From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishput out feelersput out feelersFIND OUTto carefully try to discover what people think about something that you want to do They seem interested in a peace settlement and have begun putting out feelers. → feeler
Examples from the Corpus
put out feelers• Their intelligence agency, the Kempeitai, put out feelers to nationalists like Ngo Dinh Diem. 