural adjustment processes have taken place in the different economies . Their significance for the longer - term structure of industrial specialisation and the prospects for competitive success or failure in particular industrial areas of the different national economies is then evaluated .
Idiom: in hot water (used idiomatically: yes)
1 Remove as much as possible by scraping it off the glass and syphoning it out . Take out any rocks , decor , heater ( switch off first ) etc covered with algae , and scrub them in hot water with a stiff brush . If this fails to remove the growth , discard the item . 2
Idiom: go to the dogs (used idiomatically: yes)
Grumpy Old Men LONDON – Having reached pensionable age , I qualify to be a grumpy old man . I should be boring my children , and the students at Oxford ~ University where I am Chancellor , with grumbles about how everything is going to the dogs . But that is not quite how I see things . I went to university myself in 1962 .
Idiom: eat humble pie (used idiomatically: yes)
By Mark Salter Nottingham34 Rosslyn Park9 TEARAWAY flanker Martin Pepper provided the spice for Nottingham with a hat - trick of tries and a vague mathematical chance of staying in Courage League One next season . The Midlanders have been eating humble pie this season , though they deserve better fare . Perhaps , though , it was Pepper 's display which exposed some of their deficiencies for the impetus was created and maintained almost exclusively by the forwards , who dominated the lineout and drove magnificently . Rosslyn Park , going backwards constantly and finding their defence overrun , inevitably conceded penalties , the first of which came in the fourth minute .
Idiom: to the tune of (used idiomatically: yes)
The special train then left Llangynog for Oswestry at 4.30 pm . The next day regular passenger and goods services began . Like the Bishop 's Castle Railway , the TVLR Company remained in the hands of the Receiver , and was in debt to the Cambrian Railway to the tune of £ 40,676 16s 8d by 1917 . It was not until 1921 that the TVLR ( Transfer ) Order was put into effect so that it was now absorbed by the Cambrian Railway , which itself was soon to be absorbed by the GWR in January 1923 . From January 1948 the line formed part of the Western Region of British Railways until the closure of practically the whole line in December 1960 .
Idiom: hold someone's hand (used idiomatically: yes)
I suppose I ought to organise some curtains , but I never shut them so it 's hardly a priority . I 'm not exactly overlooked . ' He walked round the end of the units and held out his hand . ' Come and sit down for a minute while the lasagne finishes cooking . ' He sat on the settee and tugged her down beside him , leaning over and sniffing her hair .
Idiom: behind closed doors (used idiomatically: yes)
Isobel Mitchell , one of the organisers of a petition signed by a third of the islands ' adults calling for an open inquiry to be held by a sheriff , said the secrecy was astonishing . ‘ The Braer disaster has affected everybody in Shetland and yet we are not involved in any of the inquiry processes . So far the MAIB has met behind closed doors . The preliminary findings are presumably in the hands of the Government , but we are not being given access to it.’ Ms Mitchell added that a public inquiry was important .
Idiom: think twice (used idiomatically: yes)
US court gives original owners the right to deep - sea treasure Washington . High - technology adventurers may think twice before seeking sunken treasure after the US Supreme Court let stand a ruling that insurance companies have a claim on the booty . The possibility of extended legal battles , salvagers say , may stifle the technological and scientific progress that accompanies the recovery of shipwrecks . The supreme court declined to hear a case involving a ton of gold recovered so far from the SS Central America , resting in 8,000 feet of water off the coast of South Carolina after being sunk by a hurricane in 1857 .
Idiom: have it both ways (used idiomatically: yes)
Inertia and Institutionalisation Acceptance of a proposition in principle and rejection of it in practice is a perfectly normal human attitude , as common outside politics as inside . It is , I suppose , one manifestation of man 's indomitable urge to ‘ have it both ways at once’ . None the less an examination of the special reasons why the Plowden proposition is accepted as a truism in general but treated as an abominable heresy in particular may be worthwhile . The most obvious of these reasons are political ones , in the pure , party , vote - catching sense of that term .
Idiom: in the final analysis (used idiomatically: yes)
In the final analysis , it was up to the official himself to decide how he interpreted the regulations and how he acted upon them .
Idiom: set eyes on (used idiomatically: yes)
It took an enormous effort to drag her thoughts on to safer ground . ‘ Frankly , Nicola Schreider needs a shrink if she does n't put up a good fight for him . Guy 's just about the most irresistible male I 've ever set eyes on,’ Lucy said dreamily , adding hastily , ‘ Next to Charles , of course!’ But it was Guy Lucy sat next to at dinner . Pregnancy had lent a translucent quality to her looks , but the smiles she frequently aimed at Guy seemed to contain an extra radiance .
Idiom: on and off (used idiomatically: yes)
He then wired through each hole a Christmas tree light bulb connected to a battery and a bell - push button . Lastly , a ping - pong ball fitted over each light bulb managed to disguise their Yuletide origins . Thus , if each operator learned his lines he could push the button inside his casing to make the lights flash on and off in synchronisation with the soundtrack . Problem two , choreographing the Daleks , was solved by sticking numbered cards onto each Dalek during rehearsals , and by tacking different coloured sellotape marks onto the floor ; colour red denoting Dalek Two for instance . Ironically this Heath Robinson make - do also ended up contributing to the Dalek myth .
Idiom: come to terms with (used idiomatically: yes)
But on other occasions , to use a phrase of Nietzsche , ‘ a thought comes when ‘ it’ wants , not when I want’ , explodes and opens out too fast in in too complex ramifications to be disciplined , takes bold analogical leaps in defiance of logical rigour ; the problem on which it centres is obscure , defining itself in the process of being solved , and as he struggles to formulate it the thought is running in another direction , yet he yields to the flow out of a vague intimation that it will circle back ; for the final effort to force the argument into a coherent and publicly testable form — the only assurance even for himself that he is illumined and not deluded — he waits until the time comes to complete it on paper . Even for philosophers , one suspects , it is less the philosophy than these episodes that give meaning to their own lives . It is curious that thinkers should explore the logic of rational conduct without coming to terms with this phenomenon at the very centre of their own experience . It has after all become a commonplace that the creative imagination of the philosopher , mathematician or scientist is not much different from that of a prophet or poet ; what distinguishes him is how he treats his findings in retrospect . A great formula has been known to appear to a scientist ready - made in a dream as though he were a Siberian shaman , but unlike the shaman he accepts it not on the authority of the dream but because afterwards it satisfies his most stringent tests .
Idiom: stroke of luck (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ I pity the huntsman when you 're around.’ Many of the country lanes were so narrow that it would not have been possible for two vehicles to pass each other , but after half an hour , they cut into the main road that ran south from Cherbourg to Carentan . It was here that Schellenberg had trouble with his map and then - they had a stroke of luck , a sign at the side of the road outside the village of St Aubin that said 12th Parachute Detachment . There was a spread of farm buildings visible beyond the trees . ‘ Let 's try here,’ Schellenberg said and Asa turned off the road .
Idiom: bums on seats (used idiomatically: yes)
at the back I ca n't . I come to theatre regularly I agree with my friend over there I think you have a very good programme quite mixed not all my taste but it 's it 's representative of the tastes of the people who want to come . Unfortunately with got to get some of those people who do n't want to come and it 's all about bums on seats it 's the old old saying bums on seats we 've got to get an answer how we do n't get to these here at the moment in the audience whether they are people who want to get bums on seats or how they know how to do it perhaps they should have a meeting like this every month I 've never seen so many of . .. I 'll give you my fee later . Seriously though we 've got to get people into this theatre on a more regular basis .
Idiom: cry wolf (used idiomatically: yes)
( The WHO has never explained why these obvious examples do not meet their criteria . ) False alarms make the " pandemic under way " designation almost meaningless and diminish its usefulness . And that , in turn , has important consequences : as Jack ~ Fisher , a professor of surgery at the University of California , San ~ Diego , School of Medicine , observed , " Keep crying ' wolf , ' and WHO can expect lower than customary compliance with flu vaccine advisories next fall . " Worse , imagine what would happen when we encounter a genuinely dangerous new pathogen , such as a strain of H5N1 avian flu ( which in its current form has a mortality rate more than 100 times higher than H1N1 ) that is easily transmissible between humans . The UN 's false alarms also have had more immediate negative effects . According to Matthew ~ Hingerty , the managing ~ director of Australia 's Tourism ~ Export ~ Council , the country lost thousands of tourists because of the WHO 's pandemic declaration .
Idiom: go it alone (used idiomatically: yes)
Poole Harbour Sailing is one of them , giving expert individual tuition aboard a 32 ftRival yacht . Another of the smaller outfits is Blue Peter Sailing , which runs a 29-footer with seven berths and promises not to give you the ' sail - it - on - its - ear - and - hard - luck - if - you're - seasick ' routine . In the same area the Dart Sailing School not only teaches but offers charter boats from 28 ft to 60 ft when you 're ready to go it alone . Fal Sail will also get you started with a full range of RYA courses , and its prices are typical with a five - day tuition package costing £ 320 per person in high season . Cruises of one to three weeks can take in Ireland , the Scilly Isles or north and south Brittany .
Idiom: have been around (used idiomatically: yes)
At 1.75 billion lire ( $ 1.2 m ) , Mr van Basten was one of the best bargains in football history . A less obvious but equally successful choice was Arrigo Sacchi , an unknown second - division manager from Parma who brought to Milan an attractive , attacking ( and so rather un - Italian ) type of football . But good managers and talented players had been around before , and they can get quickly burnt out ; the Italian football landscape is littered with expensive relics . What is unique about Milan is its style of management . Mr Berlusconi made it clear from the start that his new purchase was going to be run like any other company .
Idiom: fall into place (used idiomatically: yes)
She did not otherwise feel at all detached . Her mind raced . A number of things fell into place — click , click , click — with distant muffled echoes like stones dropped into a well . That time . The tiff .
Idiom: come unstuck (used idiomatically: yes)
Stirling : ‘ the Trust is reliant on the generous support of its members and the wider public’ INSIDE STORY Velcro comes unstuck Velcro , the touch fastener so beloved of outdoor skiing types and their like , is at the centre of a bitter spat between its board and disgruntled shareholders over that vexed question of shareholder value . Invented over 40 years ago by a Swiss engineer , the product is now owned by a Netherlands Antilles company with its major manufacturing operations in the US .
Idiom: up for grabs (used idiomatically: yes)
Yet what about all those addicts that acquire drugs illegally and hence are not registered ? Another example of the differences between the two views is the location of power within central government in Britain and the role of the Cabinet . The first view would suggest that in Cabinet issues are ‘ up for grabs’ and whichever minister gets his or her own way on an issue has power . The second view would point to the fact that in reality it is the Prime Minister who , in setting the agenda for Cabinet discussion , decides what is to be discussed in the first place and consequently has power . The relationship between central government and local government further illustrates this point where local government will have the power to make policy and spend public money but within limits set by Parliament and central government .
Idiom: tell tales (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ Generous , too . I understand that you provided the dinghies.’ ‘ Someone 's been telling tales … I can afford it . Did n't we land a big contract in Bruges ?
Idiom: carry the can (used idiomatically: yes)
‘ I 'll get the car out and you go and make yourself respectable.’ All right for some , Nutty thought despondently , thinking of the others in the warehouse feeding the horses , nothing to worry about any more . Just her to carry the can , the prerogative of natural leaders of men . She stiffened nobly . Her father drove her up to the smart neighbourhood where the Smiths lived and parked his car outside .