get the drift


Also, catch the drift. Understand the general meaning or purport. For example, I didn't get the drift—do they want to go or not? or Over all the noise he barely managed to catch the drift of their conversation. The noun drift has been used for “purport” since the early 1500s.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.