field

Etymology

From Middle English feeld, feld, from Old English feld, from Proto-Germanic *felþuz, *felþaz, *felþą (“field”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“field, plain”) or *pleth₂- (“flat”) (with schwebeablaut). Cognate with Scots feld, feild (“field”), North Frisian fjild (“field”), West Frisian fjild (“field”), Dutch veld (“field”), German Feld (“field”), Swedish fält (“field”). Related also to Old English folde (“earth, land, territory”), Old English folm (“palm of the hand”). More at fold.

noun

1. A land area free of woodland, cities, and towns; an area of open country.
   There are several species of wild flowers growing in this field.
   1. (usually in the plural) The open country near or belonging to a town or city.
      Harry shook his head, and wandered away miserable through the fields, and would not in these days even set his foot upon the soil of the park. “He was not going to intrude any farther,” he said to the rector. “You can come to church, at any rate,” his father said, “for he certainly will not be there while you are at the parsonage.” Oh yes, Harry would go to the church. “I have yet to understand that Mr. Prosper is owner of the church, and the path there from the rectory is, at any rate, open to the public;” for at Buston the church stands on one corner of the park. 1883, Anthony Trollope, Mr. Scarborough's Family, Chap. XXIV
2. A wide, open space that is used to grow crops or to hold farm animals, usually enclosed by a fence, hedge or other barrier.
   There were some cows grazing in a field.
   A crop circle was made in a corn field.
   The castled crag of Drachenfels Frowns o’er the wide and winding Rhine Whose breast of waters broadly swells Between the banks which bear the vine And hills all rich with blossomed trees And fields which promise corn and wine And scatter’d cities crowning these Whose far white walls along them shine, Have strew’d a scene, which I should see 1816, Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto the Third, LV
   Anstruther laughed good-naturedly. “[…] I shall take out half a dozen intelligent maistries from our Press and get them to give our villagers instruction when they begin work and when they are in the fields.” 1927, F. E. Penny, chapter 5, in Pulling the Strings
3. (geology) A region containing a particular mineral.
   an oil field; a gold field
4. An airfield, airport or air base; especially, one with unpaved runways.
5. A place where competitive matches are carried out.
   1. A place where a battle is fought; a battlefield.
      Tarry, sweet soul, for mine; then fly abreast, As in this glorious and well-foughten field We kept together in our chivalry! c. 1599, William Shakespeare, King Henry V, act IV, scene VI
      […] What though the field be lost? All is not lost; th’ unconquerable will, And study of revenge, immortal hate, And courage never to submit or yield, And what is else not to be overcome; That glory never shall his wrath or might! 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 1, Verses 105–110
   2. An area reserved for playing a game or race with one’s physical force.
      1. (baseball, obsolete) The team in a match that throws the ball and tries to catch it when it is hit by the other team (the bat).
      2. (baseball) The outfield.
   3. A place where competitive matches are carried out with figures, or playing area in a board game or a computer game.
   4. A competitive situation, circumstances in which one faces conflicting moves of rivals.
      Dr. Finn understood enough of elections for Parliament, and of the nature of boroughs, to be aware that a candidate’s chance of success is very much improved by being early in the field. 1869, Anthony Trollope, Phineas Finn, Chap. XXV
   5. (metonymically) All of the competitors in any outdoor contest or trial, or all except the favourites in the betting.
      This racehorse is the strongest in a weak field.
6. Any of various figurative meanings, often dead metaphors.
   1. (physics) A physical phenomenon (such as force, potential or fluid velocity) that pervades a region; a mathematical model of such a phenomenon that associates each point and time with a scalar, vector or tensor quantity.
      magnetic field; gravitational field; scalar field
   2. Any of certain structures serving cognition.
      1. The extent of a given perception.
         field of view
      2. A realm of practical, direct or natural operation, contrasted with an office, classroom, or laboratory.
         The design needs to be field-tested before we commit to manufacture.
         Field work traditionally distinguishes true archaeologists from armchair archaeologists.
         He needs some time in the field before his judgment can be trusted.
      3. A domain of study, knowledge or practice.
         As towns continue to grow, replanting vegetation has become a form of urban utopia and green roofs are spreading fast. Last year 1m square metres of plant-covered roofing was built in France, as much as in the US, and 10 times more than in Germany, the pioneer in this field. 2013-05-10, Audrey Garric, “Urban canopies let nature bloom”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 22, page 30
         He was an expert in the field of Chinese history.
      4. An unrestricted or favourable opportunity for action, operation, or achievement.
         Penn was without doubt a man of eminent virtues. He had a strong sense of religious duty and a fervent desire to promote the happiness of mankind. On one or two points of high importance, he had notions more correct than were, in his day, common even among men of enlarged minds: and as the proprietor and legislator of a province which, being almost uninhabited when it came into his possession, afforded a clear field for moral experiments, he had the rare good fortune of being able to carry his theories into practice without any compromise, and yet without any shock to existing institutions. 1848, Thomas Macaulay, chapter IV, in The History Of England From the Accession of James II, volume 1
      5. (algebra) A commutative ring satisfying the field axioms.
         The set of rational numbers, ℚ, is the prototypical field.
   3. A physical or virtual location for the input of information in the form of symbols.
      1. (heraldry) The background of the shield.
      2. (vexillology) The background of the flag.
      3. The part of a coin left unoccupied by the main device.
      4. A section of a form which is supposed to be filled with data.
         The form has fields for each element of the customer's home address and shipping address.
         PHP 5 Forms Required Fields at W3Schools From the validation rules table on the previous page, we see that the "Name", "E-mail", and "Gender" fields are required. These fields cannot be empty and must be filled out in the HTML form.
      5. A component of a database in which a single unit of information is stored.
      6. (computing, object-oriented programming) An area of memory or storage reserved for a particular value, subject to virtual access controls.
         Read-only fields allow you to establish a point of data whose value is not known at compile time, but that should never change once established. 2007, Andrew Troelsen, Pro C# with .NET 3.0, Special Edition, page 82
   4. (electronics, film, animation) Part (usually one half) of a frame in an interlaced signal
7. (cricket) Archaic form of fielder.
   The manager should always choose his own Eleven; and, we have already hinted that fielding, rather than batting, is the qualification. A good field is sure to save runs, though the best batsman may not make any. 1854, James Pycroft, The Cricket Field

verb

1. (transitive, sports) To intercept or catch (a ball) and play it.
2. (intransitive, baseball, softball, cricket, and other batting sports) To be the team catching and throwing the ball, as opposed to hitting it.
   The blue team are fielding first, while the reds are batting.
3. (transitive, sports) To place (a team, its players, etc.) in a game.
   The away team fielded two new players and the second-choice goalkeeper.
   On balance, it was harsh on Hearts, who had given as good as they got against their more-fancied opponents, who, despite not being at full strength, fielded a multi-million pound team. August 23, 2012, Alasdair Lamont, “Hearts 0-1 Liverpool”, in BBC Sport
4. (transitive) To answer; to address.
   She will field questions immediately after her presentation.
5. (transitive) To defeat.
   They fielded a fearsome army.
6. (transitive) To execute research (in the field).
   He fielded the marketing survey about the upcoming product.
7. (transitive, military) To deploy in the field.
   to field a new land-mine detector