Nearby Words
Dictionary.com Unabridged
noun
1.
an expanse of open or cleared ground, especially 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.
4.
a sphere of activity, interest, etc., especially within a particular business or profession: the field of teaching; the field of Shakespearean scholarship.
5.
EXPANDthe 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.
COLLAPSEHeraldry. 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.
27.
Informal. field-test.
verb (used without object) Baseball, Cricket.
28.
to act as a fielder; field the ball.
29.
to take to the field.
adjective
Idioms30.
Sports.
a.
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.
EXPANDworking in the fields of a farm: field laborers.
35.
COLLAPSEworking as a salesperson, engineer, representative, etc., in the field: an insurance company's field agents.
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.
38.
out in left field. left field (def. 3).
39.
play the field, Informal.
a.
to vary one's activities.
b.
to date a number of persons rather than only one: He wanted to play the field for a few years before settling down.
40.
take the field,
a.
to begin to play, as in football or baseball; go into action.
b.
to go into battle: They took the field at dawn.
Origin:
before 1000; Middle English, Old English feld; cognate with German Feld
before 1000; Middle English, Old English feld; cognate with German Feld
Related forms
mis·field, verb
un·field·ed, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source
|
Link To fielding
Collins
World English Dictionary
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
field
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
EXPAND"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.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Science Dictionary
field  (fēld) Pronunciation Key
|
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Word Dynamo By Dictionary.com
Dictionary.com, LLC. Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved.