Fields

[feeldz] /fildz/
noun
1.
W. C (William Claude Dukenfield) 1880–1946, U.S. vaudeville and motion-picture comedian.
2.
Dorothy, 1905–74, U.S. librettist and lyricist.

field

[feeld] /fild/
noun
1.
an expanse of open or cleared ground, especially a piece of land suitable or used for pasture or tillage.
2.
Sports.
  1. a piece of ground devoted to sports or contests; playing field.
  2. (in betting) all the contestants or numbers that are grouped together as one:
    to bet on the field in a horse race.
  3. (in football) the players on the playing ground.
  4. the area in which field events are held.
3.
Baseball.
  1. the team in the field, as opposed to the one at bat.
  2. the outfield.
4.
a sphere of activity, interest, etc., especially 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.
  1. the scene or area of active military operations.
  2. a battleground.
  3. a battle.
  4. 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.
  1. 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.
  2. (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.
  1. to catch or pick up (the ball) in play:
    The shortstop fielded the grounder and threw to first for the out.
  2. 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.
  1. of, taking place, or competed for on the field and not on the track, as the discus throw or shot put.
  2. 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,
  1. 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.
  2. in contact with a prime source of basic data:
    The anthropologist is working in the field in Nigeria.
  3. 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.
  1. to vary one's activities.
  2. 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,
  1. to begin to play, as in football or baseball; go into action.
  2. to go into battle:
    They took the field at dawn.
Origin
before 1000; Middle English, Old English feld; cognate with German Feld
Related forms
misfield, verb
unfielded, adjective
Examples from the web for Fields
  • The tiles reduce the value of the city, but increase the value of the surrounding Fields.
  • The intuitive idea of flatness is important in several Fields.
  • Header each message has exactly one header, which is structured into Fields.
  • Before then, its application was lax in other scientific Fields.
  • It grows in ruderal places, as well as dry pastures and disturbed Fields.
  • Corn that was scattered by the wreck grew for years afterward in the surrounding Fields.
  • Skinner introduced the use of pigeons, and they continue to be important in some Fields.
  • This poses a high risk to the local population, their settlements and Fields.
  • The park includes a golf course, rugby, soccer, baseball, and softball Fields.
British Dictionary definitions for Fields

Fields

/fiːldz/
noun
1.
Dame Gracie. real name Grace Stansfield. 1898–1979, English popular singer and entertainer
2.
W. C. real name William Claude Dukenfield. 1880–1946, US film actor, noted for his portrayal of comic roles

field

/fiːld/
noun
1.
an open tract of uncultivated grassland; meadow related adjective campestral
2.
a piece of land cleared of trees and undergrowth, usually enclosed with a fence or hedge and used for pasture or growing crops: a field of barley
3.
a limited or marked off area, usually of mown grass, on which any of various sports, athletic competitions, etc, are held: a soccer field
4.
an area that is rich in minerals or other natural resources: a coalfield
5.
short for battlefield, airfield
6.
the mounted followers that hunt with a pack of hounds
7.
  1. all the runners in a particular race or competitors in a competition
  2. the runners in a race or competitors in a competition excluding the favourite
8.
(cricket) the fielders collectively, esp with regard to their positions
9.
a wide or open expanse: a field of snow
10.
  1. an area of human activity: the field of human knowledge
  2. a sphere or division of knowledge, interest, etc: his field is physics
11.
  1. a place away from the laboratory, office, library, etc, usually out of doors, where practical work is done or original material or data collected
  2. (as modifier): a field course
12.
the surface or background, as of a flag, coin, or heraldic shield, on which a design is displayed
13.
Also called field of view. the area within which an object may be observed with a telescope, microscope, etc
14.
(physics)
  1. See field of force
  2. a region of space that is a vector field
  3. a region of space under the influence of some scalar quantity, such as temperature
15.
(maths) a set of entities subject to two binary operations, addition and multiplication, such that the set is a commutative group under addition and the set, minus the zero, is a commutative group under multiplication and multiplication is distributive over addition
16.
(maths, logic) the set of elements that are either arguments or values of a function; the union of its domain and range
17.
(computing)
  1. a set of one or more characters comprising a unit of information
  2. a predetermined section of a record
18.
(television) one of two or more sets of scanning lines which when interlaced form the complete picture
19.
(obsolete) the open country: beasts of the field
20.
hold the field, keep the field, to maintain one's position in the face of opposition
21.
in the field
  1. (military) in an area in which operations are in progress
  2. actively or closely involved with or working on something (rather than being in a more remote or administrative position)
22.
lead the field, to be in the leading or most pre-eminent position
23.
(informal) leave the field, to back out of a competition, contest, etc
24.
take the field, to begin or carry on activity, esp in sport or military operations
25.
(informal) play the field, to disperse one's interests or attentions among a number of activities, people, or objects
26.
(modifier) (military) of or relating to equipment, personnel, etc, specifically designed or trained for operations in the field: a field gun, a field army
verb
27.
(transitive) (sport) to stop, catch, or return (the ball) as a fielder
28.
(transitive) (sport) to send (a player or team) onto the field to play
29.
(intransitive) (sport) (of a player or team) to act or take turn as a fielder or fielders
30.
(transitive) (military) to put (an army, a unit, etc) in the field
31.
(transitive) to enter (a person) in a competition: each party fielded a candidate
32.
(transitive) (informal) to deal with or handle, esp adequately and by making a reciprocal gesture: to field a question
Word Origin
Old English feld; related to Old Saxon, Old High German feld, Old English fold earth, Greek platus broad

Field

/fiːld/
noun
1.
John. 1782–1837, Irish composer and pianist, lived in Russia from 1803: invented the nocturne
Word Origin and History for Fields

field

n.

Old English feld "plain, open land" (as opposed to woodland), also "a parcel of land marked off and used for pasture or tillage," probably related to Old English folde "earth, land," from Proto-Germanic *felthuz "flat land" (common West Germanic, cf. Old Saxon and Old Frisian feld "field," Old Saxon folda "earth," Middle Dutch velt, Dutch veld Old High German felt, German Feld "field," but not found outside it; Swedish fält, Danish felt are borrowed from German), from PIE *pel(e)-tu-, from root *pele- (2) "flat, to spread" (see plane (n.1)).

Finnish pelto "field" is believed to have been adapted from Proto-Germanic. The English spelling with -ie- probably is the work of Anglo-French scribes (cf. brief, piece). 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. Field glasses attested by 1836.

v.

"to go out to fight," 16c., from field (n.) in the specific sense of "battlefield" (Old English). The meaning "to stop and return the ball" is first recorded 1823, originally in cricket; figurative sense is from 1902. Related: Fielded; fielding.

Fields in Science
field
(fēld)

  1. A distribution in a region of space of the strength and direction of a force, such as the electrostatic force near an electrically charged object, that would act on a body at any given point in that region. See also electric field, magnetic field.

  2. The region whose image is visible to the eye or accessible to an optical instrument.

  3. 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 (0) form a group under multiplication. The set of all rational numbers is a field.

    1. In a database, a space for a single item of information contained in a record.

    2. An interface element in a graphical user interface that accepts the input of text.


Slang definitions & phrases for Fields

field

verb

To handle; receive and answer; cope with: The secretary fielded the questions rather lamely (1902+)

Related Terms

out in left field, play the field


Fields in the Bible

(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).

Idioms and Phrases with Fields

field

In addition to the idiom beginning with
field
also see: