a bird's eye view

1. A view looking down at an object or area from a high elevation (as if from the perspective of a bird in flight). From up here you can get a bird's eye view of the entire campus. Wow, what a stunning bird's eye view of Los Angeles. Hey, stand on the roof of that building with your camera—you'll get a bird's eye view of our lead actress walking down the street.

2. A consideration of a problem or situation from a comprehensive perspective. In order to determine why the company was headed towards a fiscal disaster, the CFO had to take a step back and get a bird's eye view of the situation so he could locate the cause of the problem. I've hired a consulting firm to get a bird's eye view of our company and see where we can cut costs without causing too much disruption otherwise. Hold on, you're too close to this situation. If you could somehow see a bird's eye view of it all, I think you'd really get some perspective.

bird's-eye view

1. Lit. a view seen from high above. We got a bird's-eye view of Cleveland as the plane began its descent. From the top of the church tower you get a splendid bird's-eye view of the village.

2. Fig. a brief survey of something; a hasty look at something. The course provides a bird's-eye view of the works of Mozart, but it doesn't deal with them in enough detail for your purpose. All you need is a bird's-eye view of the events of World War II to pass the test.

—'s-eye view

a view from the position or standpoint of the person or thing specified.

The most common versions of this phrase are bird's-eye view (see bird) and worm's-eye view (see worm).

1982 Ian Hamilton Robert Lowell There is a kind of double vision: the child's eye view judged and interpreted by the ironical narrator.

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

bird's-eye view, a

An overall view, the large picture. The term dates from about 1600 and not only means “panoramic” but also may imply a somewhat superficial picture. Thus a “bird’s-eye view” of music history, for example, may try to cover five hundred years of musical composition in a one-semester course. A 1989 New York Times headline, “Human-Eye View,” announcing a special tour of a natural history museum’s ornithology collection, gave this cliché a new twist.

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References in periodicals archive

If you had to draw a bird's-eye view of your community, how would you orient the view?

Boosting Chicago: bird's-eye views as maps of progress

Compare and contrast satellite photographs of the Earth to abstract artworks that represent bird's-eye view.

Creating abstract communities: high school

This year's Peter Rentschler Memorial Lecture was delivered by Rick Sommer, president/CEO of Citation Corp., a company with a bird's-eye view on change.

Execs Hone Change-Agent Skills

With a dynamic bird's-eye view not only of the Manhattan skyline but also of the construction project itself moving full speed ahead right in its front window, the sales office at Bridge Tower Place on the Upper East Side of Manhattan has officially opened for business.

The Brodsky Organization

Focusing on three of these prints in which a bird's-eye view of the city is framed with illustrations of the festivities, this essay explores relations between space, gender, allegory and costume as they were manifested in this rare female procession.

"Il bel sesso, e l'austero senato": the coronation of Dogaressa Morosina Morosini Grimani

Scientists now have taken their own bird's-eye view at holograms for a slew of new uses--from images on credit cards and CD-ROMs to thwart counterfeiters, to medical image scans that recreate images of the human brain.

HOLOGRAMS GO FUTURISTIC

In Michigan's Upper Peninsula, a papermaker and an ecology firm are creating a bird's-eye view of ecosystem forestry.

The TEMS approach

Take to the skies for a bird's-eye view of the sun going down and the twinkling lights of London coming on as dusk falls.

Chop, chop!

The impressive artwork has been carved from the spoil of a former coal tip in the heart of the South Wales Valleys The production team from the BBC show launched a hot air balloon from the site on the weekend to get a bird's-eye view of the 200-metre long sculpture.

Pit pony sculpture's TV date; NEWS IN BRIEF

To create its bird's-eye view of the world, Earthflight uses a host of extraordinary filming techniques including filming "imprinted" flocks from microlights, wild flocks filmed from model gliders and silent drones, full-sized helicopter with stabilised mounts and cameras on the backs of trained birds.

Real bird's eye view; TVChoice Earthflight (BBC One, 8pm)

From the orchard's hilltop, one has a bird's-eye view of the village's beauty.

CHARLTON 01507

Knowsley council has produced a new cycle map giving a bird's-eye view of the best cycle-friendly routes across the borough.

pounds 500,000 aid for bikes and walks

There is a six and a half-inch bird's-eye view map display, 30GB hard disc for storing mapping data and music, an auxiliary socket for connecting MP3 players and a DVD player function that can be used only when vehicle is stationary.

Skoda shows the way

The system, using four ultrawide-angle 180-degree high-resolution cameras mounted on a vehicle's front, sides and rear, synthesizes a bird's-eye view of the vehicle and its surrounding environment, the automaker said.

Nissan Motor unveils world's 1st 'around view monitor'

Bird's-eye view and magnification thus come to define two oscillating poles of Gatten's inquiry.

Man of letters: Henriette Huldisch on David Gatten