From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishunderstand something to be/mean somethingunderstand something to be/mean somethingMEANINGUNDERSTANDto accept something as having a particular meaning In this document, ‘children’ is understood to mean people under 14. → understand
Examples from the Corpus
understand something to be/mean something• Barmy anyway, which is what I understand you to mean.• Must you really understand duration to be a savvy investor?• After a while-it seemed like an eternity-Philip usually acknowledged that he understood what needed to be accomplished.• We understood his lack of response to mean "no."• Isabel had always understood Faith to mean that she should have it.• Hicks understood it to mean Those Who Are.• To understand is to be betrayed.• Homosexuals have as much right to be understood, to be treated with compassionate love as the rest of us.• Accent, tone, fluency and vocabulary can affect the ability of sender and receiver to understand or to be understood. 