bird's eye view

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Related to bird's eye view: street view

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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.

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.

bird's eye view

An overview, as in This balcony gives us a bird's eye view of the town, or This course gives you a bird's eye view of history-from Eolithic man to the Gulf War in one semester . This expression can be used literally, for a panoramic view such as a bird might see, as well as figuratively. [c. 1600]

—'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

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References in periodicals archive ?

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Or take a helicopter ride to get a bird's eye view of the proceedings.

Summer fun

Its gradual 30 minute, 360 degrees rotation gives passengers a bird's eye view, usually accessible only by helicopter or plane, from a fully enclosed capsule.

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The series will take a bird's eye view of Britain's natural history and cities, as well as its human story.

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A group of pensioners had enjoyed a bird's eye view of the game from their sheltered housing accommodation-enjoyment which was threatened by the building of a new stand.

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We will be printing a picture a day over the coming days to show a bird's eye view of Coventry.