survey
Definitions
General English
- noun a way of finding out about something by asking people questions
- verb to ask people questions to get information about something
General Science
- noun the taking of measurements of the height of buildings or mountains and the length of roads, rivers and other features in order to make a detailed plan or map
- noun a document, plan or map showing the results of an investigation or of the measurements taken
- verb to carry out a survey of something
Aviation
- verb to determine the boundaries, area, or elevations of land by means of measuring angles and distances
Commerce
- noun a general report on a problem
- noun a careful examination of something, such as a building, to see if it is in good enough condition
- noun the process of examining and measuring something exactly
- verb to make a survey of a building
- verb to measure land in order to produce a plan or map
Construction
- A topographic or boundary mapping of a job site.
- Taking measurements of an existing building.
- A building use-of-space analysis.
- The process of identifying the owner's requirements.
- The investigation and reporting of necessary project data.
- The examination of the physical or chemical characteristics of the site.
Information & Library Science
- noun a detailed investigation often involving people’s opinions
Real Estate
- noun an inspection of a building to determine its condition and assess its value
- noun a report that results from inspecting the condition and assessing the value of a building
- noun an act of taking detailed measurements of an area of land
- noun a report that shows the results of a survey undertaken to measure an area of land
- verb to inspect a building in order to determine its structural soundness or assess its value
- verb to make a detailed map of an area of land, including its boundaries, area and elevation, using geometry and trigonometry to measure angles and distances
Travel
- noun a general report on something
- noun the work of taking exact measurements of something
- verb to examine something to see if it is in good condition
Origin & History of “survey”
To survey something is etymologically to ‘oversee’ it. The word comes via Anglo-Norman surveier from medieval Latin supervidēre, a compound verb formed from the prefix super- ‘over’ and vidēre ‘see’ (source of English view, vision, etc).
