an expanse of open or cleared ground, esp. a piece of land suitable or used for pasture or tillage.
2.
Sports.
a.
a piece of ground devoted to sports or contests; playing field.
b.
(in betting) all the contestants or numbers that are grouped together as one: to bet on the field in a horse race.
c.
(in football) the players on the playing ground.
d.
the area in which field events are held.
3.
Baseball.
a.
the team in the field, as opposed to the one at bat.
b.
the outfield.
4.
a sphere of activity, interest, etc., esp. within a particular business or profession: the field of teaching; the field of Shakespearean scholarship.
5.
the area or region drawn on or serviced by a business or profession; outlying areas where business activities or operations are carried on, as opposed to a home or branch office: our representatives in the field.
6.
a job location remote from regular workshop facilities, offices, or the like.
7.
Military.
a.
the scene or area of active military operations.
b.
a battleground.
c.
a battle.
d.
Informal. an area located away from the headquarters of a commander.
8.
an expanse of anything: a field of ice.
9.
any region characterized by a particular feature, resource, activity, etc.: a gold field.
10.
the surface of a canvas, shield, etc., on which something is portrayed: a gold star on a field of blue.
11.
(in a flag) the ground of each division.
12.
Physics. the influence of some agent, as electricity or gravitation, considered as existing at all points in space and defined by the force it would exert on an object placed at any point in space. Compare electric field, gravitational field, magnetic field.
13.
Also called field of view.Optics. the entire angular expanse visible through an optical instrument at a given time.
14.
Electricity. the structure in a generator or motor that produces a magnetic field around a rotating armature.
15.
Mathematics. a number system that has the same properties relative to the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division as the number system of all real numbers; a commutative division ring.
16.
Photography. the area of a subject that is taken in by a lens at a particular diaphragm opening.
17.
Psychology. the total complex of interdependent factors within which a psychological event occurs and is perceived as occurring.
18.
Computers.
a.
one or more related characters treated as a unit and constituting part of a record, for purposes of input, processing, output, or storage by a computer: If the hours-worked field is blank or zero, the program does not write a check for that employee.
b.
(in a punch card) any number of columns regularly used for recording the same information.
19.
Television. one half of the scanning lines required to form a complete television frame. In the U.S., two fields are displayed in 1/30 second: all the odd-numbered lines in one field and all the even lines in the next field. Compare frame(def. 9).
20.
Numismatics. the blank area of a coin, other than that of the exergue.
21.
Fox Hunting. the group of participants in a hunt, exclusive of the master of foxhounds and his staff.
22.
Heraldry. the whole area or background of an escutcheon.
–verb (used with object)
23.
Baseball,Cricket.
a.
to catch or pick up (the ball) in play: The shortstop fielded the grounder and threw to first for the out.
b.
to place (a player, group of players, or a team) in the field to play.
24.
to place in competition: to field a candidate for governor.
25.
to answer or reply skillfully: to field a difficult question.
26.
to put into action or on duty: to field police cars to patrol an area.
of, taking place, or competed for on the field and not on the track, as the discus throw or shot put.
b.
of or pertaining to field events.
31.
Military. of or pertaining to campaign and active combat service as distinguished from service in rear areas or at headquarters: a field soldier.
32.
of or pertaining to a field.
33.
grown or cultivated in a field.
34.
working in the fields of a farm: field laborers.
35.
working as a salesperson, engineer, representative, etc., in the field: an insurance company's field agents.
—Idioms
36.
in the field,
a.
in actual use or in a situation simulating actual use or application; away from a laboratory, workshop, or the like: The machine was tested for six months in the field.
b.
in contact with a prime source of basic data: The anthropologist is working in the field in Nigeria.
c.
within a given profession: The public knows little of him, but in the field he's known as a fine mathematician.
37.
keep the field, to remain in competition or in battle; continue to contend: The troops kept the field under heavy fire.
A cultivated expanse of land, especially one devoted to a particular crop: a field of corn.
A portion of land or a geologic formation containing a specified natural resource.
A wide unbroken expanse, as of ice.
A battleground.
A battle.
The scene or an area of military operations or maneuvers.
A military area away from headquarters.
A background area, as on a flag, painting, or coin: a blue insignia on a field of red.
Heraldry The background of a shield or one of the divisions of the background.
An area in which an athletic event takes place, especially the area inside or near to a running track, where field events are held.
The portion of a playing field having specific dimensions on which the action of a game takes place.
All the contestants or participants in an event, especially all the contestants except the favorite or the winner in a contest of more than two.
The members of a team engaged in active play.
The body of riders following a pack of hounds in hunting.
An area of human activity or interest: several fields of endeavor.
A topic, subject, or area of academic interest or specialization.
Profession, employment, or business.
An area or setting of practical activity or application outside an office, school, factory, or laboratory: biologists working in the field; a product tested in the field.
An area or region where business activities are conducted: sales representatives in the field.
A defined area of a storage medium, such as a set of bit locations or a set of adjacent columns on a punch card, used to record a type of information consistently.
An element of a database record in which one piece of information is stored.
An interface element in a GUI that accepts the input of text.
A battleground.
A battle.
The scene or an area of military operations or maneuvers.
A military area away from headquarters.
A background area, as on a flag, painting, or coin: a blue insignia on a field of red.
Heraldry The background of a shield or one of the divisions of the background.
An area in which an athletic event takes place, especially the area inside or near to a running track, where field events are held.
The portion of a playing field having specific dimensions on which the action of a game takes place.
All the contestants or participants in an event, especially all the contestants except the favorite or the winner in a contest of more than two.
The members of a team engaged in active play.
The body of riders following a pack of hounds in hunting.
An area of human activity or interest: several fields of endeavor.
A topic, subject, or area of academic interest or specialization.
Profession, employment, or business.
An area or setting of practical activity or application outside an office, school, factory, or laboratory: biologists working in the field; a product tested in the field.
An area or region where business activities are conducted: sales representatives in the field.
A defined area of a storage medium, such as a set of bit locations or a set of adjacent columns on a punch card, used to record a type of information consistently.
An element of a database record in which one piece of information is stored.
An interface element in a GUI that accepts the input of text.
A background area, as on a flag, painting, or coin: a blue insignia on a field of red.
Heraldry The background of a shield or one of the divisions of the background.
An area in which an athletic event takes place, especially the area inside or near to a running track, where field events are held.
The portion of a playing field having specific dimensions on which the action of a game takes place.
All the contestants or participants in an event, especially all the contestants except the favorite or the winner in a contest of more than two.
The members of a team engaged in active play.
The body of riders following a pack of hounds in hunting.
An area of human activity or interest: several fields of endeavor.
A topic, subject, or area of academic interest or specialization.
Profession, employment, or business.
An area or setting of practical activity or application outside an office, school, factory, or laboratory: biologists working in the field; a product tested in the field.
An area or region where business activities are conducted: sales representatives in the field.
A defined area of a storage medium, such as a set of bit locations or a set of adjacent columns on a punch card, used to record a type of information consistently.
An element of a database record in which one piece of information is stored.
An interface element in a GUI that accepts the input of text.
Sports
An area in which an athletic event takes place, especially the area inside or near to a running track, where field events are held.
The portion of a playing field having specific dimensions on which the action of a game takes place.
All the contestants or participants in an event, especially all the contestants except the favorite or the winner in a contest of more than two.
The members of a team engaged in active play.
The body of riders following a pack of hounds in hunting.
An area of human activity or interest: several fields of endeavor.
A topic, subject, or area of academic interest or specialization.
Profession, employment, or business.
An area or setting of practical activity or application outside an office, school, factory, or laboratory: biologists working in the field; a product tested in the field.
An area or region where business activities are conducted: sales representatives in the field.
A defined area of a storage medium, such as a set of bit locations or a set of adjacent columns on a punch card, used to record a type of information consistently.
An element of a database record in which one piece of information is stored.
An interface element in a GUI that accepts the input of text.
An area of human activity or interest: several fields of endeavor.
A topic, subject, or area of academic interest or specialization.
Profession, employment, or business.
An area or setting of practical activity or application outside an office, school, factory, or laboratory: biologists working in the field; a product tested in the field.
An area or region where business activities are conducted: sales representatives in the field.
A defined area of a storage medium, such as a set of bit locations or a set of adjacent columns on a punch card, used to record a type of information consistently.
An element of a database record in which one piece of information is stored.
An interface element in a GUI that accepts the input of text.
Mathematics A set of elements having two operations, designated addition and multiplication, satisfying the conditions that multiplication is distributive over addition, that the set is a group under addition, and that the elements with the exception of the additive identity form a group under multiplication.
Physics A region of space characterized by a physical property, such as gravitational or electromagnetic force or fluid pressure, having a determinable value at every point in the region.
The usually circular area in which the image is rendered by the lens system of an optical instrument. Also called field of view.
Computer Science
A defined area of a storage medium, such as a set of bit locations or a set of adjacent columns on a punch card, used to record a type of information consistently.
An element of a database record in which one piece of information is stored.
An interface element in a GUI that accepts the input of text.
adj.
Growing, cultivated, or living in fields or open land.
Made, used, or carried on in the field: field operations.
Working, operating, or active in the field: field representatives of a firm.
v.
field·ed, field·ing, fields
v.
tr.
Sports
To retrieve (a ball) and perform the required maneuver, especially in baseball.
To place in the field to play: field a team.
To place in competition.
To put into action: field an army of campaign workers.
To respond to: fielded tough questions from the press.
To place in competition.
To put into action: field an army of campaign workers.
Computer Science To enter (data) into a field.
v.
intr.Sports To play as a fielder.
[Middle English, from Old English feld; see pelə-2 in Indo-European roots.]
Synonyms: These nouns denote an area of activity, thought, study, or interest: the field of comparative literature; considers marketing to be her bailiwick; the domain of physics; the province of politics; the realm of constitutional law; a task within his assistant's sphere; the territory of historical research.
Field (fēld) American merchant and financier who planned and oversaw the laying of the transatlantic telegraph cable (completed 1866).
Field, Eugene 1850-1895. American writer known for his children's verse, especially "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod" and "Little Boy Blue."
Field, Marshall 1834-1906. American merchant who organized Marshall Field and Company, the largest wholesale and retail dry goods establishment of the late 1800s.
O.E. feld "plain, open land" (as opposed to woodland), also "a parcel of land marked off and used for pasture or tillage," probably related to O.E. folde "earth, land," from P.Gmc. *felthuz "flat land," from PIE *pel(e)-tu-, from base *pele- "flat, to spread" (cf. L. planus "flat, level," O.C.S. polje "field;" see plane (1)). Common W.Gmc. (cf. O.Fris. feld, M.H.G. velt, Ger. Feld), but not found outside it (Sw. fält, Dan. felt are borrowed from Ger.), though Finnish pelto "field" is believed to have been adapted from P.Gmc. The Eng. spelling with -ie- is probably the work of Anglo-Fr. scribes. The verb meaning "to go out to fight" is 16c., from the n. in the sense of "battlefield" (c.1300). Collective use for "all engaged in a sport" (or, in horseracing, all but the favorite) is 1742; play the field "avoid commitment" (1936) is from notion of gamblers betting on other horses than the favorite. The verb meaning "to stop and return the ball" is first recorded 1823, originally in cricket; figurative sense is from 1902. Field day (1747) was originally a day of military exercise and review; fig. sense is from 1827.
fielddata, database An area of a databaserecord, or graphical user interfaceform, into which a particular item of data is entered. Example usage: "The telephone number field is not really a numerical field", "Why do we need a four-digit field for the year?". A databasecolumn is the set of all instances of a given field from all records in a table. (1999-04-26)
(Heb. sadeh), a cultivated field, but unenclosed. It is applied to any cultivated ground or pasture (Gen. 29:2; 31:4; 34:7), or tillage (Gen. 37:7; 47:24). It is also applied to woodland (Ps. 132:6) or mountain top (Judg. 9:32, 36; 2 Sam. 1:21). It denotes sometimes a cultivated region as opposed to the wilderness (Gen. 33:19; 36:35). Unwalled villages or scattered houses are spoken of as "in the fields" (Deut. 28:3, 16; Lev. 25:31; Mark 6:36, 56). The "open field" is a place remote from a house (Gen. 4:8; Lev. 14:7, 53; 17:5). Cultivated land of any extent was called a field (Gen. 23:13, 17; 41:8; Lev. 27:16; Ruth 4:5; Neh. 12:29).
[feeld] 
