tastare il terreno

Italian

Etymology

Literally, “to test the terrain”. Compare French tâter le terrain.

Verb

tastàre il terreno (first-person singular present tàsto il terreno, first-person singular past historic tastài il terreno, past participle tastàto il terreno, auxiliary avére)

1. to test the waters; to put out feelers
   • 2020, Barack Obama, chapter 13, in Chicca Galli, Paolo Lucca, Giuseppe Maugeri, transl., Una terra promessa [A Promised Land], Garzanti Libri:

     Durante la transizione, il presidente Bush aveva tastato il terreno per capire se volessimo che ordinasse l'invio delle truppe prima del mio insediamento, ma gli avevamo chiesto di aspettare perché il team subentrante esaminasse meglio la situazione.

     During the transition, President Bush had put out feelers to see if we wanted him to order the deployment before I took office, but we'd indicated that our preference was to hold off until the incoming team had fully assessed the situation.

     (literally, “During the transition, President Bush had put out feelers to understand if we wanted him to order the sending of the troops before my taking office, but we had asked him to wait for our replacing team to better examine the situation.”)