As the crow flies

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]

• Distance
• Geodesic
• Great-circle distance

• Dundes, Alan (2004). "As the Crow Flies: A Straightforward Study of Lineal Worldview in American Folk Speech". In Lau, Kimberley J.; et al. (eds.). 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.
• Winfield, Charles H. (1882). 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. as the crow flies.

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