“As the crow flies” is an idiom meaning the most direct route between two points. It may have originated from sailors following a crow to land in fog, or from the path a bird takes when flying. The phrase has been used in literature and there is a similar Scottish idiom. Other idioms involving crows include “a crow to pluck” and “eat crow”.
“As the crow flies” refers to the most direct route from one place to another. The idiom describes a path that is in a straight line from point A to point B. It is not a path that must stay on a road, go around obstacles, or stop at a body of water.
Most historians of the language attribute the phrase to literally coming from the path a bird might take when flying from place to place. As the crow flies, neither natural barriers like mountains nor political barriers like borders would be a problem in traveling from one place to another. There is an alternative theory regarding the origin of the saying, however.
Some historians cite the phrase that entered common parlance from life aboard British ships that worked the coasts. According to this origin theory, sailors kept a cage of crows aboard ship. In a deep fog, when sailors could not be certain where the nearest land might be, one of the crows would break out of its cage. The bird would immediately fly in a straight line for land and sailors could follow to safety.
The first use of the idiom found in writing appears in 1767. W. Kenrick uses the phrase in The London Review of English and Foreign Literature. The phrase is used in the text to describe a direct path that is not obstructed by water or mountains.
A Scottish idiom is similar to and came into use at about the same time as the English phrase. The Scots describe the most direct route from point A to point B as a road of crows. The earliest written reference to a street of crows is believed to be from 1795.
As with many idioms, “as the crow flies” has found its way into literature and musical references. Jeffrey Archer’s 1991 novel was called As the Crow Flies. A 1986 game by David Henry Hwang is similarly titled.
The crow appears in several sentences in the English language. In addition to “as the crow flies”, these include “a crow to pluck” and “eat crow”. Most likely the raven is so often used as a reference in these sayings because the raven is a large, loud, very conspicuous bird that most people would be familiar with.
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