From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishgive somebody to understand/think/believe somethinggive somebody to understand/think/believe somethingformal to make someone think that a particular thing is true I was given to understand that I would be offered a permanent job. → give
Examples from the Corpus
give somebody to understand/think/believe something• She'd given more time to thinking about Lucy than anything else for months.• But the knotted tensions between people and groups of people give us plenty to think about.• Ireland would be given something new to think about.• It obviously gave him plenty to think about.• A parting sniff as she left the room gave the gentleman to understand that he had disappointed her.• He would have given anything to believe that Isambard was lying.• But he had also given her time to think what she was doing. 