test the waters

to try something new We are testing the waters to see if online ads increase sales.

Related vocabulary: float an idea

Etymology: based on the literal meaning of test the waters (to put your toe into water to see how cold it is)

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Roxanne	rahk-SAN (English), rok-SAHN (French)	English, French
Aygul	-	Azerbaijani, Uyghur
Viktorija	-	Lithuanian, Latvian, Macedonian, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian
Isokrates	-	Ancient Greek
Felim	-	Irish
Jemima	jə-MIE-mə (English)	Biblical, English