to make it wise (see make, v.1 54b): to deliberate, hesitate. Obsolete.

to feel (out) one's way and variants: to find one's way by groping or treading carefully; (figurative) to proceed cautiously or tentatively.

To strike (water, bushes, or cover of any kind) in order to rouse or drive game; to scour or range over (a wood, etc.) in hunting. to beat the bush…

to beat about the bush: literal, as in 12; figurative. To engage in preliminary operations, esp. to approach a matter in a cautious or roundabout way.

intransitive. To go, proceed, carry on. Also: (of an animal) to be driven. Also with away. Now chiefly in to call canny at canny, adv. 1b.

Chiefly Scottish. to call canny (usually as to ca' canny): to go or proceed cautiously, quietly, gently, warily, or with care. Only in the infinitive…

Easy-going (in various senses); relaxed, casual, leisurely.

intransitive. To make tentative approaches, to feel one's way.

intransitive. To tread softly or lightly, so as to avoid being noticed; to move warily or stealthily; (also) to behave in a sly, furtive, or…

figurative. By instinct or improvisation according to results and circumstances, rather than according to rules or a plan. Esp. in to play it by ear.