check out **
sound out
feel out

It's like you have to find the right moment, feel the person out.

For the first 12 minutes of the game, the two teams were feeling each other out.

I tried to feel out his energy, but he was hard to read.

But I try to feel out the person doing the giving.

When he did not answer she felt out along the open door.

They made small talk for the next hour, each side feeling the other out.

It seemed he was feeling things out before saying too much.

You have to kind of feel the person out as you're talking to them.

He hadn't spent enough time feeling the lines out, and it cost him.

It was their first game together, so they were feeling each other out.