sounded out

Verb

sound out (third-person singular simple present sounds out, present participle sounding out, simple past and past participle sounded out)

1. (transitive) To question and listen attentively in order to discover a person's opinion, intent, or preference, especially by using indirect conversational remarks.
   • You'll have to ask them—sound them out.1918, Peter B. Kyne, chapter 24, in The Valley of the Giants

   Synonyms:

   to feel out, to check out

2. (transitive) To pronounce a word or phrase by articulating each of its letters or syllables slowly in sequence.
3. (intransitive) To speak or sing loudly, to call out.
   • Sound out, voices of young men! loudly and musically call me by my nighest name!c. 1855, Walt Whitman, Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, stanza 9