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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

as the crow flies en · ADV

Pronunciation

Etymology

From the fact that while crows fly to their source of food, their flight bypasses obstacles like rivers and terrain. Compare beeline.

Meanings

  1. (idiomatic, not-comparable) In a straight line distance between two locations, as opposed to the road distance or over land distance.
    • Then it told me the distance between the two is 331 miles, which is totally irrelevant as that's as the crow flies and not the 393 miles of the rail route. 2020 April 22, Barry Doe, “Disappointed at lack of information on LNER website”, in Rail, page 65:
    • The distance from Sarajevo to Ploce is 75 miles as the crow flies, but because of the difficult terrain the new line is 120 miles long. 1964 April, “Beyond the Channel: Jugoslavia: New line to Adriatic”, in Modern Railways, page 281:
    • It is 15 kilometers as the crow flies.
    • ʽFire,ʼ said Bill, ʽin the form of a common cowshed, is burnin' about nor'-nor'-east as the crow flies.ʼ 1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, page 54:

Relateds

displacement · beeline

Synonyms

as the gull flies · as the raven flies

Translations (33)

it in linea d'aria (in a straight line) · es campo a través (in a straight line) · el σε ευθεία γραμμή (in a straight line) · lt tiesia linija (in a straight line) · es a campo traviesa (in a straight line) · sv fågelvägen (in a straight line) · ga i bhfoirm líne díreach trasna tíre (in a straight line) · sk vzdušnou čiarou (in a straight line) · ru по прямо́й (in a straight line) · nb i fugleflukt (in a straight line) · et linnulennult (in a straight line) · hu légvonalban (in a straight line) · es a campo travieso (in a straight line) · es campo a traviesa (in a straight line) · cmn 筆直地 /笔直地 (in a straight line) · ru напряму́ю (in a straight line) · da i fugleflugt (in a straight line) · nl hemelsbreed (in a straight line) · vi theo đường chim bay (in a straight line) · ru прямиком (in a straight line) · fi linnuntietä (in a straight line) · he בקו אווירי (in a straight line) · hu toronyiránt (in a straight line) · pl w linii prostej (in a straight line) · es a vuelo de pájaro (in a straight line) · nb i luftlinje (in a straight line) · tr kuş uçuşu (in a straight line) · pt em linha reta (in a straight line) · de Luftlinie (in a straight line) · es a campo través (in a straight line) · mi he toro tika (in a straight line) · fr à vol d'oiseau (in a straight line) · cs vzdušnou čarou (in a straight line)