suss
/sʌs
/British informal
verb (susses, sussing, sussed) [with object]
1Realize; grasp: he’s sussed it [with clause]: she sussed out right away that there was something fishy going on...
- After all, how boring would it be if scientists and Doctors had already sussed out what makes the mind tick?
- He immediately susses that something is not quite cool with what Nicole is telling everyone.
1.1Discover the true character or nature of: I reckon I’ve got him sussed...
- It's another thing I get from my mum - we're quite good at sussing character.
- All our holidays were working holidays - we used to go and suss out all the hotels.
- Some locals, including two men on a tractor and a bicycle, rambled over for a chat and to suss out the commotion that had descended on the local village.
noun [mass noun, with adjective or noun modifier]
Knowledge or awareness of a specified kind: his lack of business suss
adjective
Shrewd and wary: he is too suss a character to fall into that trap...
- I tried telling them that my father died in a fire years ago and that my Uncle adopted me but they were suss about it.
- I knew that Christian and Katelyn were suss about what we were talking about earlier.
Origin
1930s: abbreviation of suspect, suspicion.