know by sight

Idioms  

1. Recognize someone or something by appearance but not know the name or other details. For example, I know a lot of people by sight from the tennis courts. [1200s]

---

Example Sentences

Behind them, an enormous mother, in a brown silk dress, and the father, a rather frail little man I know by sight.

From "The Stranger" by Albert Camus

Say, did you ever know by sight In cheese an individual mite!

From The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Volume 1 by Browning, William Ernst

There are too many parts which I do not know by sight.

From The Issahar Artifacts by Bone, Jesse F. (Jesse Franklin)

During her sojourn in her father's town, Erminia has learned to know by sight all the Crusaders, and during her brief captivity she has fallen in love with Tancred, who was detailed to guard her.

From The Book of the Epic by Guerber, H. A. (Hélène Adeline)

I, for one, think that there can be no greater folly than to imagine a man solicitous to serve you whom you don't know by sight.

From The Letters of Cicero, Volume 1 The Whole Extant Correspodence in Chronological Order by Shuckburgh, Evelyn S.