Meanings
- idiomaticnot comparableIn a straight line distance between two locations, as opposed to the road distance or over land distance.
It is 15 kilometers as the crow flies.
3 more examples
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 54The 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 281Then 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 65Synonyms: as the gull flies, as the raven flies
Synonyms & antonyms
adverbIn a straight line distance between two locations, as opposed to the road distance or over land distance.
Origin
From the fact that while crows fly to their source of food, their flight bypasses obstacles like rivers and terrain. Compare beeline.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 筆直地 /笔直地
- 筆直地 /笔直地 (bǐzhí de)in a straight line
Czech vzdušnou čarou
- vzdušnou čarouin a straight line
Danish i fugleflugt
- i fugleflugtin a straight line
Dutch hemelsbreed
- hemelsbreedin a straight line
Estonian linnulennult
- linnulennultin a straight line
Finnish linnuntietä
- linnuntietäin a straight line
French à vol d'oiseau
- à vol d'oiseauin a straight line
German Luftlinie
- Luftliniein a straight line
Greek σε ευθεία γραμμή
- σε ευθεία γραμμή (se eftheía grammí)in a straight line
Hebrew בקו אווירי
- בקו אווירי (be'kav aviri)in a straight line
Hungarian toronyiránt, légvonalban
- toronyirántin a straight line
- légvonalbanin a straight line
Irish i bhfoirm líne díreach trasna tíre
- i bhfoirm líne díreach trasna tírein a straight line
Italian in linea d'aria
- in linea d'ariain a straight line
Lithuanian tiesia linija
- tiesia linijain a straight line
Māori he toro tika
- he toro tikain a straight line
Norwegian Bokmål i luftlinje, i fugleflukt
- i luftlinjein a straight line
- i fuglefluktin a straight line
Polish w linii prostej
- w linii prostejin a straight line
Portuguese em linha reta
- em linha retain a straight line
Russian прямиком, напряму́ю
- прямиком (prjamikom)in a straight line
- напряму́ю (naprjamúju)in a straight line
- по прямо́й (po prjamój)in a straight line
Slovak vzdušnou čiarou
- vzdušnou čiarouin a straight line
Spanish a vuelo de pájaro, a campo través
- a vuelo de pájaroin a straight line
- a campo travésin a straight line
- a campo traviesain a straight line
- a campo traviesoin a straight line
- campo a travésin a straight line
- campo a traviesain a straight line
Swedish fågelvägen
- fågelvägenin a straight line
Turkish kuş uçuşu
- kuş uçuşuin a straight line
Vietnamese theo đường chim bay
- theo đường chim bayin a straight line
Cite this entry
as the crow flies. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/as%20the%20crow%20flies
“as the crow flies.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/as%20the%20crow%20flies. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “as the crow flies,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/as%20the%20crow%20flies.
Source: as the crow flies on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.