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out in left field

 - 6 dictionary results
Out In Left Field
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field

  [feeld]
Use out in left field in a Sentence
–noun
1. 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.
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
30. 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. 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.
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:
bef. 1000; ME, OE feld; c. G Feld
Out In Left Field
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left field

 
–noun
1. Baseball.
a. the area of the outfield to the left of center field, as viewed from home plate.
b. the position of the player covering this area.
2. Slang. a position or circumstance that is remote from an ordinary or general trend.
—Idiom
3. out in left field, Slang. completely mistaken; wrong.
Origin:
1855–60, Americanism
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Slang Dictionary
out in left field

  1. mod.
    wrong; off base; loony. : Don't pay any attention to her. She's out in left field as usual.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

field  (n.)
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.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: field
Pronunciation: 'fE(&)ld
Function: noun
1 : an area or division of an activity field>
2 : a complex of forces that serve as causative agents in human behavior
3 a : a region of embryonic tissue potentially capable of a particular type ofdifferentiation field> b : a region or space in which a given effect (as magnetism) exists
4 a : an area that is perceived or underobservation; especially : the area visible through the lens of an optical instrument —see VISUAL FIELD b : the site of a surgical operation
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Idioms & Phrases

out in left field

Also, out of left field. Eccentric, odd; also, mistaken. For example, The composer's use of dissonance in this symphony is way out in left field, or His answer was out of left field; he was totally wrong. This idiom refers to baseball's left field but the precise allusion is disputed. Among the theories proposed is that in some ballparks the left field wall is farther from the batter than the wall in right field. Another is that in early ballparks, left field was often larger than right field and therefore was home to more lost balls and general confusion. [Mid-1900s] Also see far out.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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