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]

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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

We came to know, by sight, at least, the perpetual first night audience of London, its critics, dramatists, and friendly connections.

From I Walked in Arden by Crawford, Jack

Yet I found myself the host of a number of very distinguished guests, many of whom I did not even know by sight.

From Gossamer 1915 by Birmingham, George A.

Clint, peering around, saw Harmon Dreer, and another boy whom he didn't know by sight, climbing the slope toward them.

From Left Tackle Thayer by Barbour, Ralph Henry

Yet what chance would he have of finding a man whom he had never seen and would not know by sight in so large and populous a place?

From Five Hundred Dollars or, Jacob Marlowe's Secret by Alger, Horatio