have one's finger on the pulse

have one's finger on the pulse

English

Alternative forms

• have (one's) fingers on the pulse

Verb

have one's finger on the pulse (intransitive, see usage notes)

1. To understand (something) well.

   The marketing firm I use has its finger on the consumers' pulse.

   He has his finger on the pulse of his company, and thinks he needs to hire a few more people in sales and get rid of a few from research and development.

Usage notes

• As in the example sentences given above, this is used as either have one's finger on the pulse of [something] or as have one's finger on [something]'s pulse.
• The object is generally an organization, a demographic, or some other group of people.