A small, round seed or fruit resembling a bird's eye; a type of fabric with a pattern of small dots or eyelets; a view from high above.
Compound of 'bird' (Old English 'brid') and 'eye' (Old English 'ēge'). Multiple meanings developed: the literal comparison of small round objects to eyes, textile patterns, and aerial perspective.
Bird's-eye view entered English in the 16th century as a metaphor for seeing everything at once—by the age of drones and satellites, we've finally achieved what Shakespeare could only imagine conceptually.
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