Earth:As the crow flies
The expression as the crow flies is an idiom for the most direct path between two points.[1][2]
Etymology
The meaning of the expression is attested from the early 19th century, and appeared in the Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist (1838):[1][2]
"We cut over the fields at the back with him between us – straight as the crow flies – through hedge and ditch."[1]
Crows do conspicuously fly alone across open country, but crows do not fly in particularly straight lines.[3] While crows do not swoop in the air like swallows or starlings, they often circle above their nests.[3]
One suggested origin of the term is that before modern navigational methods were introduced, cages of crows were kept upon ships and a bird would be released from the crow's nest when required to assist navigation, in the hope that it would fly directly towards land.[1] However, the earliest recorded uses of the term are not nautical in nature, and the crow's nest of a ship is thought to derive from its shape and position rather than its use as a platform for releasing crows.[1] It has also been suggested that crows would not travel well in cages, as they fight if confined.[4]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Allen, Robert (2008) (in en). Allen's Dictionary of English Phrases. Penguin UK. ISBN 9780141917689. https://books.google.com/books?id=uEM_viK7i4AC&q=%22as+the+crow+flies%22&pg=PT644.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Knowles, Elizabeth (2006) (in en). The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Oxford University Press, UK. ISBN 9780191578564. https://books.google.com/books?id=Urg3hNc4tu0C&q=%22as+the+crow+flies%22&pg=PT419.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Villazon, Luis (2017-08-30). "Do crows actually fly in a straight line?". BBC Focus. http://www.sciencefocus.com/article/do-crows-actually-fly-straight-line.
- ↑ Quinion, Michael; Spear, Lynne (2011-06-04). "World Wide Words: As the crow flies". http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-ast1.htm.
Bibliography
- Dundes, Alan (2004). "As the Crow Flies: A Straightforward Study of Lineal Worldview in American Folk Speech". in Lau, Kimberley J.; Tokofsky, Peter; Winick, Stephen D.. What Goes Around Comes Around: The Circulation of Proverbs in Contemporary Life. Utah State University Press. pp. 171–187. ISBN 978-0-87421-592-2. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs/33/.
- Winfield, Charles H. (1882) (in en). Adjudged Words and Phrases: Being a Collection of Adjudicated Definitions of Terms Used in the Law, with References to Authorities. Jersey City, NJ: J.J. Griffiths. p. 45. OCLC 3364516. https://archive.org/details/cu31924022835601. "as the crow flies."
External links
- "As the crow flies". The Phrase Finder. http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/as-the-crow-flies.html..
- "As the crow flies". World Wide Words. http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-ast1.htm..
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