Gooogr/pie_idioms huggingface dataset:
Idiom: at the crossroads (used idiomatically: yes)
On the third day I was well again . One morning we set off to find the primal mound where the world began . An early train from Minya left us at Roda , a country station where old taxis and barouches waited at a crossroads for fares . There were no roads direct from the station to where the world began , but the carriage drivers , squatting over their breakfasts , directed us to an abandoned railway line which cut across country . The railway line ran through tall fields of durra .
Idiom: off the hook (used idiomatically: yes)
Look at all the billions that have come in from North Sea oil and privatization . Look at all this new technology there is around now , and then tell me we ca n't afford to give everyone a proper home . Why should I let society off the hook by accepting rubbish when it 's more than within their means to treat me with dignity?’ ‘ But maybe society is n't going to treat you with dignity , maybe that 's all gone now.’ ‘ And you 're prepared to accept that.’
Idiom: talk shop (used idiomatically: yes)
Not that it ever really came up to her expectations , but this year — spending it at the vicarage with Mark and Sophia and her mother — she had hoped for at least a glimpse of Rupert Stonebird . It had been a blow to learn that he had gone away to spend Christmas with ‘ friends in the country’ , and she imagined him surrounded by fascinating girls all more attractive than herself . Rupert had not specified what the ‘ friends’ consisted of , so nobody could have known about the anthropological colleague and his wife and their children aged seven , five , and three , or pictured Rupert going to church alone on Christmas morning , helping to wash up after the adequate but plain Christmas dinner , spending the evening talking shop , and retiring early to his hard uncomfortable bed . He came back to London on Boxing Day evening , but the vicarage party went to the theatre that night and asked Ianthe Broome to join them . So nobody saw Rupert return to his house , or standing in his overcoat in the unheated hall , opening late Christmas cards , then going from room to room switching on electric fires .
Idiom: on the back of (used idiomatically: yes)
Anders was playing with Daeve . He had the writer laid out , face down with his baggy trousers around his knees , on a marble - topped kitchen table , and was anally violating him with a large , unwashed carrot . Anders held Daeve down with a clever grip on the back of his neck . Nina now knew what the expression ‘ squealing like a stuck pig’ really meant . Anders looked up at Nina and laughed .
Idiom: get the boot (used idiomatically: no)
He cries ; Lit 's for my friend St Herbert ! Yes , caw — Come here again and you 'll get my boot , not straw ! ' He 's never been like this . They fly off fast .
Idiom: lay an egg (used idiomatically: no)
And , of course , the motive power is inevitably steam but not , alas , genuine West Riding motive power . Unfortunately the tight filming schedule could not wait for just two weeks or so until a suitable engine ( ie a 4F 0 - 6 - 0 ) arrived at Bury . No less than 53 extras portrayed the wartime travelling public , not forgetting a crate of live chickens , one of which actually laid an egg on set ! However , by 18,00 hrs . that evening Bury Bolton Street was back to its own self and its late 1950s style , at least in its furniture , colour schemes and the two neat rakes of BR Mk . 1 coaches stabled on Platform Two — one in 1951 ‘ Blood & Custard’ and the other in 1956 maroon . The film crews , actors and extras had all departed , but not for long .
Idiom: lend a hand (used idiomatically: yes)
It must be all the toxins coming out . And just what do you mean by enemy , anyhow ? ' ' I suppose you sent me that gilgul as a friendly gesture , then , to lend a helping hand on the Gittel job . ' ' The Apostate ? Nothing to do with me : in fact , I spent six hours fighting that decision in a totally futile meeting with Topaz and three top - level gorillas from Resource Deployment with cottonwool in their ears and Closed For Lunch signs on their brains . '
Idiom: with a will (used idiomatically: no)
They are , so to speak , Christian fellow - travellers . How can omnipotence be just ? How can omniscience be reconciled with free will ? Such ancient and well - tried difficulties with the concept of the divine haunt their fictions , which remain essentially this - worldly , however , in their moral concerns , and never theological . The new novel , unlike the fictions of Tolkien and Lewis , is stubbornly secular , but with an ear cocked to the supernatural ; it is no more anti - religious , that is to say , than Philip Larkin 's poem ' Church Going ' , which intones sympathetically the values of an empty place where the dead lie buried and where prayer has once been valid .
Idiom: above board (used idiomatically: yes)
Secondly , the tiles need some support while the adhesive sets ; without it , the whole tiles area could slump down the wall . What you do is to fix a line of battens across the wall ( or right round the room ) just above skirting board level , securing them with partly-driven masonry nails so you can remove them later when the adhesive has set . The precise level will be dictated by your setting-out with the tiling gauge , but will usually be between half and three-quarters of a tile width above the skirting board . Do n't rely on this being level ; it probably wo n't be . Draw the line out in pencil first , using your spirit level , and then pin the battens up and check the level again .
Idiom: you can't have your cake and eat it (used idiomatically: yes)
Jam yesterday , jam tomorrow but never jam today . It 's balanced on a knife edge . You ca n't have your cake and eat it . Everything stops for tea . The milk of human kindness .
Idiom: ring a bell (used idiomatically: yes)
I do n't know . I do n't think so . They do n't ring a bell . Erm well they 're part of the G C S E syllabus . Mm .
Idiom: take someone's word for it (used idiomatically: yes)
So she 's straight , is she?’ I finished my beer . ‘ Just take my word for it , Kenny , and do n't lose any sleep over it . Would that be around tennish?’ It was worth a try .
Idiom: rock the boat (used idiomatically: yes)
Perhaps this is an idea too early for its time , or perhaps not . What do you think — do let me know . Rocking the boat The last thing the construction industry needs right now is instability . Yet the Cabinet reshuffle has once again set the boat rocking by bringing in a new Secretary of State for the Environment — the third change in the DoE hot seat in the last 18 months .
Idiom: have a heart (used idiomatically: yes)
He has a tattoo of a swallow on his upper left arm and on his left hand a diamond on the first finger , heart on the second , club on the third and spade on the fourth . Gorman is 6 ft , slim to medium build , 12 stone , dark brown , short hair , blue eyes with a Mexican - style moustache . He has a heart tattooed on his left hand and the initial F on his left forearm . Magee is 5 ft 5 in tall , slim , 8½ stone , fair complexion , blue eyes with fairly short , straight receding hair . He had a 4 in scar on his left leg as a result of the knee - capping and a two - inch scar on his right wrist .
Idiom: on the shelf (used idiomatically: yes)
TI blames itself for telling the newsletter that that would be the ‘ average price for 1993’ because it forgot to factor in the industry practice of constantly repricing in the face of better yields . Of course TI is also discounting and will consider purchases of Tsunami and other chips in coming to final prices . Lead times are now 14 to 16 weeks , and TI has zero product on the shelf . The company claims to be servicing a growing percentage of other customers besides Sun and the companies on the Sparc International executive committee , used for parallelism , high - end superservers and embedded implementations as well as workstations and servers . The ‘ real’ Viking , of course , was intended to be a 50MHz part .
Idiom: lend a hand (used idiomatically: yes)
But then he 's cuddlier . The Post Office , who handle his mail , say there were 600,000 letters for the plump , red - cheeked old fellow . Naturally he could n't answer them all himself , so Post Office staff lent a hand and every kid who wrote to him got a reply , postmarked Reindeerland or Santaland . Whether they get the computer software , dolls and musical instruments they asked him for remains to be seen . It depends how much the adults collude and what their bank balances are looking like .
Idiom: night and day (used idiomatically: no)
Nostalgic for what he would not give twopence to see back Hopeful for what he will not miss when it fails Who lay a night and a day and a night and a day Golden - haired , while his friend beside him Attending a small hole in his brow
Idiom: scarlet woman (used idiomatically: yes)
She patted James 's hand . ‘ Before your time , darling . Anyway , that made me a scarlet woman.’ ‘ We asked him to our wedding,’ James said . ‘ Yes , but he would n't come because it was in a registry office .
Idiom: take root (used idiomatically: yes)
TV Quick , the German interloper in the British TV listings market , has got off to a flying start . The 10p terror is selling two million a week , and during its first month knocked Radio Times and TV Times into second and third places . According to Radio Times , TV Times has been hardest hit by the duopoly 's bust - up ( see chart ) , and it reckons Bauer , TV Quick 's publisher , will keep the price low and continue aggressive promotion until ‘ a significant proportion of readers have taken root in the brand’ . City rents are falling in absolute terms for the first time in 25 years . Alan Winter , deputy managing director of Legal & General 's property arm , says market balance in the Square Mile can not be expected before 1994–95 .
Idiom: every nook and cranny (used idiomatically: yes)
The 1980 winner , Allan Wells , sat in a television studio in London ; in Dallas , Texas , the man rated by some as the fastest of them all , Bob Hayes , the 1964 champion from Tokyo , sat watching and waiting , memories stirring in him ; and Harrison Dillard watched from Cleveland , Ohio , the oldest living sprint gold medallist , winner at London 's Wembley Stadium in 1948 . In the stands in Seoul was the Russian Valeriy Borzov , winner in Munich in 1972 . The stadium was packed beyond capacity ; in every nook and cranny people crammed together , standing four deep on the walkways and filling the steps between the seats . Coaches and managers of the finalists were now gripped with the tension of the approaching moment of truth , like expectant fathers at the birth , now impotent , their work done . And that tension spread to every tier of every stand as the eight finalists — three Americans , two Canadians and one each from Jamaica , Brazil and Britain — came into the stadium .
Idiom: under fire (used idiomatically: yes)
Any messages are relayed through the Germans or the Italians . The row blew up after Britain clashed with other EC nations after a crucial summit in Brussels . Mr Major came under fire over his pledge to Euro - rebels in the Commons he will not ratify the controversial Maastricht Treaty until next year . When Maastricht was agreed 11 months ago , all countries pledged to ratify it before the end of this year . Denmark — which rejected the Treaty after a referendum in June — was given special dispensation to wait until 1993 .
Idiom: young blood (used idiomatically: yes)
We also learnt quite a lot as to how we should do it next time , so when we now to it for senior managers erm come April May time er and hopefully that er training will be improved on the benefit going through . That is obviously something which we 've just got to keep topping up but it was recognised by the fathers that will there was we needed to be helped to train to to sell and so we needed that training er to get us get us going so to speak , there were no natural salesmen amongst departments . Erm we also wanted to implement a plan er and this is an ongoing er situation of admitting er young blood to the partnership over a period of of erm five years or so , again that 's a rolling programme but the age profile of the partnership in this office is a bit on the aged side er and it should be er younger , it would certainly be healthier if it was a bit younger . specific points in the development of people , whilst that we recognise that the partners in practice was going to go into a quiet spell er something but we would run the risk if that happened on losing the expertise , the skill base that we 've got there and the undoubted qualities of the people within , we had to find a way in which we could use that skill base and other practice er of the practice and in fact that 's been quite successfully achieved in in recent months er with due diligence work for example er with legal support work is another example , when people in the insolvency practice have been very active on special science weeks ago tree .
Idiom: swim with the tide (used idiomatically: no)
He kicked off , towing his burden like a lifesaver . He knew he would n't get far , but hoped to find deep water . Carey bobbed like jetsam , always awkward even though Ellwood was swimming with the tide . Now there would only be days to finish things . When Carey 's body was found , there would be more trouble , more disruption .
Idiom: child's play (used idiomatically: yes)
Peter found it therapeutic to go through the boxes . After his death , I learnt not to shut him out of my life and now I feel a comforting sense of continuity when I go through the boxes and find little notes by him which I have never seen before . I still add to subjects that are particularly in my line — playground games like marbles , tops and balls — as at the moment I am working on a book about children 's play . But I have to restrict myself , otherwise I will face the same problem I had with the books — the lack of somewhere to lodge all these wonderful toys . So I try to stick to things that are cheap and simple , like the French fluorescent skipping rope that I bought last week .
Idiom: in hot water (used idiomatically: yes)
That 's where Dylon 's Getaway travel wash comes in . It 's a concentrated cream detergent in a handy 100ml tube which should last for up to 20 washes . Getaway is simple to use , suitable for all fabrics and works perfectly in hot , cold and even sea water . A 100ml tube usually costs £ 1.09 from department stores , supermarkets and chemists , but we have 100 to give away free to Clothes Show Club members . Details are in the Club letter .
Idiom: one and the same (used idiomatically: yes)
Automatic accruer is perhaps more commonly used by professional partnerships ( and has the practical advantage of not being dependent upon compliance with a prescribed timetable ) but there is considerable uncertainty as to whether such an arrangement should be regarded as a binding contract for the sale and purchase of the partnership share so as to take its value outside the scope of business property relief for the purposes of Inheritance Tax ( see Chapter 10 ) . The option approach is the more flexible . The unexpected departure , for whatever reasons , of several partners within a short period of time could place an intolerable strain on the surviving partners in the event that they were bound to pay out their former colleagues at one and the same time . The alternative of dissolving the firm might in such circumstances be less burdensome . Whatever is decided upon , the procedures to be adopted must be made explicit .
Idiom: sit tight (used idiomatically: yes)
I could n't concentrate on the film at all , I was so aware of her presence beside me in the flickering darkness . I had to repeat whole sections of my ‘ ritual register’ , to stop myself from eidetiking , to stop myself from spoiling her image . I sat tight in my seat , my big knees grating against the row in front , trying to ignore the agonising cramps that tore up my thighs . Afterwards we went for a pizza at — of all places — Al Forno . I had n't set foot inside the place since my visit with The Fat Controller .
Idiom: get a handle on (used idiomatically: yes)
Um and erm well anyway the frequencies and er various kind of frequencies of various kinds of activity are mentioned on the handout so you can er you can see that for yourself . It 's not much point me just sort of reciting the percentages . Um now , okay , so there are some problems in getting a handle on exactly how much of these kinds of activities go on and whom they affect . There are also some problems in understanding the effects on people . Now um I 've stuck in some data from the West study about um what sorts of feelings people reported themselves as having .
Idiom: step on it (used idiomatically: yes)
In the light of my head torch I could see that Nat was grey - faced with fatigue , his eyelids drooping , his mouth surrounded by frost that he had not had the strength to wipe away . Snow from the trees had fallen all over us and his arms and shoulders were covered in a white dust that sparkled in the light from my lamp . I could not see his feet as snow ploughed up from his brake when he had last stepped on it reached to about mid - calf . I was appalled . What right had I to bring him here and to inflict this sort of suffering on him ?
Idiom: hot air (used idiomatically: yes)
She dearly loved the twins , but over the last two days , since they 'd returned to Liz and Owen 's apartment , her cousin 's ancient washing - machine had seemed to be going non - stop ! The scorching , clammy heat of a summer in New York had been a total physical shock . Completely unaccustomed to the hot , humid air — so wet and steamy that it was almost impossible to breathe properly — she 'd been deeply grateful for the air - conditioning in the apartment which —when it was working properly ! — had kept them all relatively cool . But within five minutes of her putting a foot on the pavement outside the large building she 'd found that she might as well be in a hot and steamy sauna bath . However , leaving aside the intolerable heat , there was no doubt that New York was a really amazing place .
Idiom: get your feet wet (used idiomatically: yes)
Where soft sedimentary rocks have eroded away , leaving harder boulders and ample crevices with loosely embedded rocks , is the best habitat for the myriads of fascinating creatures . In limestone and sandstone areas in sheltered bays , sculptured rock pools support a large selection of algaes ( prettily coloured seaweeds , tufts of purple , scarlet and green ) , which in this aquarium - sized representation of the sea , support a host of small fish , especially young wrasse , and a community of prawns and other invertebrates , like the sea anemones and gasteropod ( snail - like ) molluscs . Sometimes , it is possible to venture down when the tide is out without getting your feet wet . Slippery seaweeds abound on most shores , and the choice of footwear is either gumboots , or plimsolls or a pair of old strong shoes . Ordnance survey maps and even road atlases will give an approximate guide to whether a shore is rocky , sandy , or shingle .
Idiom: out to lunch (used idiomatically: yes)
I was at school for seven years . It was n't until my second year that I told anything like the truth about my father . I had been taken out to lunch by Wakefield 's grandparents one Sunday . ‘ What does your father do?’ the old man asked , a trickle of fat in the cleft of his chin . ‘ He 's war disabled,’ I replied .
Idiom: one and the same (used idiomatically: yes)
they 're Yes , one and the same ? Yeah , They thought it would draw people in from a wider
Idiom: wet behind the ears (used idiomatically: yes)
That Y chromosome , that mutated afterthought , was the cause of it all . In the winter of 1970 I attended the second national conference of the Women 's Liberation Movement , held in a grim out - of - season holiday camp at Skegness . I was , to put it mildly , wet behind the ears , politically . In my first year in a London art school my two major preoccupations were whether you really could see William Turner 's late canvases as a precursor to French Impressionism , and how the hell I could afford to clothe myself in the right gear to make a stunning impact on my new friends at the Gateways . I went to the conference armed only with a general feeling of being pissed off that men seemed to have it all their own way .
Idiom: on board (used idiomatically: yes)
But how do we get to the ideas of self - knowledge and self - liberation from the two previous levels of rationality — groundedness and enlightenment ? The link is quite simple . If the giving of grounds is seriously taken on board by the individual as an integral part of this valued form of life , then the individual will be led to pose to himself or herself some of the likely questions from an external observer . In other words , groundedness , taken seriously , leads to an internal dialogue . In that process of internal dialogue , discoveries are made by the person about himself or herself .
Idiom: open someone's eyes (used idiomatically: yes)
You opened up my eyes to what it 's like when everything is right .
Idiom: hear things (used idiomatically: no)
The sufferer meets with incredulity from friends and relations : ‘ It 's in your imagination’ or ‘ Of course there 's no banging or whistling going on . I ca n't hear it.’ The sufferer himself may be worried that he is ‘ hearing things which are n't there’ . It is easy to be alarmed by something which one imagines does not happen to other people and which one 's family and friends may suggest is pure imagination or , worse still , the first sign of madness ! The fear of tinnitus , and the difficulty of sharing the fear with even one 's nearest and dearest , can be almost as upsetting as tinnitus itself .
Idiom: bear in mind (used idiomatically: yes)
MORE PRECIOUS ' EMERALDS ' Whilst it is always desirable to have the central repertoire available in the lower price ranges , it seems to me that ' bargain ' labels really come into their own by offering less familiar fayre . Erato has clearly borne this in mind with the latest batch of eight mid - price ' Emeraudes ' , and thankfully without having to resort to second - rate orchestras , conductors , and engineering ( all are DDD recordings ) . First off two discs of Gregorian Chant from the Paris Gregorian Choir under their director Francois Polgar , one devoted to the Holy Week Liturgy ( ) , the other the Liturgy for Good Friday ( ) . Together they form a superb introduction to this sadly neglected are of the repertoire .
Idiom: over your head (used idiomatically: no)
But the lack of sleep , washing facilities , privacy and the delay in settling usefully into your studies is not a good start to college life . This period can be profoundly depressing and some students withdraw at this point . It 's impossible to start studying seriously until you 've found a roof over your head that suits your needs and allows a clear head for studying . The realities of student housing All universities and polytechnics ( and most other colleges ) have an accommodation office for student housing .
Idiom: in the bag (used idiomatically: yes)
It 's a do - it - yourself pea shooter here . Where 's it gone ? Eric in your bag . I 'm chair listener alright Yeah
Idiom: to boot (used idiomatically: yes)
We mistakenly followed the instructions in the NCM manual which gives two ‘ correct’ settings — one in the text and one detailed in a photograph . Both , as it turns out , were wrong and gave ‘ invalid drive specification’ messages when trying to change to drive C after booting from the A drive . Worse still , on attempting to boot from the C drive , we were faced with a ‘ Harddisk Drive Controller Failure’ message . This message sounds disastrous , but is only due to incorrect harddisk settings . The important parameters were eventually located in the installation guide which came with the harddisk — a little logic mixed with an educated guess or two provided the other figures and the project was complete .