to know by heart
22
2.6
- phrasal verb
:
saber de memoria
- Then she made me recite the Preamble to the Constitution, which I know by heart.
- knew the words by heart
- knew the story by heart
- knew her songs by heart
I I know them by heart, but I'd like to hear you say them.
- I I know them by heart, but I'd like to hear you say them.
- So on the outside of the script it says Moon Song, but I know all the words by heart.
- I didn't like those as much as Bartholomew Covens, but but I used to know Bartholomew Covens by heart when I was young.
Examples
-
After practicing every day, I finally know the song by heart.
-
I have read it so many times I know it by heart.
Fiction book (1998) -
It's just we basically know it by heart.
-
I sort of know it by heart.
-
I know your cycle by heart.
-
I know it by heart.
-
You must know it by heart.
-
I know all the words by heart.
-
We knew that place by heart and our parents trusted us.
-
We knew all the lyrics by heart.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
To have information about something
∞
1.0
Remember words and facts so you can say them later
175
2.3
Learn something so you can remember it exactly
Antonyms
How Memorized
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase relies on a conventional metaphor (the heart as the seat of deep or internal knowledge), so a learner who knows 'know' and 'heart' can often infer that it means to know something deeply. However, the specific sense 'memorize so well that it can be recalled without reading' is an idiomatic extension that is not strictly compositional, and while cross-linguistic equivalents exist, prior exposure makes the exact meaning more certain.
Etymology
Know by heart comes from a time when people believed the heart held memory and feeling. If words were inside your heart, you could say them anytime 'without reading', so the phrase now means 'to have memorized something'.