[kroh] 
| 1. | any of several large oscine birds of the genus Corvus, of the family Corvidae, having a long, stout bill, lustrous black plumage, and a wedge-shaped tail, as the common C. brachyrhynchos, of North America. |
| 2. | any of several other birds of the family Corvidae. |
| 3. | any of various similar birds of other families. |
| 4. | (initial capital letter ) Astronomy. the constellation Corvus. |
| 5. | crowbar (def. 1). |
| 6. | as the crow flies, in a straight line; by the most direct route: The next town is thirty miles from here, as the crow flies. |
| 7. | eat crow, Informal. to be forced to admit to having made a mistake, as by retracting an emphatic statement; suffer humiliation: His prediction was completely wrong, and he had to eat crow. |
| 8. | have a crow to pick or pluck with someone, Midland and Southern U.S. to have a reason to disagree or argue with someone. |
| crow 1 (krō) n.
[Middle English croue, from Old English crāwe; see gerə-2 in Indo-European roots. Sense 2, from the resemblance of its forked end to a crow's foot or beak.] |
as the crow flies
In a straight line, by the shortest route, as in It's only a mile as the crow flies, but about three miles by this mountain road. This idiom is based on the fact that crows, very intelligent birds, fly straight to the nearest food supply. [Late 1700s]