Get the drift
verb phrase
To see the tendency of discourse, esp what one is hinting at: And it won’t show up. Get my drift?
[1927+; drift in this sense is found by 1549]
Also, catch the drift. Understand the general meaning or purport. For example, I didn’t get the drift—do they want to go or not? or Over all the noise he barely managed to catch the drift of their conversation. The noun drift has been used for “purport” since the early 1500s.
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Words from the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare; the advice Hamlet gives to Ophelia when he bids her live a life of celibacy.
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Also, have the feel of. Become or be accustomed to or learn about; acquire skill in. For example, It took me a while to get the feel of the new car, or After a few months Jack had the feel of his new position. This idiom transfers the sense of touch to mental perception. [ […]
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Also, have the goods on. Acquire or possess confidential information about someone, especially of a damaging or incriminating kind. For example, “Trouble is, they’ve got the goods on me” (Owen Johnson, The Lawrenceville Stories, 1909). [ ; 1870s ] Also see: get on one
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verb phrase To find or collect decisive evidence against: ”Why did you ask me to hire a private detective?” …” To get the goods on him” (1913+)