From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsound somebody/something ↔ out phrasal verbASK A QUESTIONto talk to someone in order to find out what they think about a plan or idea He sounded people out and found the responses favourable. They want to sound out his opinion before they approach him formally. about I wanted to sound her out about a job that I'm thinking of applying for. → sound→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
sound out• Cyril reached down to flick on the radio, but no sound came out, although the dial went on.• One night there was a very bad storm, and I thought I heard the sound of guns out at sea.• Suddenly, all the sounds were drowned out by the whining and screaming of the huge drill.• I, on the other hand, was made to sound like something out of Animal House.• A sound comes out of his mouth like a nail being out of a plank of green pine.• He told me I sounded a little out of practice and laughed at that.• David advised me to sound you out on it.• The opposite of turning down the sound is blacking out the picture.sound about• Will you go to Moness and see the Logans and sound them out about hiding?• I sounded him out about loss of memory. 