to catch sight
16
3.0
- phrasal verb
- /kæʧ saɪt/
:
divisar
- While waiting for the bus, I caught sight of an old friend waving from across the street.
- first caught sight
And he says in his dream, he's riding along and he catches sight far off in the distance of that campfire.
- And he says in his dream, he's riding along and he catches sight far off in the distance of that campfire.
- In the course of doing these videos for you, I've seen people catch sight of an Apple on what they think is my desk.
- In this Playhouse of infinite forms, I caught sight of the formless and so my life was blessed.
- You know, to God, the great Indian poet said in this Playhouse of infinite forms, I caught sight of the formless and then my life was blessed.
Examples
-
Disappointed, that is, until he caught sight of the subject of his first Parisian sketch.
Fiction book (1992) -
A few paces later, he rounded the corner and caught sight of the festival house.
Fiction book (1992) -
Somebody just caught sight of him.
-
And sometimes one would catch sight of the other without the other knowing it.
Fiction book (1991) -
Well, if you do catch sight of her, perhaps you could give us a ring here at Mercy Farm.
-
Hope a passing ship catches sight of our smoke.
-
I haven't caught sight of you in days.
-
Mr McGregor caught sight of him at the corner, but Peter did not care.
-
I caught sight of my face in that shop window when I was running down the street and dragging them poor kids behind me.
-
On Anchor Street, Faul caught sight of a face behind a window peering out at her.
Fiction book (1991)
Synonyms
∞
1.0
To notice something with your eyes
299
1.5
To look quickly at someone or something
150
2.0
Look quickly at someone or something
131
7.6
To see something impressive, like a beautiful view or event
88
2.8
To see someone or something for a short time
59
3.7
To see someone or something for the first time after a long time
34
3.4
To see someone or something for a very short time
26
2.8
To suddenly see something for a short time
18
3.2
Look at something quickly without reading it carefully
15
2.4
To see someone or something suddenly and for a short time
1
9.9
To see something partly or far away
1
8.0
To see someone or something for the first time
1
9.9
To see a person or thing that is hard to notice
To look quickly at something
To have a quick look at something because you are curious
To look quickly in an informal way
Antonyms
How Visible
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to see something briefly or unexpectedly' is directly and compositionally derived from 'catch' (to notice or seize) plus 'sight' (seeing), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer the phrase. This is a common light-verb + noun collocation (as in 'catch sight of') and follows transparent cross-linguistic patterns, making it immediately comprehensible.
Etymology
Catch sight comes from the simple picture of catch and sight: like grabbing a quick view of something that appears suddenly. So, it means 'to see something briefly or unexpectedly'.