find out how the land lies

find out/see how the land lies

to get information about a situation before making decisions or taking action I thought I'd better call my mother and see how the land lies before inviting myself home for the weekend. (British & Australian)

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Elspeth	ELS-peth	Scottish
Maximiliaan	-	Dutch
Ioel	-	Biblical Greek
Gaetane	-	French
Bilal	-	Arabic, Urdu
Terezinha	-	Portuguese (Brazilian)