test the water

test the water/waters

to try to discover what people think about an idea before you do anything about it, or to try to discover what a situation is really like before you become very involved in it I mentioned my idea to a couple of friends as a way of testing the water and they were very enthusiastic about it. Perhaps you should go to a couple of meetings to test the waters before you decide whether to join the club.

See stand the test of time

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Jesenia	-	Spanish (Latin American)
Nynke	NEEN-kə	Frisian
Aurelius	[ɔ:'ri:jəs]
Pol	-	Catalan
Ethel	['eθəl]
'Orpah	-	Biblical Hebrew