take a hint

Idioms  

1. Also, take the hint. Accept an indirect or covert suggestion, as in Evelyn took the hint and quietly left the room. This idiom was first recorded in 1711.

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Example Sentences

For seeming unable to take a hint, Judge Beetlestone risks a rebuke.

From The Wall Street Journal

Meredith is long-winded and short-sighted, unable to take a hint, let alone relax.

From Salon

I folded my hands together on top of my desk and nodded toward my bedroom door, hoping Miss Smarty-Pants could take a hint.

From Literature

If your mother still can’t take a hint, see if you can set her up to pay directly to your childcare provider instead.

From Slate

Anyway, life as we know it on the planet is a mess, and if you're hoping to get it cleaned up any time soon, it's obvious we have to take a hint from Bertrand Russell, who famously said in a 1959 interview that "if we are to live together and not to die together we must learn a kind of charity and a kind of tolerance, which is absolutely vital to the continuation of human life on this planet."

From Salon