feel one's way

Idioms  

1. Proceed cautiously, as in Until we know who we're dealing with, we'll have to feel our way. This expression alludes to groping by touch when one is unable to see. [Early 1600s] Also see feel for, def. 1.

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Example Sentences

A month is too short a time in which to feel one's way in London.

From The Three Impostors or The Transmutations by Machen, Arthur

Expansion has so made the English what they are—for good or for ill, but on the whole for good—that one doesn't quite feel one's way to say for one's country "No—I'll have none of it!"

From The Letters of Henry James (volume I) by James, Henry

"It's all very well, I daresay," said she; "but one should feel one's way."

From The Struggles of Brown, Jones, and Robinson By One of the Firm by Trollope, Anthony

It is impossible now to feel one's way along all the threads which Pitt held in his hands.

From William Pitt and the Great War by Rose, John Holland

If but a friendly hint be thrown, 'Tis easier then to feel one's way.

From Faust — Part 1 by Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von