bird's-eye
Americanadjective
-
seen from above, as by a bird in flight; panoramic.
a bird's-eye view of the city.
-
omitting many details; broad; superficial; general.
a bird's-eye view of ancient history.
-
having spots or markings resembling the eyes of a bird.
bird's-eye tweed.
noun
-
any of various plants having small, round, bright-colored flowers, as a primrose, Primula farinosa, or a speedwell, Veronica chamaedrys.
-
Textiles.
-
a woven, allover pattern on fabrics, characterized chiefly by small diamond shapes resembling the eyes of a bird.
-
a fabric having this pattern, especially a cotton used for diapers or a linen used for toweling.
-
adjective
-
-
seen or photographed from high above
-
summarizing the main points of a topic; summary (esp in the phrase bird's-eye view )
-
-
having markings resembling birds' eyes
noun
-
a Eurasian primrose, Primula farinosa , having clusters of purplish flowers with yellow centres
-
the usual US name for germander speedwell
-
any of several other plants having flowers of two contrasting colours
-
a pattern in linen and cotton fabrics, made up of small diamond shapes with a dot in the centre of each
-
a linen or cotton fabric with such a pattern
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of bird's-eye
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Tactical view with a bird's-eye view of the full pitch.
From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2026
For that reason, I suggest you enlist independent third-party help: a fee-only fiduciary who can give you a bird’s-eye view of your finances and who has no incentive to sell you another policy.
From MarketWatch ● May 6, 2026
He shifts effortlessly between bird’s-eye panoramas of battles and empires and close-up historical family dramas or images of himself rumbling along in a truck on dirt roads to visit the sites where things happened.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 19, 2025
J. janthina typically will have a darker violet hue on the top of their shell to make them blend in from a bird’s-eye view, Stajner said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2025
He was being shown a bird’s-eye view of it at present, a bird’s-eye view from the platform of the Charing-T Tower.
From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
Logs of great value, having bird's-eyes, have often unsuspectingly been chopped up for fire wood.
From Wood and Forest by Noyes, William
They were a beautiful blue, not like any other blue, not like the violets in the garden, or the sky over the trees, or the geranium in the grass, or the bird's-eyes by the path.
From The Open Air by Jefferies, Richard
The little blossoms have a peculiarly fresh and winsome look, and are called "bird's-eyes" by the children.
From The Wild Flowers of California: Their Names, Haunts, and Habits by Parsons, Mary Elizabeth
The bird’s-eyes bright; Pink-tipp’d daisies; sorrel red, Drooping o’er the lark’s green bed; Oxlips; glazed buttercups, Out of which the wild bee sups; See! they dance about thy feet!
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 56, Number 347, September, 1844 by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
