Waters

muddy the waters

to make a situation more confused and less easy to understand or deal with. The statistics you quoted didn't prove anything, they simply muddied the waters.

pour oil on troubled waters

to do or say something in order to make people stop arguing and become calmer. She was furious with Dave for forgetting her birthday so I tried to pour oil on troubled waters by offering to take them both out for a meal.

See also: oil, pour, trouble

still waters run deep

something that you say which means people who say very little often have very interesting and complicated personalities. He's quiet and shy, it's true, but still waters run deep.

See also: deep, run, still

test the water/waters

to try to discover what people think about an idea before you do anything about it, or to try to discover what a situation is really like before you become very involved in it. I mentioned my idea to a couple of friends as a way of testing the water and they were very enthusiastic about it. Perhaps you should go to a couple of meetings to test the waters before you decide whether to join the club.

See also: test, water

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muddy the waters

to make a situation more confusing. He's just trying to muddy the waters so we won't notice all the bad things he's done.

Usage notes: sometimes used with a modifier: The controversy has muddied the social waters of communities throughout this region.

muck something up

test the waters

to try something new. We are testing the waters to see if online ads increase sales.

float an idea

Etymology: based on the literal meaning of test the waters (= to put your toe into water to see how cold it is)

See also: test