0 the act of trying to find out what people's opinion about something new will be by informally spreading news of it:
1 the act of making a suggestion in order to find out how others react to it:
They bear all the marks of kite flying, and one is driven to the assumption that they were inspired by one side or the other.
Much of the speculation would seem to have been officially inspired, a sort of exercise in kite-flying, to see what the reaction of the public would be.
Part of the reason for that may be that so little of practical value has resulted from all the kite-flying and speculations of the past 18 months.
We have had a series of scare stories, deliberate leaks and kite flying on disability benefits over the past six months.
Our guidance notes on the procedures for making byelaws explain how to ban kite flying in the countryside.
While there was some inevitable 'kite flying' of possible options for reform, all involved major changes and, potentially, losses for large numbers of claimants.
I am not even sure whether a fountain 300 feet high would not do some mischief as regards kite flying.
In the kite flying of the past nine months, far too much attention has been paid to the views of the dissenters, and not enough to the majority recommendations.
