puzzle out

English

Verb

puzzle out (third-person singular simple present puzzles out, present participle puzzling out, simple past and past participle puzzled out)

1. To figure out; to discover or find a solution; to deduce.
   • 1945, George Orwell, Animal Farm, chapter 6

     […] but Clover, who thought she remembered a definite ruling against beds, went to the end of the barn and tried to puzzle out the Seven Commandments which were inscribed there.

Translations