1. survey - Noun
2. survey - Verb
To inspect, or take a view of; to view with attention, as from a high place; to overlook; as, to stand on a hill, and survey the surrounding country.
To examine with reference to condition, situation, value, etc.; to examine and ascertain the state of; as, to survey a building in order to determine its value and exposure to loss by fire.
To determine the form, extent, position, etc., of, as a tract of land, a coast, harbor, or the like, by means of linear and angular measurments, and the application of the principles of geometry and trigonometry; as, to survey land or a coast.
To examine and ascertain, as the boundaries and royalties of a manor, the tenure of the tenants, and the rent and value of the same.
The act of surveying; a general view, as from above.
A particular view; an examination, especially an official examination, of all the parts or particulars of a thing, with a design to ascertain the condition, quantity, or quality; as, a survey of the stores of a ship; a survey of roads and bridges; a survey of buildings.
The operation of finding the contour, dimensions, position, or other particulars of, as any part of the earth's surface, whether land or water; also, a measured plan and description of any portion of country, or of a road or line through it.
Source: Webster's dictionaryThe fact disclosed by a survey of the past that majorities have been wrong must not blind us to the complementary fact that majorities have usually not been entirely wrong. Herbert Spencer
I think my great book is Born to Sing: An Interpretation and World Survey of Bird Song. Charles Hartshorne
USA Today has come out with a new survey - apparently, three out of every four people make up 75% of the population. David Letterman
A man's feet should be planted in his country, but his eyes should survey the world. George Santayana
There is a kind, I might almost say, of artistic satisfaction, when we are able to survey the enormous wealth of Nature as a regularly ordered whole a kosmos, an image of the logical thought of our own mind. Hermann von Helmholtz
It takes no compromising to give people their rights. It takes no money to respect the individual. It takes no survey to remove repressions. Harvey Milk