put out feelers - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

An allusion to animals which use their feelers to gain awareness of their surroundings.

put out feelers (third-person singular simple present puts out feelers, present participle putting out feelers, simple past and past participle put out feelers)

1. (idiomatic) To explore or watch for; to ask around; to investigate.

   I will put out feelers and see what I can find out about that.

• test the waters

• put out
• feel
• feeler

• cat tap
• trial balloon