nodding acquaintance noun2 •A casual or partial familiarity; a relationship which is not close or fully developed; an inexact understanding (of something).None of the quarrymen were intimate friends of mine. I had a nodding acquaintance with them. — 1857 •Someone who is a remote or passing acquaintance.[T]o reach Cattewater I must either fetch a circuit through purlieus where every householder knew me and every urchin was a nodding acquaintance, or make a straight dash. — 1903 formsnodding acquaintances
