field

▪ I. field, n.
    (fiːld)
    Forms: 1–2 feld, 3–6 feild(e, feld(e, 3 fæld, south. vælde, vald(e, (5 falde, feald), 3–4 south. veld(e, 3–5 felt(e, fild(e, (5 fyld(e), 4–6 feeld(e, 6–7 fielde, 6– field.
    [Com. WGer.; OE. feld str. masc. corresponds to OFris. and OS. feld masc. (MDu. velt, Du. veld neut.), OHG. feld (MHG. velt, mod.Ger. feld) neut.:—OTeut. *felþu-z masc., *felþu neut. Not found outside WGer., the Sw. fält, Da. felt being from Ger.; but the Finnish pelto field is believed to have been adopted from prehistoric Teut. or pre-Teut.
    Prob. related by ablaut and Verner's law to OE. folde earth (see fold n.³); it is uncertain whether the Teut. *felþu-, *foldôn- are formed with t suffix from a pre-Teut. root pel-, represented in OSl. pol{supi}e plain, field, or belong to the Aryan root pelth or pelt, whence Skr. pr̥thivī earth, Gr. πλατύς broad.]
    I. Ground; a piece of ground.
    † 1. a. Open land as opposed to woodland; a stretch of open land; a plain. Obs.

c 1050 Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia VIII. 299 On þære stowe se æðela feld us ᵹearcode swete huniᵹ. a 1123 O.E. Chron. an. 1112 Swiðe wistfull on wudan and on feldan. c 1200 Ormin 14568 Wude, & feld, & dale, & dun. 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 565 To wodes & to feldes [hii] hulde hom day & nizt. a 1300 Cursor M. 3608 (Cott.) Bath in feild and in forest. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 664 That feld hath eyen, and the woode hath eeres. ? a 1400 Arthur 472 Þe feltes fulle of men yscleyn. 1538 Starkey England i. ii. 52 Wyld Feldys and wodys. 1593 Marlowe in Pass. Pilgr. xix, Hilles and vallies, dales and fields. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 759 They..strew'd his mangled Limbs about the Field.

    b. with reference to that which grows upon the surface. Obs.

a 1000 Boeth. Metr. vi, Weaxað hraðe feldes blostman. c 1200 Ormin 9225 Itt wass huniȝ off þe feld. a 1300 E.E. Psalter cii[i]. 15 Als blome of felde sal he [man] welyen awa. a 1300 Cursor M. 6080 (Cott.) Letus wild, þe quilk þat groues on þe feild. 1382 Wyclif Luke xii. 28 The hey which to day is in the feeld. c 1449 Pecock Repr. i. vi. 28 The feld is the fundament of the flouris. 1611 Bible Gen. ii. 5 Euery plant of the field.

    † 2. a. The country as opposed to a town or village. Obs. exc. arch. or dial.

c 1400 Rom. Rose 6237 Fulle many a seynt in feeld & toune. c 1400 Gamelyn 672 He moste nedes walke in felde þat may not walke in towne. 1526 Tindale Mark xv. 21 They compelled..Simon of Cerene (which cam out of the felde)..to bear hys crosse. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. ii. i. 238 In the Towne, and Field You doe me mischiefe. 1862 Borrow Wild Wales III. 160, I don't think your honour is a Durham man either of town or field.

    b. That part of the open country which is hunted over (perh. originally transf. from sense 8). Cf. hunting field.

1732 Law Serious C. xii. (ed. 2) 190 The next attempt after happiness carry'd him into the field..nothing was so happy as hunting. 1801 Strutt Sports & Past. i. i. 6 King John was particularly attached to the sports of the field. 1864 Field 2 July 9/3 His [the huntsman's] character in the field..has given the highest satisfaction.

    † 3. The territory belonging to a city. Cf. L. ager.

a 1533 Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1539) 140 b, In the felde of Elinos, vnder a marble, is the pouders of Sysifo Seteno. 1572 J. Jones Bathes of Bath ii. 11 b, The hot wellse, in the fielde of Padua.

    4. a. Land or a piece of land appropriated to pasture or tillage, usually parted off by hedges, fences, boundary stones, etc. Often with defining word prefixed, as clover-field, corn-field, hay-field, turnip-field, wheat-field.

c 1025 Interl. v. Rule St. Benet (1888) 73 Geswinc felda gif hi nabbað munecas. c 1220 Bestiary 401 [Ðe fox] goð o felde to a furg. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 7798 Feldes were vol of corne echon. 1382 Wyclif Ruth ii. 2 Y shall goo in to the feeld and gedre eeris. c 1449 Pecock Repr. 275 Feeldis..in which..thei hem silf tilien. 1578 Lyte Dodoens iv. lvi. 516 That with the pale..flowers groweth in drie medowes, and in the feeldes also. 1657 Austen Fruit Trees i. 56 The Flanders Cherries bear well in Orchards and Feilds. 1765 A. Dickson Treat. Agric. (ed. 2) 94 There is scarcely a field, in which we will not observe weeds of the two first kinds. 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge iv, Fields..through which the New River took its winding course.

    b. pl. the fields, used in collective sense. Formerly sometimes = 2 (cf. F. les champs) or 2 b.

a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon lxxxvii. 276 He was in the feldes a hawkynge. 1561 Norton & Sackv. Gorboduc v. ii, Children..play in the streetes and fieldes. 1611 Beaum. & Fl. King & No King ii. ii, How fine the fields be, what sweet living 'tis in the Country! 1856 Ruskin Mod. Paint. III. iv. xiv. §51 The fields!.. All spring and summer is in them.

    c. common field, open field: see those words.
    d. A piece of ground put to a particular use, as bleach field, camping field, print-field: see bleach, etc.
    e. = airfield.

1912 Sci. Amer. 24 Aug. 156/1 The field was so narrow that the aviators were compelled to start always toward the north regardless of the direction of the wind. 1930 Techn. News Bull., Bureau of Standards (U.S.) June 61/1 The angle..of the high-frequency landing beam has been adjusted so that an airplane may be guided along the proper gliding path to the field. 1958 ‘N. Shute’ Rainbow & Rose i. 8 It's not a licensed field.

    5. An extent or tract of ground covered with or containing some special natural formation or production. Chiefly with defining word, as coal field, diamond field, gold field, oil fields: see those words.

1859 Cornwallis New World I. 55 Bowls filled with the precious metal, and..labelled with the name of the field from which it was taken. 1875 Wood & Lapham Waiting for Mail 39 You've tried the best Victorian fields.

    6. a. The ground on which a battle is fought; a battle-field. More explicitly field of battle, conflict, † fight; field of honour.

a 1300 Cursor M. 6432 (Cott.) Wit israel was left þe feild. a 1400–50 Alexander 450 Þan foundis Philip to þe fyȝt & þe fild entres. c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. ix, The Erlis of Lecestir and Glocestre..toke hym and his sonne prisoners in the ffelde. 1592 R. D. Hypnerotomachia 22 Instruments of war..for the field. 1604 Shakes. Oth. i. iii. 85 They haue vs'd Their deerest action, in the Tented Field. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 378 As Legions in the Field their Front display. 1718 Lond. Gaz. No. 4739/3 The Quarter-Masters of the Army are gone to mark a Field of Battel. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) III. 102 The victor is obliged to fight several of those battles before it remains undisputed master of the field. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. I. 52 My forefathers have been dragoons, and died on the field of honour. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 658 These three chiefs..fled together from the field of Sedgemoor. 1851 E. Creasy 15 Decisive Battles (1864) 22 The Greeks could not stand before the Persians in a field of battle. 1863 Kinglake Crimea (1876) I. xi. 182 The English Ambassador remained upon the field of the conflict.

    b. fig.

1340 Ayenb. 131 A ueld of uiyȝt huerinne him behoueþ eure to..wyȝte mid dyeulen. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 72 b, Well exercysed in the feelde of vertues and holy workes. 1615 Crooke Body of Man 56 Before we leaue the field, it shall not be amisse to disparkle all the forces of our aduersaries. 1724 Swift Drapier's Lett. Wks. 1761 III. 75 He is so far master of the field, that no London printer dare publish any paper written in favour of Ireland. 1775 Sheridan Duenna i. iv, If I could hamper him with this girl, I should have the field to myself. 1848 H. Rogers Ess. I. vi. 322 To drive the sophists from the field. 1886 B. L. Farjeon Three Times T. 1, I bade her good-day, and left Captain Bellwood in possession of the field.

    c. Phrases: to keep, maintain the field: to continue the fight, lit. and fig. Also (chiefly fig.) to conquer the field: to gain one's point. to hold the field: to hold its ground; not to be superseded or displaced. to leave (another) the field: to give up the argument or contest. to leave the field open: to abstain from interference.

a 1450 Knt. de la Tour (1868) 21 Ye wylle speke riotesly..therfor y wille leve you the felde. 1673 Dryden Marr. à la Mode ii. i, This tongue..may keep the field against a whole army of lawyers. c 1686 Roxb. Ball. (1886) VI. 125 He conquer'd the field: Then they both were united. 1724 Swift Drapier's Lett. iii, His Majesty, pursuant to the law, hath left the field open between Wood and the Kingdom of Ireland. 1855 Prescott Philip II, i. ii, Four knights were prepared to maintain the field against all comers. 1870 Tennyson Pelleas & Ettarre 161 All day long Sir Pelleas kept the field With honour. 1887 A. Birrell Obiter Dicta Ser. ii. 66 The last edition will..long hold the field.

    7. In wider sense: The country which is to be, or has become, the scene of a campaign; the scene of military operations. in the field: engaged in military operations. to keep the field: to remain in the ‘field’; to keep the campaign open. to take the field: to commence military operations; to open the campaign.

a 1612 Sir R. Cecil Let. in Naunton Fragm. Reg. (Arb.) 61 They will..learn the strength of the Rebels, before they dare take the field. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxix. 174 The forces of the Commonwealth keeping the field no longer. 1676 Temple Let. to Pr. of Orange Wks. 1731 II. 410, I did not believe Your Highness would do any thing in those kind of Affairs till Your Return from the Field. 1724 De Foe Mem. Cavalier (1830) 10 All the military part of the court was in the field. 1769 Junius Lett. ii. 13 A sincere..attachment to his King and Country..first impelled him to the field. 1835 I. Taylor Spir. Despot. iii. 85 Their [the Greek people's] eye was directed..to the senate or the field. 1852 Thackeray Esmond iii. i, Esmond..took the field..under Webb's orders. 1863 H. Cox Instit. iii. viii. 713 An army in the field abroad.

transf. and fig. 1614 A. Saul Chesse-play xi. (heading), All the men being in the field. 1831 Brewster Newton (1855) II. xiv. 3 The greatest mathematicians of the age took the field.

    8. a. A battle; now rare exc. in such phrases as a hard-fought field, hard-won field. a single field: a single combat. Also to fight, † give, lose, † make, win (a, the) field. Hence, † Victory, esp. in to get, have the field.

? a 1400 Arthur 480 The falde was hys & Arthourez. c 1435 Torr. Portugal 213–5 Of the fynd the maystry to haue, Of hym to wyn the fyld..Of hyme he wane the fyld þat day. 1473 J. Warkworth Chron. 6 The Walschmenne loste the felde. 1484 Caxton Fables of æsop iii. iv, The egle..gat the feld and vaynquysshed..the bestes. 1487 Wriothesley Chron. (1875) I. 2 A feild that they made againste the Kinge. 1502 Arnolde Chron. (1811) p. xxxiv, A felde..bytwene the Kynge and y⊇ Duke of Yorke. 1535 Coverdale 1 Macc. x. 50 A mightie sore felde..continuynge till the Sonne wente downe. 1536 Bellenden Cron. Scot. (1821) II. 43 Ennimes..of sic strenth and multitud that he micht not weil geif thaim feild. 1556 Chron. Gr. Friars (Camden) 25 The commons..made a felde agaynst the kynge and lost it. 1586 Warner Alb. Eng. iv. xx. (1589) 89 The Danes..got the feeld. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. ii. i. 26 This Symitare..won three fields of Sultan Solyman. 1605 Verstegan Dec. Intell. v. (1628) 128 Battailes or Foughten Fields. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 105 What though the field be lost? 1816 Byron Ch. Har. iii. xlix, In their..single fields, What deeds of prowess unrecorded died! 1843 Prescott Mexico (1850) I. 293 Many a bloody field was to be fought.

transf. 1862 J. Pycroft Cricket Tutor 77 Every old player will..recall many a hard-fought field.

    † b. Order of battle, disposition of men in the field. Phrases, to pitch, set a field, to choose one's battle-ground, to dispose one's men for fighting; to gather a field, to collect an armed force.

1502 Arnolde Chron. p. xxxiv, Y⊇ Duke of Yorke set his felde at Brent Heth. c 1540 Order in Battayle A vij, Let him study to breake hys [foe's] felde. 1548 Hall Chron. K. Hen. VI, An. 4. 96 b, That my saied lorde of Winchester, intended to gather any feld or assemble people, in troublyng of the kynges lande, and against the kinges peace. a 1562 G. Cavendish Wolsey (1893) 274 Who pitched a feld royall ayenst theme. 1600 Holland Livy vi. xv. 226 Either part beholding their captaine, as it were in a pight field. 1678 Wanley Wond. Lit. World v. ii. §32. 470/1 Nicephorus..was slain in a pitch'd Field against the Bulgarians.

    † c. officer of the field = field-officer. general of the field: the general commanding in a battle or campaign. Obs.

1590 Nashe Pasquil's Apol. i. D iij, Equal in respect of theyr fight in..battailes, as the Generall of the fielde and the common Souldiours are. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. vii. (1703) II. 269 There were..above twenty Officers of the Field..slain upon the place.

    9. a. With mixture of sense 4: An enclosed piece of ground in which some outdoor games are played, as cricket, football field: see cricket, etc.; also ellipt. with n. to be supplied from the context.

c 1742 J. Love Cricket (1770) III. 18 To such impetuous Might compell'd to yield The Bail, and mangled Stumps bestrew the Field. a 1788 Canning in ‘Bat’ Crick. Man. (1850) 36 The poet will be equally circumstanced in the field. 1849 Laws of Cricket ibid. 57 No substitute in the field shall be allowed to bowl. 1882 Daily Tel. 12 June, Neither Spofforth nor Boyle were in the field.

    b. Baseball. The ground in which the fielders stand, divided into infield and outfield n.

1875 Encycl. Brit. III. 406/2 The theory of the game [Base ball] is that one side takes the field, and the other goes in. 1891 N. Crane Baseball vi. 45 The pitcher is the only player whose position on the field is prescribed by the rules.

    10. collect. Those who take part in any outdoor contest or sport. a. Sporting. Also, in restricted sense: All the competitors in a race except the favourite. to bet, back, lay against the field: to back one (often one's own) dog, horse, etc. against all other competitors.

1742 Richardson Pamela III. xxxiii. 315 An hundred Guineas to one against the Field. 1771 P. Parsons Newmarket II. 149 Camillus against the field, for a hundred guineas. 1872 Lever Ld. Kilgobbin lxx, Bet on the field—never back the favourite. 1885 Truth 28 May 853/2 The Great Northern Handicap..brought out a better field than usual. 1888 Daily News 29 June, Pillarist was backed against the field.

transf. and fig. 1860 Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. III. cxxxiii. 101 To speak up for ‘Victor Emmanuel against the field’. 1884 Sat. Rev. 2 Feb. 139 An historical prize will bring together a much larger ‘field’.

    b. Hunting. Those who take part in the sport. to lead the field: to be first in the chase.

1806–7 J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (1826) iii. iv, In hunting..while you are leading the field. 1830 Greville Mem. Geo. IV (1874) II. xiii. 77 The field which had been out with the King's hounds. 1841 J. T. J. Hewlett Parish Clerk II. 15 The hounds and huntsman, with the field at their heels. 1890 Sat. Rev. 1 Feb. 135/1 Fields of hunting and riding men are very large.

    c. Cricket. The ‘side’ who are ‘out’ in the ‘field’: see 9; also the players on both sides.

1744 Norwich Mercury 15 Sept., And spread the field at distance wait, To break the striker's force. 1850 ‘Bat’ Cricket Man. 51 The disposition of the field depends entirely upon circumstances. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown ii. viii, The ball..sticks..in the fingers of his left hand, to the utter astonishment of himself and the whole field. 1859 All Year Round No. 13. 305 Our field worked like tigers. 1862 Sporting Life 14 June, On the reappearance of the ‘field’, H. H. Stephenson took the wicket. 1882 Daily Tel. 24 June, The first over was sent down..by Palmer..his field being arranged thus.

    d. to play the field: to avoid an exclusive commitment (to any one person, etc.); to devote oneself to many causes, persons, etc. U.S. colloq.

1936 L. Lefko Public Relations ii. 18 He hasn't any steady. He plays the field—blonde, brunette, or what have you. 1948 G. Vidal City & Pillar (1949) ii. ix. 199 Well, I've come to the conclusion that the only real pleasure is in playing the field. 1966 New Republic 3 Mar. 19 Japan Plays the Field. Peace and Trade with Everyone.

    11. Cricket and Baseball. One who stands on the field; one of the side that is ‘out’; a fieldsman; also in names descriptive of his position in the field, e.g. in Cricket, † long field to the hip (see quot.). long field († straight) off, on (see quots.; now usually long off, on). in the long field: at the position of long field off or on. In Baseball: in-field, out-field, right-field, centre-field, left-field.

1825 ‘B. Blackmantle’ Eng. Spy I. i. 32 He was accounted..an active field. 1830 Miss Mitford Village Ser. iv. (1863) 174 That exceedingly bad field..caught him out. 1833 J. Nyren Yng. Cricketer's Tutor (1893) 47 Long field, straight on, should stand at some distance out from the bowler's wicket, to save two runs. Ibid., Long field to the hip. The fieldsman must stand out to save two runs opposite to the popping-crease. Ibid., Long field, straight off, should be an active man..His station is on the off-side between the bowler and the middle wicket. 1850 ‘Bat’ Cricket Man. 48 Long Field Off, On. 1859 All Year Round No. 13. 305 Southey..a good bowler and ‘field’. 1889 Pauline VIII. 24 The out-going batsman..ought to have been caught in the long field. Ibid., A good long field.

    II. An extended surface.
    12. A large stretch; an expanse: a. of sea, sky, etc.

1608 Shakes. Per. i. i. 37 Without covering, save yon field of stars. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 103 The nimble Horsemen scour the Fields of Air. 1732 Pope Ess. Man i. 41 Yonder argent fields above. 1813 Shelley Q. Mab iv. 20 The orb of day..o'er ocean's waveless field Sinks sweetly smiling. 1860 Ruskin Mod. Paint. V. vii. iv. 140 note, Detached bars, darker or lighter than the field [of cloud] above.

    b. of ice or snow.

1813 Bakewell Introd. Geol. (1815) 55 Vast masses of rock..are sometimes enveloped in fields of ice. 1818 Sir J. Leslie in Edin. Rev. XXX. 16 North West Passage, A very wide expanse of it [salt-water ice] they call a field. 1887 Ruskin Præterita II. 178 The snows round..are the least trodden of all the Mont Blanc fields.

    c. of immaterial things; cf. 15.

1577 Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) i. 7 What divinitie there is in it, and what a feeld of the acknowledged benefits of God, you have heard. 1590 Greene Never too late (1600) 60 Loue had..wrapt him in a field of woes. 1712 Blackmore Creation vi. (1818) 203 Who can this Field of Miracles survey. 1847 L. Hunt Men Women & B. II. xi. 265 He discloses to us the whole field of his ignorance. 1867 A. Barry Sir C. Barry vi. 190 The whole field of English history.

    13. The surface on which something is portrayed. a. Her. The surface of an escutcheon or shield on which the ‘charge’ is displayed. Also the surface of one of the divisions in the shield.

c 1400 Destr. Troy 6290 Hys feld was of fyn gold, freche to behold, With þre lyons launchond. c 1435 Torr. Portugal 1120 Sir Torrent ordenyth hym a sheld, It was ryche in every ffeld. 1572 J. Bossewell Armorie ii. 56 The field is parted per fesse embattyled. 1610 J. Guillim Heraldry ii. ii. (1660) 52 The Field is the whole Surface..of the Shield over⁓spread with some Metall, Colour, or Furre, and comprehendeth in it the Charge. 1705 Hearne Collect. 12 Dec., The Arms..are A field Jupiter. 1802 Rees Cycl. s.v. Bar, When the field is divided into four..or more equal parts, it is then blazoned, barry. 1859 Tennyson Elaine 661 Sir Lancelot's azure lions..Ramp in the field.

fig. 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 72 This silent warre of Lillies and of Roses..in her faire faces field. 1607 Hieron Wks. I. 414 A field of sincerity, charged with deedes of piety.

    b. The groundwork of a picture, etc.

1634 J. Bate Myst. Nat. & Art iv. 162 How to make white letters in a blacke Feild. Take [etc.]. 1695 Dryden tr. Du Fresnoy's Art of Painting xlv. 51 Let the Field, or Ground of the Picture, be clean. 1849 Ruskin Sev. Lamps vi. §14. 175 Shadow is frequently employed as a dark field on which the forms are drawn.

    c. Numism. (See quot. 1876.)

1876 Humphreys Coin-Coll. Man. vii. 82 The field..is the plain part of the coin not occupied by the principal figure or type. 1879 H. Phillips Notes Coins 6 The setting sun is illumining with his rays the whole field of the medal.

    d. Of a flag: The ground of each division.

1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 301 The flags of the British navy were severally on a red, white, or blue field.

    † 14. green field: the green cloth of a counting house. Obs. (Can this be the sense in quot. 1599?)

1470 Liber Niger in Househ. Ord. (1790) 51 And suche dayes as the Kings chappell removeth, every of these children then present receveth iiiid. at the grene feald [MSS. in Brit. Mus. read seald, fald] of the countyng-house for horse hyre dayly, as longe as they be journeying. [1599 Shakes. Hen. V, i. iii. 17 His Nose was as sharpe as a Pen, and [? read on] a Table of greene fields.]

    III. Area of operation or observation.
    15. a. An area or sphere of action, operation, or investigation; a (wider or narrower) range of opportunities, or of objects, for labour, study, or contemplation; a department or subject of activity or speculation.

1340 Ayenb. 240 Huanne oure lhord wolde by uonded of þe dyeule: he yede in-to desert. uor þe desert of religion: is ueld of uondinge. 1580 Sidney Arcadia i. (1622) 19 A very good Orator might have a fair field to use eloquence in, if [etc.]. 1626 Bacon Sylva §228 As for the increase of Vertue generally..it is a large Field, and to be handled by it self. 1674 Owen Holy Spirit (1693) 82 A large and plain Field doth here open it self unto us. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 160 ¶4 This..Failure..opens a large Field of Raillery. 1750 Beawes Lex Mercat. (1752) 2 The wide field for trade that now lies before us. 1807 T. Thomson Chem. (ed. 3) II. 143 A very interesting field of investigation. a 1862 Buckle Civiliz. (1873) III. v. 350 The philosopher and the practical man..each is in his own field, supreme.

    b. (without a or the.) Scope, opportunity, extent of material for action or operation. ? Obs.

1664 Dryden Rival-Ladies iii. i, Thou hast not field enough in thy young breast, To entertain such storms to struggle in. 1681 Temple Mem. iii. Wks. 1731 I. 343, I thought I had Field enough left for doing them good Offices to the Duke. 1719 Swift To Yng. Clergyman, The matter..will afford field enough for a divine to enlarge on.

    c. Used attrib. to denote an investigation, study, etc., carried out in the natural environment of a given material, language, animal, etc., and not in the laboratory, study, or office; also, to denote a person taking part in such an activity, as field archæologist, field naturalist, etc. Also in phr. in the field.

1789 Montagu Let. in G. White Selborne (1877) II. 236 You are a field-naturalist. 1898 W. James Coll. Ess. & Rev. (1920) 426 In the '50's and '60's Captain Mayne Reid..was forever extolling the hunters and field-observers of living animals' habits, and keeping up a fire of invective against the ‘closet-naturalists’, as he called them, the collectors and classifiers, and handlers of skeletons and skins. 1904 Field naturalist [see aviculturist]. 1906 Nature 1 Mar. 411/1 A handbook in a paper wrapper is hardly fit for use in the field. 1915 J. P. Williams-Freeman Introd. Field Archæol. p. viii, A general introduction to Field Archaeology. Ibid. p. xix, Hampshire is..a happy hunting-ground for the Field Archaeologist. 1930 E. E. Hunt Audit of Amer. 8 We have as yet no method for summing up individual incomes into a family income, exc. that of direct field studies. 1932 H. C. Brearley Homicide in U.S. 10 There is need of a thorough field survey to determine how accurate are the homicide reports now being made to state and federal bureaus of vital statistics. 1933 Brit. Birds XXVI. 363 The elementary co-operative services..a national field centre which can collaborate with other national field centres overseas,—still remain to be provided. 1935 Discovery Nov. 346/2 Dr. Margaret Mead, by her studies of certain aspects of primitive societies in New Guinea and Samoa, has already established a reputation as a field anthropologist. 1936 Brit. Birds XXIX. 264 (heading) Interpretation of field-observations. 1936 Discovery Dec. 382/2 It was only a matter of organisation to set up a field laboratory. 1937 R. H. Lowie Hist. Ethnol. Theory ix. 151 They lead to still another extension of traditional field research. Ibid. xiii. 231 In contrast to Radcliffe-Brown, Malinowski is first of all a field investigator. Ibid., His field technique conforms to Boas' standards. 1937 J. Orr tr. Iordan's Introd. Romance Ling. 5 The Romance tongues are still spoken to-day..and can thus be observed and studied directly, ‘in the field’, to use a term borrowed from the natural sciences. 1946 Lancet 15 June 910/2 The Council for the Promotion of Field Studies have..established..their first residential centre. 1949 M. Fortes Social Structure p. vi, Much as the theory owes to Durkheim, its emphasis on synchronic study and its rejection of conjectural history are the results of field experience. 1951 Archit. Rev. CIX. 51/2 An extensive ‘field-survey’ of the monuments and a prodigious accumulation of new or hitherto scattered documentary material. 1956 O. L. Zangwill in A. Pryce-Jones New Outl. Mod. Knowl. 170 Ethology is concerned with field-observations of behaviour and their systematic interpretation. 1957 N. & Q. CCII. 233/1 Shrimpton [is] an extraordinary prodigy, perhaps our first field archaeologist. 1959 Listener 5 Mar. 402/2 A university must employ a variety of means far wider than those of the lecture room. Seminars, practical work, field trips, a library with access to original material..are all essential to this. 1960 S. Kauffmann If it be Love ii. 24 It'd be a help if I had some of the field reports. 1961 Amer. Speech XXXVI. 201 Not having ready access to the field records, this reviewer must perforce rely for comparisons on his own published investigations. 1962 H. E. Beecheno Introd. Bus. Stud. ix. 80 It is at this point that ‘field research’ must be undertaken. 1968 Times 14 Oct. 15/1 The fossils were seen by an undergraduate from Rutgers University, New Jersey, during a field trip to study techniques in palaeontology. 1969 Ibid. 13 Jan. 11/2 When this virus is put into sheep experimentally it produces a disease identical with that from which it can be recovered in the field. 1970 E. Leach Lévi-Strauss i. 8 By Malinowski standards ‘Lévi-Strauss’ field research is of only moderate quality.

    d. Math. An algebraic system with two operations that satisfy certain axioms analogous to those for the multiplication and addition of real numbers; technically, a commutative ring that contains a unit element for multiplication and an inverse for each non-zero element.

1893 E. H. Moore in Bull. N.Y. Math. Soc. III. 75 Suppose that we have a system of symbols or marks,..in number s, and suppose that these s marks may be combined by the four fundamental operations of algebra..and that when the marks are so combined the results of these operations are in every case uniquely determined and belong to the system of marks. Such a system of s marks we call a field of order s. 1905 Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. VI. 183 Closely connected with the theory of groups is the theory of fields, suggested by Galois, and due, in concrete form, to Dedekind in 1871. The word field is the English equivalent for Dedekind's term Körper. 1941 Birkhoff & MacLane Surv. Mod. Algebra ii. 40 A field F is an integral domain which contains for each element a≠0 an ‘inverse’ element a—1 satisfying the equation a—1a= 1. 1958 K. S. Miller Elem. Mod. Abstr. Algebra ii. 65 A field is an integral domain... In general, an integral domain is not a field. 1963 E. Weiss Algebraic Number Theory v. 185 By a global field we mean a field which is either (1) an algebraic number field, or (2) an algebraic function field in one variable over a finite constant field. 1968 E. D. Macdonald Theory of Groups xi. 222 Familiar examples of fields are the real numbers, the rational numbers, and the residue classes modulo a prime.

    e. Logic. The class comprising the domain and the range or converse domain of a relation.

1903 [see domain n. 4 f]. 1952 F. B. Fitch Symbolic Logic vi. 179 The field of a relation has the same members as the field of the converse of that relation.

    f. Computers. A set of one or more characters in a record, or a group of columns on a punched card, which together represent a single item of information; an item of information that can be so represented.

1946 P. S. Dwyer in Proc. Research Forum (I.B.M.) 21/1 By an ‘elimination’ field I mean a field which eliminates or causes the accounting machine to throw out every variate in any specified accumulation field for which the corresponding variate is missing in the elimination field. 1953 Proc. Inst. Radio Engin. Oct. 1337/1 The card columns are grouped in Fields. For example, a very simple invoicing problem would have a Field for Quantity, another for Unit Price,..and maybe a Field for discounts which apply. 1959 Jrnl. Assoc. Computing Machinery VI. 7 Figure 3 illustrates a file of payroll data as it would be recorded on magnetic tape. Each record in this file is partitioned into fields. 1966 Abrams & Corvine Basic Data Processing ii. 14 A field is one or more characters of data that are meaningful as a unit. The number of children in a family is a field; so is a person's name.

    16. a. The space or range within which objects are visible through an optical instrument in any one position.

1747 Gould Eng. Ants 32 Kill her, and..place her Body on the Field of a Microscope. 1765 Maty in Phil. Trans. LV. 305 It filled the field of the telescope. 1812–6 J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art I. 474 The visible field is..twenty degrees in diameter. 1871 Tyndall Fragm. Sc. (1879) II. xiii. 307 Organisms..shooting rapidly across the microscopic field. 1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 102 A very superior achromatic glass..giving a..flat field.

    b. field of observation, view or vision: the space to which observation, etc. is limited. So field of consciousness, perception.

1812–6 J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art II. 718 The whole field of view through the foot-wide arch. 1817 Chalmers Astron. Disc. ii. (1852) 53 That circle by which the field of observation is enclosed. 1855 Bain Senses & Int. ii. ii. §3 The eye can take in a wide field at once. 1859 Reeve Brittany 236 They are not seen in the picture, being much to the left of our field of view. 1862 Merivale Rom. Emp. (1865) VI. lii. 300 The field of vision is overclouded. 1865 S. H. Hodgson Time & Space vi. 295 It has been shown that the whole field of consciousness is occupied by perception and spontaneous redintegration. 1905 W. James Ess. Radical Empiricism (1912) vi. 170 The world experienced (otherwise called the ‘field of consciousness’) comes at all times with our body as its centre, centre of vision, centre of action, centre of interest. 1933 H. Read Art Now ii. 78 Take any field of vision—a land⁓scape, the scene before you now, if you lift your eyes. 1942 R. Hillary Last Enemy iii. 72, I noticed how small was my field of vision [from an aeroplane]. 1957 H. Read Tenth Muse xiii. 109 As the mind perceives, it automatically selects and organizes the field of perception.

fig. 1877 E. R. Conder Bas. Faith ii. 83 No scintillation of its existence twinkles within the field of our knowledge.

    c. Photogr. depth of field: the distance between the nearest and the farthest objects that give an image judged to be in focus.

1911 B. E. Jones Cassell's Cycl. Photogr. 167 ‘Depth of field’ is sometimes used as synonymous with ‘depth of focus’ and ‘depth of definition’, the third expression more correctly indicating what is meant. 1920 C. W. Piper J. E. Fearn's Mod. Photogr. (ed. 6) xiv. 102 The distance between the nearest and farthest objects in focus with any particular stop is called the depth of field for that stop. 1939 Henney & Dudley Handbk. Photogr. iv. 90 A useful accessory included on most miniature cameras and on many larger cameras is a depth-of-field, or depth-of-focus, table. 1951 G. H. Sewell Amat. Film-Making (ed. 2) iii. 28 Objects in front of and behind the main object will throw images of sufficient sharpness, and the magnitude of the distance between these front and back objects is known as ‘depth of field’. 1965 Movie Spring 34/1, I used a telefoto lens a great deal so as not to have any depth of field.

    d. Television. A set of equally spaced scanning lines extending over the whole picture area and produced by a single passage of the spot.

1943 D. G. Fink Telev. Stand. & Pract. iv. 81 There is some question whether the scanning period should be taken as the field period or the frame period in the case of interlaced scanning. Ibid. 76 What is the lowest field frequency that will result in naturalness, smoothness, and nonjumpiness..in the picture? 1950 Sci. Amer. Dec. 14/2 The CBS [colour television] system.. requires six fields to present a single complete picture (i.e., two interlaced fields in each of the three primary colors). 1967 Wharton & Howorth Princ. Telev. Reception iii. 38 Two types of field, ‘odd’ and ‘even’, are generated and interlaced to form a complete picture. Ibid., Each complete scan is called a field, and two successive scans which provide the complete picture information are called a picture.

    17. a. Physics. The area or space under the influence of, or within the range of, some agent; a state or situation in which a force is exerted on any objects of a particular kind (e.g. electric charges) that are present; the action of such a force; the value (or direction) at any point of the force on an object defined as having unit magnitude, or the set of the vectors that represent this force at each point in a region. So electric field, gravitational field, magnetic, etc., field; also field of force. Phr. to be in, out of the field: see quot. 1884.
    The word is freq. used as if it denoted an identifiable causal entity.

1845 Faraday Diary 10 Nov. (1933) IV. 331 Wrought with bodies between the great poles, i.e. in the magnetic field, as to their motions under the influence of magnetic force. 1850 Ibid. 23 July (1934) V. 325 When the opposed bodies are on opposite sides of the axis (Magnetic), then the figured forms would give fields of force in which the lines of magnetic power would vary. 1850 W. Thomson in Phil. Mag. 3rd Ser. XXXVII. 251 The ‘field of force’ [of a magnet] occupied by the mercury and watch-glass. 1863 Tyndall Heat ii. §35 (1870) 37 The exact equivalent of the power employed to move the medal in the excited magnetic field. 1865 J. C. Maxwell in Phil. Trans. R. Soc. CLV. 460 The theory I propose may..be called a theory of the Electro⁓magnetic Field, because it has to do with the space in the neighbourhood of the electric or magnetic bodies. Ibid. 493 The intrinsic energy of the field of gravitation. 1881 ― Electr. & Magn. I. 45 The electric field is the portion of space in the neighbourhood of electrified bodies, considered with reference to electric phenomena. 1884 Watson & Burbury Math. Th. Electr. & Magn. I. 48 In physics a body which is within the range of the action of another body is said to be in the field of that other body, and when it is so distant from that other body as to be sensibly out of the range of its action it is said to be out of the field. 1897 J. J. Thomson in Phil. Mag. 5th Ser. XLIV. 311 If these corpuscles are.. projected from the cathode by the electric field, they would behave exactly like cathode rays. 1903 Rutherford Ibid. 6th Ser. V. 179 The magnetic field was applied perpendicular to the plane of the paper and parallel to the plane of the slits. Ibid. 184 The rate of discharge..with the electric field off and on. 1928 A. S. Eddington Nature Physical World vii. 153 It is usually considered that when we use these [sc. magnets, electroscopes, etc.] we are exploring not space, but a field in space. 1928 Newman & Searle Gen. Prop. Matter iii. 75 According to Newton's Law the nature of the attracting masses is unimportant, and it is the magnitude of the mass..which determines the gravitational field. 1946 Ann. Reg. 1945 355 The stability of ordinary atomic nuclei could be explained only by the existence of a meson field analogous to the electro-magnetic field. 1952 Fitzgerald & Kingsley Electr. Machinery i. 6 Voltages are induced..by mechanically rotating a magnetic field past the windings. 1956 E. H. Hutten Lang. Mod. Physics iii. 93 Energy is thus contained in the volume of space in which a field exists. 1959 B. I. & B. Bleaney Electr. & Magn. i. 4 From Eq. (1.2) we find that E= q1/(4πε0r3)r is the electric field due to the charge q1. 1962 J. Dougall tr. Born's Atomic Physics (ed. 7) iii. 59 According to Maxwell's electromagnetic theory, light..consists of a periodically variable, electromagnetic alternating field. 1962 Corson & Lorrain Introd. Electromagn. Fields i. 1 The force between two electric charges will be considered as being due to an interaction between one of the charges and the field of the other. 1962 V. H. Booth Physical Sci. xxi. 300/1 The strength of the gravitational field is extremely weak compared to electric and magnetic fields.

fig. 1943 H. Read Educ. through Art vi. 181 They [sc. Jungian archetypes] are centres of influence, or fields of force within the unconscious. 1959 Times Lit. Suppl. 23 Jan. 45/3 The present Byronic field of force.

    b. That part of an electric generator or motor in which the magnetic flux is produced; a field magnet. (An absol. use of field used attrib. in the preceding sense.)

1893 G. Kapp Dynamos x. 226 We can..alter the design altogether so as to obtain enough cooling surface without increasing the weight of the field. 1952 Fitzgerald & Kingsley Electr. Machinery i. 11 (caption) Part of Boulder Dam hydroelectric station showing wound revolving field (suspended from two cranes) of 82,500-kva..water-wheel generator.

    c. Embryol. A region of an embryo capable of developing into a particular organ; a supposed system of influences regarded as collectively causing the differentiation of tissue.

1927 G. R. de Beer in Biol. Rev. Mar. 189 The only hypothesis which appears tenable is that of a Gradient System or ‘field’..for the place of determination of the rudiments of other organs. 1934 Huxley & de Beer Elem. Exper. Embryol. viii. 276 The term field implies a region throughout which some agency is at work in a co-ordinated way, resulting in the establishment of an equilibrium within the area of the field. 1957 Encycl. Brit. VIII. 976/2 Each area or morphogenetic field..is a gradient field in the sense that the capacity for differentiation is highest in the centre and diminishes gradually toward the periphery. 1969 Jrnl. Theoret. Biol. XXV. i. 41 It has been a great surprise and of considerable importance to find that most embryonic fields seem to involve distances of less than 100 cells, and often less than 50.

    d. Psychol. An environment or situation regarded as a system of psychological forces with which an individual interacts.

1934 Philos. Sci. I. 328 Since the genesis of ego and superego out of id depend on experience, one might suppose that the activity of these parts of the ego was determined by the structure of the psycho-biological field. 1935 Adams & Zener tr. Lewin's Dynamic Theory Personality iii. 79 To understand or predict the psychological behavior..one has to determine for every kind of psychological event..the momentary whole situation, that is, the momentary structure and the state of the person..and of the psychobiological environment... Every fact that exists psychobiologically must have a position in this field. 1950 Mind LIX. 569 A stimulus in an environmental field acts upon an organism in such a way as to evoke a ‘directional’ response, which leads to adaptation to the field—certain ‘directional’ responses being attitudes, sentiments, and so on. 1952 W. J. H. Sprott Social Psychol. i. ii. 30 The central concept in his [sc. Kurt Lewin's] scheme is the ‘field’. The ‘field’ can be analysed into ‘subjective’ and ‘objective’ elements. 1964 Gould & Kolb Dict. Soc. Sci. 270/1 The field concept as specifically used by gestalt psychologists refers to organized conscious behaviour accompanied by a physiological energy pattern and forming part of a larger physiological system.

    IV. attrib. and Comb.
    18. General relations: a. simple attrib. (sense 1), as field-dew, field-flower; (sense 2), as field-character, field-craft, field-dweller, field-honour, field-mark (of a bird), field-mate, field-pastime, field-properties (of a greyhound), field-smell, field-tent, (senses 2 and 4) field-trial; (sense 4), as field capacity, field-crop, field-drain, field-gate, field-hedge, field-husbandry, field-measure, field-name, field-noise, field-path, field-rent, field-road, field-seed, field-stones; (sense 7), as field ambulance, field-battalion, field-cap, field-craft, field-duties, field-equipment, field-evolutions, field-exercise, field-insignia, field kitchen, field-movements, field post card, field punishment, field-service (also attrib.), field-telephone; field-troops, field-watch; (sense 17), as field coil, field law, field physics, field winding. b. objective (sense 4), as field-purging ppl. adj. c. locative (sense 4), as field-faring ppl. adj. d. limitative, as (sense 17) field-free adj.

1916 F. M. Ford Let. 23 Aug. (1965) 69, I have had..a week in *Field Ambulance.

1875 G. P. Colley in Encycl. Brit. II. 596/1 An infantry regiment [in the Prussian army] has three *field battalions.

1888 Sir M. Mackenzie Frederick the Noble viii. 140 He wore the ample blue cloak of the Prussian Cavalry, with fur cape and *field cap.

1938 Weaver & Clements Plant Ecol. (ed. 2) viii. 201 The total amount of water that is held against the downward pull of capillarity and the force of gravity and does not drain through the soil is termed the water-retaining capacity or *field capacity.

1937 Brit. Birds XXXI. 84 *Field characters, habitat, song and ‘habits’ generally. 1953 Bannerman Birds Brit. Isles II. 212 Both sexes have the excellent field⁓character of a long tail.

1892 Crocker & Wheeler Pract. Managem. Dynamos & Motors i. 4 Field Magnet.—This consists of one or more iron cores on which are wound the *field coils.

1887 Pall Mall G. 26 Sept. 5/2 No one..expects to fill his bag save by *field-craft. 1933 B. H. L. Hart Future of Infantry App. ii. 80 The following exercises are of use in developing the individual's field-craft. 1967 Observer 14 May 2/5 American troops are poor at fieldcraft.

1860 Gosse Rom. Nat. Hist. (1866) 105 The injuries done..in our *field-crops. 1889 Daily News 16 Dec. 7/1 Indian agricultural field crop seeds.

1590 Shakes. Mids. N. v. i. 422 With this *field dew consecrate.

1933 B. W. Adkin Land Drainage in Brit. xx. 348 Open drains are never cut as deep as the ordinary *field drains. 1945 ‘G. Orwell’ Animal Farm v. 36 He talked learnedly about field⁓drains..and basic slag.

1844 Regul. & Ord. Army 127 Subordinate Officers understand their *Field Duties.

1575 in Russia at close 16th C. (Hakluyt Soc.) Introd. 9 The..Tartars are barbarowse and *fyilde dwellers.

1808 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. IV. 29 A *field equipment with a proportion of horses. 1875 G. P. Colley in Encycl. Brit. II. 579/2 The war establishment of a field equipment troop is 6 officers and 233 men.

1853 Stocqueler Milit. Encycl., A regiment is..instructed in the *field exercise and evolutions.

1892 Pall Mall G. 8 Dec. 2/1 A sketch of *fieldfaring women.

1653 Walton Angler 214 *Field-flowers..perfum'd the air. 1852 Lytton Falkland 59, I see him..gathering the field-flowers.

1955 O. Klein in W. Pauli Niels Bohr 116 The *field-free Dirac equation. 1962 Science Survey IV. 64 In contrast with the microwave maser, no magnetic field is required because energy levels existing in the field-free atom are used. 1970 G. K. Woodgate Elem. Atomic Struct. iv. 70 The beam travels a further distance l{p} in a field-free region to a detector.

1891 S. C. Scrivener Our Fields & Cities 33, I was..glad to see the horse turning towards a *field-gate.

1823 in Cobbett Rur. Rides (1885) I. 399 A *field-hedge and bank.

1737 M. Green Spleen (1738) 5 *Field-honours..Atchiev'd by leaping hedge and ditch.

1760 J. Eliot (title), Essays upon *Field-Husbandry in New England.

1823 J. Badcock Dom. Amusem. 34 This stick, or baton..became the *field insignia of a general.

1915 ‘I. Hay’ First Hundred Thousand xiv. 191 We might..let the grooms and drivers go with..*field kitchens. 1942 Penguin New Writing XIV. 9 The oppressor's soldiers have offered soup from their field-kitchens to those among the inhabitants who are utterly destitute.

1928 A. S. Eddington Nature Physical World xi. 236 The *field laws—conservation of energy, mass, momentum and of electric change..are not controlling laws. They are truisms.

1954 Bannerman Birds Brit. Isles III. 20 The white wing-bar..was an excellent *field-mark and could be distinguished..at a range of thirty to forty yards.

1786 Burns Brigs of Ayr 36 The feather'd *field-mates, bound by Nature's tie.

1857 Phil. Trans. R. Soc. CXLVII. 627 The Ordnance Survey Office have used, as standards of reference for *field⁓measures, two 10-feet iron bars.

1798 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. I. 12 Wellesley..practising them in combined *field movements.

1924 E. Ekwall in Mawer & Stenton Introd. Surv. Eng. Place-Names i. iv. 89 A full investigation of *field-names..will probably often tell of a strong Scandinavian influence. 1960 P. H. Reaney Orig. Eng. Place-Names x. 207 If we are to be accurate in our use of terms, ‘field-names’ should be used only of the enclosed areas of arable and pasture land which are never found on the Ordnance Survey maps. Ibid. 210 Although not strictly accurate, the term ‘field⁓name’ is also used of the innumerable minor place-names found in documents of all periods.

1904 W. Stevens Let. 6 Aug. (1967) 78 And it sounds, perfectly, like a *field⁓noise at harvest.

18.. Wordsw. Sonnets (1838) 151 To chase mankind, with men in armies packed For his *field-pastime.

1772 De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 66 It was agreed to spread from the *field-path to the road way. 1847 M. Howitt Ballads 294 Through old field-paths we'll wander.

1928 A. S. Eddington Nature Physical World xi. 236 The material, gravitational and electromagnetic fields are all included... The quantities enumerated above..obey the great law of *field-physics. 1932 Discovery Oct. 338/1 The whole conception of what is called field physics springs from Maxwell and Faraday.

1916 T. E. Lawrence Let. 14 Dec. (1954) 332 This is not a letter: only a substitute for a *field post card. 1917 W. Owen Let. 1 Jan. (1967) 421 If on my Field Post Card I cross out ‘I am being sent down to the base’ with a double line..then I shall actually be at the Front.

1883 Chamb. Jrnl. 305 The..*field properties of a greyhound.

1907 Act 7 Edw. VII c. 2 §10 Amendments of Army Act... The words ‘*field punishment’ shall be substituted for the words ‘summary punishment’ wherever those words occur in provisoes (9) and (10).

1601 Weever Mirr. Mart. E vj b, *Feeld-purging Februarius.

1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Champart, *fielde rent.

1864 H. Spencer Illustr. Univ. Progr. 418 While along the *field-roads..the movement is the slowest.

1888 Daily News 11 Sept. 2/5 A fair amount of business is now being transacted in *field seeds.

1656 J. Harrington Oceana 57 The Youth for *field-service..armed and under continual Discipline. 1834 J. S. Macaulay Treat. Field Fortif. xi. 225 [Tools required] 1 Field-service level. 1 Six-feet rod [etc.]. 1869 E. A. Parkes Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3) 118 On field service..the same duties are enjoined. 1915 F. H. Lawrence in Home Lett. of T. E. Lawrence (1954) 660, I am sending a field service post card at the same time as this letter. 1940 N. & Q. 28 Sept. 217/2 Field Service Cap.

1818 Shelley Rosalind 1110 *Field smells known in infancy.

1799 J. Robertson Agric. Perth, *Field stones..were gathered off the land, where it seemed to be fit for tillage. 1892 Jrnl. Archæol. Inst. No. 194. 155 Small field-stones concreted with sticky gravel.

1908 E. J. Stevens (title) *Field telephones for army use. 1939 Auden & Isherwood Journey to War ix. 222 Soldiers installed a field-telephone.

1755 Smollett Quix. (1803) IV. 174 Among these trees we have pitched some *field-tents.

1849 Johnston Exp. Agric. 60 Such *field-trials as appear to me likely to throw light upon it. 1895 Westm. Gaz. 12 Dec. 7/2 That great field-trial authority [on dogs]. 1970 Encycl. Brit. IX. 250/1 Field trials are competitions among individual sporting dogs, or gun dogs, as they are called in Great Britain, of the same general type under conditions that approximate or simulate those found in the hunting field.

1875 G. P. Colley in Encycl. Brit. II. 595/2 *Field troops [in the Prussian army] in peace time form the standing army.

1871 Daily News 13 Jan., The last intermittent French *fieldwatch is definitely ascertained to have quitted Bondy.

1883 Seebohm Eng. Village Comm. i. (1884) 4 A common *fieldway gives access to the strips.

1893 D. C. Jackson Electro-Magn. v. 123 To know the number of leakage lines is therefore a matter of moment..in calculating the *field windings.

    19. Prefixed to the names of many animals, birds, and insects, often in the sense of ‘wild’, to indicate a species found in the open country as opposed to house or town, as field-ass, field-bee, field-cricket, field-mouse, field-rat, field-slug, field-spider; field-duck, the little bustard (Otis tetrax) found chiefly in France; field-finch (see quot.); field-lark (Alauda arvensis); U.S. = meadow lark (b); field-martin (Tyrannus carolinensis); field-plover (U.S.), a name for two species of plover, and for a sandpiper (Bartramia longicauda); field-sparrow (U.S.) (Spizella pusilla or S. agrestis); field-titling, † -tortoise (jocular), -vole (see quots.).

1382 Wyclif Jer. ii. 24 A *feld asse vsid in wildernesse.

1835 Chambers's Edin. Jrnl. 7 Mar. 45/1 Seven species of the genus apis; the most remarkable of which are the small *field-bee, [etc.]. 1918 D. H. Lawrence New Poems 10 As a field-bee, black and amber, breaks from the winter-cell.

1600 E. Blount Hosp. Inc. Fooles A iv, Those *field-Crickets..play the parrats so notably. 1868 Wood Homes without H. viii. 161 The black-bodied Field Cricket (Acheta campestris).

1892 W. H. Hudson La Plata 185 The *field-finch, Sycalis luteola.

1678 Ray Willughby's Ornith. ii. 207 Mr. Jessop suspects that there is yet another different sort of this bird, which may be called the lesser *field-lark. 1768 Pennant Brit. Zool. II. 238 The Lesser Field Lark. a 1883 G. W. Bagby Old Virginia Gentleman (1910) 126 We hear his gun go off, and he comes back presently bringing a field-lark in his hand.

1580 Baret Alv. M 531 A *field mouse with a long snoute. 1861 Mrs. Norton Lady La G. iii. 69 The small field-mouse, with wide transparent ears, Comes softly forth.

1562 Turner Herbal ii. 60 b, The roote of Myrrhis dronken in wyne helpeth the bytynges of *feldespyders. 1647 H. More Song of Soul iv. vi, Unlesse that wiser men make't the field-spiders loom.

1864 J. C. Atkinson Provincial names of Birds, *Field Titling, Prov. name for the Tree Pipit, Anthus arboreus.

1708 Motteux Rabelais iv. lxiii, A *Field-Tortoise, alias, eclip'd a Mole.

1868 Wood Homes without H. xxxi. 598 The Short-tailed Field Mouse otherwise termed Campagnol or *Field Vole (Arvicola arvensis).

    20. a. In many names of plants growing in the fields, as field-bindweed, field-forget-me-not, field-mushroom, field-rhubarb, etc.; field-ash (Pyrus aucuparia); field-basil: see basil¹ 2; field-bromegrass (Bromus arvensis); field-cypress: see cypress¹ 2 b; field-kale (Sinapis arvensis); field-madder, † (a) rosemary, (b) a common modern book-name for Sherardia arvensis; field-nigella or nigel-weed (Lychnis Githago); field-southernwood (Artemisia campestris); field-weed (Anthemis Cotula, also Erigeron philadelphicum) (Syd. Soc. Lex. 1884); † field-wood, ? gentian (? = OE. feldwyrt).

1578 Lyte Dodoens vi. lxx. 748 *Feelde Ashe.

1866 Treas. Bot. 118 *Field balm, Calamintha Nepeta.

1825 Loudon Encycl. Agric. §4962. 798 The *field-beet, commonly called the mangold-würzel.

1861 Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. IV. 17 *Field Bindweed..this plant is one of the most troublesome weeds.

1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) I. 369 The..*field-brome grass..is found in some of the best pastures.

Ibid. I. 151 The..large red *Field Carrot, was the only variety employed for agricultural purposes in England.

1578 Lyte Dodoens i. xviii. 28 Called..in English..Ground Pyne..and *field Cypres.

1867 Sowerby Eng. Bot. VII. 105 *Field Forget-me-not.

1861 Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. IV. 6 *Field Gentian..contains in every part of it some of the tonic bitter principle common to the tribe.

c 1000 Durham Gloss. in Sax. Leechd. III. 305/1 Rosmarinum, sun deav & bothen & *feld medere. 1861 Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. III. 144 Field Madder, Corolla funnel-shaped.

1832 Veg. Subst. Food 331 The *Field Mushroom..is the only species..cultivated in this country.

1578 Lyte Dodoens ii. xi. 160 Cockle or *fielde Nigelweede, hath straight..stemmes.

1591 Percivall Sp. Dict., Leche de gallina, white *field onion.

1868 Hereman Paxton's Bot. Dict., *Field Rhubarb.

1838 Clarke in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club I. 163 The bank was..enamelled with..the barren Strawberry and the *Field-Rush.

1861 Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. IV. 48 *Field Scorpion-grass..the whole plant is rough with spreading bristles.

1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. ix. §3. 190 Common Mustarde, or *fielde Senuie.

1776 Withering Brit. Plants (1796) III. 709 *Field Southernwood. 1861 Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. III. 262 Field Southernwood..is a very rare plant..The involucre is of a purplish-brown colour.

1826 Miss Mitford Village Ser. ii. (1863) 411 The *field-star of Bethlehem,—a sort of large hyacinth of the hue of the misletoe.

1393 Gower Conf. II. 262 The *feldwode and verveine, Of herbes ben nought better tweine.

1861 Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. III. 159 *Field Woodruff..the flowers are bright blue.

Ibid. V. 300 *Field Wood Rush..a common plant..has a straight unbranched stem.

    b. In designations of crops covering a large area, as field-hay; field-pea, Pisum sativum var. arvense.

1895 C. J. Cornish Wild Eng. 242 ‘Field-hay’, as the produce of the rye-grass, sainfoin, clover, and trefoil is called, is a new feature in the country.

1709 J. Lawson New Voy. Carolina 77 All the sorts of English Pease..thrive..in Carolina. Particularly..the common Field-Pease. 1858 Field pea [see pea1 2 b]. 1892 W. Fream Elem. Agric. (ed. 2) 240 The field-pea, of which there are several sorts, distinguished by bearing a blue blossom, should be sown as early as possible in the spring. 1949 G. H. Ahlgren Forage Crops xiii. 131 The field pea was brought to America by the early colonists, being reported first in Virginia in 1636.

    21. Special comb.: field-abbot (see quot.); field-allowance, an allowance to an officer, and sometimes to a private, on active service, to meet the increased expenses attendant thereupon; field-artillery, light ordnance fitted for travel and for active operations in a campaign; † field-bar, the border or limit of the field in a telescope (see 16); field-battery, a battery of field-guns; † field-battle, a sham-fight; † field-beast, an animal used for draught or for ploughing, in pl. cattle; † field-bishop, transl. Fr. évêque des champs, one who is hanged in chains; field block, blocking Surg., a technique in which an anæsthetic solution is injected so as to create a zone of anæsthesia around the operative field and block the passage of nerve impulses; field boot, a knee-high military boot, usu. laced from the foot to mid-calf; † field-breadth, -brode, a short distance; field-cannon = field piece; field-carriage, the carriage for a field-gun, its ammunition, etc.; field-club, an association for the study of Natural History by outdoor observation; field-colours (Mil.), small flags for marking out the ground for the squadrons and battalions; also the colours used by an army when in the field (cf. camp colours); field-cornet, ‘the magistrate of a township in the Cape colony’ (Simmonds, 1858); whence field-cornetcy, the territory under the jurisdiction of a field-cornet; field-culverin, a culverin for use in the field of battle (cf. field-piece); † field-deputy, a representative attached to an army in the field; field-derrick (see quot.); † field-devil, used by Coverdale, after Ger. feldteufel (Luther), as transl. of Heb. sə‭ﻋīrīm (A.V. ‘satyrs’); field-dressing, appliances for dressing a wound in the field; field-driver (see quots.); field-effect transistor, a semiconductor device in which the majority carriers flow along a channel whose effective resistance is controlled by a transverse electric field produced by a reverse bias applied to a gate region surrounding the channel, the gate and the channel being of opposite conductivity types; field emission, the emission of electrons from the surface of a conductor under the influence of a strong electrostatic field as a result of the tunnel effect; hence field emission microscope, a device which utilizes this effect to produce an enlarged image of the emitting surface on a fluorescent screen; field equation [field n. 17], one of a series of equations established by Maxwell (1865) and Einstein (1950) which describe conditions existing within electromagnetic and gravitational fields respectively; field events, certain athletic events (see quots.), as distinguished from events on the running-track; † field-fight, a fight in the open, a pitched battle; field-fleck, ? nonce-wd., a ‘spot’ of land; field-folk, agricultural workers; † field-foot, ? the right foot (of a hawk); field-fort (see quot.); field-fortification, the constructing of field-works; also concr. a fieldwork; field-geologist, a geologist who studies by observation in the field; field goal esp. N. Amer. and Austral., (a) in Football, a goal scored from the field of play; (b) in Basketball, a goal scored while the ball is in play; (c) in other games; field-grey [tr. G. feldgrau], the regulation colour of the uniform of a German infantryman; field-gun = field-piece; whence field-gunner; field-hand, (a) a slave who works on a plantation; (b) a farm-labourer; field-hospital, (a) a moving hospital; an ambulance; (b) a temporary hospital erected near a field of battle; field-ice, ice that floats in large tracts; field ion microscope, a device which works on the same principles as the field emission microscope but which uses ions produced at the surface of the emitter or in the gas near by in place of electrons; † field-keeper, a scarer of birds from cornfields; field-kirk (Antiq.; repr. O.E. feldcirice) a chapel or oratory in the fields; field labourer = field-hand (b); field-lens = field-glass 3; field-lore, knowledge gained from the fields; field-magnet (see quot.); † field-man, one who lives or works in the fields, (a) a field labourer, a peasant, also attrib.; (b) a lover of field sports; † field-mark, a badge or mark for identification in the field; field-master (Hunting), master of the hounds; field-monument Archæol. (see quot. 1954); field-net v., trans. to catch (ground game) with nets in the fields; field-notes, notes made in the field, e.g. by a surveyor, naturalist, etc.; field-park, ‘the spare carriages, reserved supplies of ammunition, tools, etc. for the service of an army in the field’ (Wilhelm Mil. Dict.); field pattern, the way in which the sensitivity or emitted power of a detector or emitter of waves (e.g. a microphone or an aerial) varies with direction; field-piece, a light cannon for use on a field of battle; † field-place, a level place, a plain; cf. fieldy a.; field-plot, (a) a plan of a field or piece of land drawn to a scale; (b) a plot of land; † field-pondage (see quot.); field-practice, ‘military practice in the open field’ (Ogilv.); field-ranger (see quot.); whence, field-ranging vbl. n., attrib. (see quot.); field-reeve (see quots.); field-regulator, -rheostat (see quots.); field-roller, a roller drawn over a ploughed field to crush the clods and level the ground; † field-room, -roomth, open or unobstructed space; also fig.; † field-sconce, a detached earthwork; † field-separation, collect. in Sc. Hist. separatists who attend field-conventicles; field-sequential system Television, a system of colour television in which each of the successive fields composing the picture is of a single primary colour; field-show = field-trial; field-sketching, ‘the art or act of sketching in plan rapidly, while in the field, the natural features of a country’ (Cass.); field spaniel, a spaniel trained to retrieve; a variety of spaniel closely allied to but larger than the cocker; field-sports, outdoor sports, esp. hunting; † field-staff (see quots.); field strength, the intensity of an electric, magnetic, or other field; field system (see quot. 1915); cf. open field; † field-teacher, an instructor in military exercises; field-telegraph, one used in military operations; field-test v. trans., to test in the field (sense 15 c); field tile, a tile used in the construction of a field-drain; field train (see quots.); field-trial, a trial in the open field, esp. of hunting-dogs; † field-ware, produce of the fields; the crops; field-whore, a ‘very common whore’ (Halliwell); field-wife, (a) nonce-wd. (see quot. and Gen. xxxiv. 1, 2); (b) = next; field-woman, a woman who works in the fields; cf. field-man; † field-word, a battle-cry, a watch-word. Also, field-conventicle, field-day, field-marshal, etc.

1833 Penny Cycl. I. 13/1 *Field-Abbots..were secular persons, upon whom the sovereign had bestowed certain abbeys, for which they were obliged to render military service.

1853 Stocqueler Milit. Encycl., Certain extra allowances are granted to them [officers], according to their several ranks, and these are denominated *field allowances.

1644 Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 123 Two pieces of *field-artillery upon carriages. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. III. 308 The broad distinction between the field-artillery and the garrison-artillery.

1771 Maskelyne in Phil. Trans. LXI. 538 Let ENWS..represent the *field-bar of the telescope.

1825 J. Neal Bro. Jonathan III. 42 A loose broken irregular line of ditch and parapet-*field batteries. 1834 J. S. Macaulay Treat. Field Fortif. vi. 113 A field battery consists of a parapet pierced with embrasures, with epaulments on the flanks, and traverses..to cover the guns from enfilade fire. Ibid., The artillery accompanying an army in the field are divided into batteries, also called field-batteries. 1875 tr. Comte de Paris' Hist. Civ. War Amer. I. 450 Several field-batteries erected in the vicinity of the arsenal.

1697 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) IV. 255 On Wensday next will be..a *feild battle.

1382 Wyclif Num. xxxii. 26 Oure..*feeldbeestis, and howsbeestis we shulen leeue. 1660 R. Coke Power & Subj. 185 A freeman who hath Field-beasts valued at thirty pence, shall pay a Peter-peny.

1708 Motteux Rabelais, Pantag. Prognost. v, One of those Worthy Persons will go nigh to be made a *Field-Bishop, and, mounted on a Horse that was foal'd of an Acorn, give the Passengers a Blessing with his Legs.

1932 C. L. Hewer Rec. Adv. Anæsthesia x. 102 Infiltration analgesia, or *field block, where the nerve endings are blocked at or near the site of operation. 1937 Ibid. (ed. 2) xii. 134 *Field blocking consists in creating walls of analgesia encircling the operative field. 1963 D. E. Hale Anesthesiol. (ed. 2) xiv. 431/1 Some procedures may be done under either local or field block, and in practice, they are often combined.

1905 E. J. C. Swaysland Boot & Shoe Design & Manuf. vii. 120 The *field boot..may be fitted by several methods; they have usually a short strap down the front, reaching to the top edge of the tongue, and a back strip covering the back seam. 1926 T. E. Lawrence Seven Pillars viii. xciii. 493 Dawnay..was our best card, with his proved military reputation, exquisite field-boots, and air of well⁓dressed science. 1938 Auden & Isherwood On Frontier 41 ‘If you're foolish enough,’ they declare, ‘to resist, You shall feel the full weight of fieldboot and fist.’ 1969 R. T. Wilcox Dict. Costume 37 (caption) Leather field boot—English—1940's.

1535 Coverdale 2 Kings v. 19 He was gone from him a *felde bredth in the londe.

― Gen. xxxv. 16 Whan he was yet a *felde brode from Ephrath.

1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. V. xix. v. 505 With only *field-cannon.

1871 (title), Transactions of the Newbury District *Field Club. 1875 G. C. Davies (title), Rambles and Adventures of our School Field-Club.

1721 Bailey, *Field colours.

1812 A. Plumtre Lichtenstein's Trav. I. 67 *Field-cornet..a magistrate who decides in the first instance little disputes that arise among the colonists. 1863 W. C. Baldwin Afr. Hunting 231, I was asked by a field-cornet what I had in my wagon.

1890 Pall Mall G. 20 Jan. 2/1 Her [the Dutch housewife's] brandy liqueur is the praise of the county—or rather the ‘*field-cornetcy.’

1684 J. Peter Siege Vienna 109 Long *Field-Culverin.

1706 Lond. Gaz. No. 4280 Messieurs Van Collen and Cuper, two of their High Mightinesses *Field-Deputies.

1874 Knight Dict. Mech. I. 838/2 *Field-derrick, one used for stacking hay in the field.

1535 Coverdale 2 Chron. xi. 15 He founded prestes to y⊇ hye places, & to *feldedeuels.

1884 Syd. Soc. Lex., *Field-dressing.

1826 Cushing Newburyport 119 *Field Drivers, Moses Somerby, Charles Toppan. 1835 Municip. Corp. 1st Rep. App. iv. 2109 The Field Drivers [of Bedford] perform the duties of a hayward. 1860 Bartlett Americanisms, Field-driver, a civil officer, whose duty it is to take up and impound swine, cattle, sheep, horses, etc. going at large in the public highways [etc.]. 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. II. ii. xlviii. 229 Hog reeves (now usually called field drivers).

1953 Dacey & Ross in Proc. Inst. Radio Engin. XLI. 970 (heading) Unipolar ‘*field⁓effect’ transistor. Ibid., The ‘field-effect’ transistor was first proposed by W. Shockley. 1955 ― in Bell Syst. Techn. Jrnl. XXXIV. 1150 In essence, a field-effect transistor can be regarded as a structure containing a semi-conducting current path, the conductivity of which is modulated by the application of a transverse electric field. 1970 J. Earl Tuners & Amplifiers ii. 33 Trend is towards field effect transistors in the f.m. front-end.

1928 Proc. R. Soc. A. CXIX. 173 As the higher temperatures, at which ordinary thermionic emission begins, are approached, the strong *field emission does become sensitive to temperature and finally blends into the thermionic. 1951 Bell Syst. Techn. Jrnl. Oct. 910 (heading) Description of field emission microscope tube. 1965 New Scientist 17 June 781/1 Field-emission diodes could prove very useful at microwave frequencies if they were placed in a superconducting cavity. 1965 Phillips & Williams Inorg. Chem. I. x. 374 In recent years the use of the Field Emission microscope and the Field Ion microscope has shown that diffusion at the surface of metals is considerable at temperatures as low as 0·2Tm.

1922 E. P. Adams tr. Einstein's Meaning Relativity 52 Repeated application of the *field equations. 1923 J. Rice Relativity iv. 95 So strong, however, was the impulse towards making the field equations as alike as possible for all observers..that these values for the moving observer were not regarded with any great favour. 1924 H. L. Brose tr. M. Born's Einstein's Theory Relativity v. 154 Maxwell's ‘field equations’, as they are called, constitute a true theory of contiguous action or action by contact, for..they give a finite velocity of propagation for electro⁓magnetic forces. 1955 W. Pauli Niels Bohr 34 We assume..for the sake of simplicity the local character of the field equation, which means that all field quantities are spinors or tensors of finite rank. 1959 Listener 27 Aug. 320/3 The steady-state cosmological theory..modifies Einstein's field equations.

1899 Windsor Mag. IX. 243/1 Irishmen..have established a monopoly in what are described as *field events of late years. 1912 E. H. Ryle Athletics 19 ‘Field events’ (i.e., long-, high- and pole-jumping, weight-putting, hammer- and discus-throwing, and hurdling). 1950 Oxf. Jun. Encycl. IX. 35/1 Field Events... This department of athletic sports includes the Long and High Jumps, the Hop, Step, and Jump, Pole Vaulting, Putting the Weight, and Throwing the Discus, the Javelin, and the Hammer. 1955 R. Bannister First Four Minutes v. 60 To raise the standard of British athletic achievement, particularly in field events.

1600 Holland Livy 129 Rather a competent guard for defence of the campe, then a sufficient power to maintain a *field-fight. 1653 H. More Antid. Ath. iii. xii. (1712) 124 Field-fights and sea-fights seen in the Air.

1892 J. Barlow Irish Idylls iii. 32 A meagre *field-fleck and a ramshackle shanty on the hill's wan grey slope.

1886 W. Morris tr. æneids vii. 204 Calling to aid the hardy hearts of *field-folk there⁓about. 1891 Hardy Tess II. xxxii. 149 The fatalistic convictions common to field-folk and those who associate more extensively with natural phenomena than with their fellow-creatures.

1681 Lond. Gaz. No. 1610/4 Lost..a Tarsell Gentle with..the hind Pounce of the *Field-Foot lost.

1775 Ash, *Field-fort, a fort towards the field; a fort thrown up in a field.

1851 J. S. Macaulay Field Fortification 6 Those..only wanted for periods not exceeding one or two campaigns..are termed *Field Fortifications.

1902 Chicago Record-Herald 28 Sept. 2/3 A try for a *field goal was made, but..the kick was easily blocked. 1906 Off. Bk. Rules Govt. Game of Basketball 1906–1907 13 Flint..has tallied the most field goals. 1947 Redbook Oct. 56/3 No man with a bum leg could kick a field goal from the 37-yard line with the wind against him. 1961 J. S. Salak Dict. Amer. Sports 158 Field goal (basketball), a basket scored from the floor; has a value of two points. Field goal (bowling), on a two split, to send the ball between the pins hitting neither of them. Field goal (football), placekicking or dropkicking ball between uprights and over opponent's cross-bar from scrimmage without touching ground or teammate. Three points. 1969 Eugene (Oreg.) Register-Guard 3 Dec. 1D/6 Shooting: Field goals, 45.3%. 1969 Sun-Herald (Sydney) 13 July 36/2 Williams was set up for a field goal on the fourth tackle but his kick was wide and the ball went dead. 1970 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 28 Sept. 18/2 Ivan MacMillan converted both Oldham touchdowns and added a 12-yard single on a wide field goal attempt. 1970 Washington Post 30 Sept. D4/3 Shugars..has directed the team to just three touchdowns and a field goal.

1915 Sphere 17 Apr. 59/2 The men in *field grey tramped past him towards the Aisne. 1929 W. F. Morris (title) Bretherton, khaki or field-grey?

1828 J. M. Spearman Brit. Gunner 179 The detachments for the service of heavy ordnance are told off and numbered in precisely the same manner as for *field-guns. 1907 Westm. Gaz. 16 May 7/2 The men of the ‘Victory’..give field-gun displays.

1826 Deb. Congress U.S. 25 June (1832) 3758/2 The price of labor, *fields [sic] hands, from eighty to one hundred and twenty dollars per annum and found. 1835 J. H. Ingraham South-West II. 254 The third and lowest class consists of those slaves who are termed ‘field⁓hands’. 1845 F. Douglass Life (1846) 58, I was now for the first time in my life a field hand. 1856 Olmsted Slave States 46 Able-bodied field-hands were hired out..at the rate of one hundred dollars a year. 1879 Froude Cæsar ix. 91 These slaves were not ignorant field hands.

1701 Lond. Gaz. No. 3713/3 Their *Field-Hospital is arrived here. 1869 E. A. Parkes Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3) 635 Movable field hospitals..to be made of tents.

1796 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 13 The *field-ice is of two or three fathoms thickness. 1875 Bedford Sailor's Pocket-bk. iv. (ed. 2) 118 The limits of field-ice in March extend from Newfoundland to the Southward as far as 42° N. latitude.

1952 Sci. Abstr. A. Mar. 216/1 (heading) The *field ion microscope. 1967 New Scientist 20 July 134/1 The importance of the field⁓ion microscope lies in its ability to depict the positions and arrangement of the individual atoms of a solid surface.

1620 Markham Farew. Husb. (1625) 95 If your *Field-keeper..doe vse to shoot off a Musket, or Harquebush, the report thereof will appeare more terrible to these enemies of corne. 1772 T. Simpson Vermin Killer 19 Field-keepers are necessary just before the corn is ripe.

a 1035 Laws Cnut, Eccl. ix. iii. (Thorpe), *Feld-cirice, þær leᵹer-stow ne siᵹ, mid þrittiᵹum scillingum. 1857 Mrs. Gaskell C. Brontë (1860) 4 It is probable that there existed on this ground a field-kirk..in the earliest times.

1853 Mrs. Stowe Key to Uncle Tom's C. 17/1 We ask..whether this does not show that this poor *field-labourer had..a true mother's heart? 1860 J. S. C. Abbott South & North 279 A little handful of slaveholders may be exempted from paying wages to..their field-laborers.

1837 Goring & Pritchard Microgr. 207 The said slider-holder, with its *field-lens.

1883 Phil. Mag. XVI. 144 The intensity of a powerful magnetic field, such as that in the space in which the armature-coils of a dynamo move between the poles of the *field-magnets. 1891 S. P. Thompson Dynamo-El. Mach. (ed. 4) 2 Every dynamo..consists of two essential parts, a field-magnet, usually a massive stationary structure of iron surrounded by coils of insulated copper wire, and an armature..The function of the field-magnet is to provide a magnetic field of great extent and intensity.

c 1440 Secrees 154 Wylde letus þat *feldmen clepyn skarioles. 14.. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 692 Hec rustica, a feldman wyfe. c 1475 Babees Bk. (1868) 7 Kutte nouhte youre mete eke as it were Felde men. c 1575 Balfour's Practicks (1754) 536 Feild-men quha has mair nor four ky. 1811 Sir P. Warwick in Hone Every-day Bk. II. 146 He was..a laborious hunter, or field⁓man.

1689–90 Proc. agst. French in Select. Harl. Misc. (1793) 478 A detachment..landed..the *field-mark being matches about their left arms. 1680 Lond. Gaz. No. 1525/4 A brown bay Gelding..a Field mark of Tar on the Hip.

1893 Daily Tel. 14 Nov. 5/5 Lord Robert Manners..was acting as *field⁓master.

1937 Proc. Prehist. Soc. III. 266 The care of *field-monuments in the Free State is entrusted to the Office of Public Works. 1954 S. Piggott Neolithic Cultures ii. 17 The field monuments of the culture fall into three classes,..earthwork enclosures..flint mines..long barrows.

1890 J. Watson Confess. Poacher v. 62 In *field-netting rabbits, lurchers are equally quick.

1786 Washington Diaries (1925) III. 84 His assistant who had his *field notes..had not returned. 1806 Deb. 9th Congr. U.S. 2nd Sess. 1002 He was retained as a necessary assistant to the principal surveyor in copying field notes. 1841 C. Cist Cincinnati 152 From these field-notes, the plats, or maps..are prepared. 1849 President's Message Congress ii. 572 United States geological survey of public lands in Michigan—Field notes. 1958 Bannerman Birds Brit. Isles VII. 210 There have been no recent field-notes published on this species. 1961 Amer. Speech XXXVI. 201 Numerous allophonic variations, the accurate transmission of which from informant to fieldworker to field notes..produces certain problems in communication.

1875 G. P. Colley in Encycl. Brit. II. 579/2 All tools and implements for a company of engineers, and a ‘*field-park’.

1936 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XL. 191 The radiated field pattern should therefore remain constant from day to day. There was no evidence whatsoever that atmospheric conditions had any effect on the *field patterns. 1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio 265 Polar characteristic, polar diagram (Am.: field pattern), the response of a microphone, loudspeaker, etc., showing sensitivity (or volume of sound) in relation to direction.

1590 J. Smythe Concern. Weapons 35 And the next day he entered the towne and brought in foure and twentie *field peeces. 1863 Kinglake Crimea (1876) I. xiv. 276 A couple of field-pieces stood pointed towards the barricade. 1382 Wyclif Luke vi. 17 Jhesu..stood in a *feeld place.

1659 Burton's Diary (1828) IV. 470 All original maps, *field-plots, and field books. 1884 Mag. Art Mar. 215/2 The velvety green of spring-watered field-plots.

1612 Sturtevant Metallica (1854) 96 *Field-pondage, is a kind of Pipeage, which..conueigheth..water into seuerall pastures..and fields, and..leaueth a pond of water for cattle and beasts to drink in.

1885 Pall Mall G. 17 June 6/1 ‘*Field Rangers’ is a term applied to ‘speculative builders’ of the lowest class.

1892 Labour Commission Gloss., *Field-ranging Houses, hastily and badly built structures erected on the outskirts of all large towns and cities by ‘jerry-builders’.

1617 Nottingham Rec. IV. 354 Ouerseers of the feild or *Field Reeues. 1881 2nd Suppl. Cumbrld. Gloss., Field Reeve, a person having charge of a stinted pasture belonging to different owners.

1919 W. H. Marchant Wireless Telegr. (ed. 2) 297 *Field Regulator. A variable resistance forming part of the field circuit of a motor or a dynamo. 1924 Harmsworth's Wireless Encycl. 918/2 A field regulator is a device for varying the strength of the field magnets in a dynamo or electric motor. Ibid. 919/1 From the wireless point of view, the chief use of field regulators is to provide a convenient means for regulating the charging rate of a dynamo used to recharge accumulators.

1910 Hawkins' Electr. Dict., *Field Rheostat, an adjustable resistance used to vary the strength of the magnetic field of a shunt wound dynamo or motor. 1943 Gloss. Terms Electr. Engin. (B.S.I.) 55 Field rheostat (field regulator), a rheostat arranged for varying, at will, the current in the field winding of a machine.

1607 Rowlands Famous Hist. 48 We will not make our prison in this place, As long as there is *field-room to be got. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. xii. 204 Falling backe where they Might field-roomth find at large, their ensignes to display. 1672 Dryden Conq. Granada iv. i, Which Hearts, for want of Field-room, cannot bear. 1673 ― Marr. a-la-mode ii. i, It is tolerable when a man has field-room to run from it.

1950 Sci. Amer. Dec. 14/2 The ‘*field-sequential’ system developed by the engineers of the Columbia Broadcasting System is perhaps the simplest of the three. 1957 Encycl. Brit. XXI. 912N/2 Presenting the colours in such rapid succession to the eye that persistence of vision merges them into a single sense impression. The last method is employed in the field-sequential system.

1688 Capt. J. S. Fortification 123 *Field-Skonces, and others Forts with Ramparts.

1680 G. Hickes Spirit of Popery Pref. 1 Scottish-Nonconformists, especially those of the *Field-Separation.

1851 J. S. Macaulay Field Fortif. 245 It is presumed that the beginner in *field-sketching has already learned to copy plans.

1867 ‘Stonehenge’ Dogs Brit. Isl. 36 *Field Spaniels... The heavy, large-eared, well⁓feathered, short-legged ‘field-spaniels’, have been known for years as ‘springers’. 1897 Encycl. Sport I. 319/2 There are four varieties of field spaniels,..the Clumber, the Sussex, the Black, and the any-other-colour. 1960 Times 2 Jan. 9/3 Two varieties now much in a minority are the Sussex and field spaniels.

1674 Essex Papers (Camden) I. 210 *Field sports, of w{supc}{suph} I have ever bin a Lover. 1814 Scott Wav. iv, Field-sports..the chief pleasure of his own youthful days.

1721 Bailey, *Field staff, a Staff carried by Gunners, in which they skrew lighted Matches. 1847 Craig, Field-staff, a weapon carried by gunners, about the length of a halberd, with a spear at the end, having on each side ears screwed on, like the cock of a matchlock, where lighted matches are contained when the gunners are on command.

1896 D. C. & J. P. Jackson Alternating Currents xiv. 574 If the *field strength of a motor is so adjusted that the values of the impressed and counter pressures are equal..then when the motor is switched on..it will fall back in phase with respect to the impressed pressure, sufficiently to permit the proper load current to pass through the armature. 1946 Nature 7 Sept. 332/2 If the field-strength inside the dielectric exceeds a critical value, the insulation breaks down. 1962 F. I. Ordway et al. Basic Astronautics iv. 164 Sunspot field strengths up to several thousand gauss have been observed.

1915 H. L. Gray Eng. Field Syst. 3 The term ‘*field system’ signifies the manner in which the inhabitants of a township subdivided and tilled their arable, meadow, and pasture land. 1935 Proc. Prehist. Soc. I. 10 The archaeological investigation of ancient field-systems. 1962 H. R. Loyn Anglo-Saxon England i. 18 The agrarian inheritance in the shape of methods and field-systems was far from negligible from Roman villa to Saxon village.

1623 Bingham Compar. Rom. & Mod. Warres X ij b, Where are our *Field-teachers? Where is our daily meditation of Armes?

1874 Knight Dict. Mech. I. 839/1 The *field-telegraph of the German army consists of [etc.]. 1875 G. P. Colley in Encycl. Brit. II. 597/2 The field telegraph detachments..are trained in peace time to everything connected with telegraphy.

1950 in Amer. Speech (1956) XXXI. 210 The results were *field tested in the Yukon. 1961 Times 15 Aug. 13/5 At present N.C.R. are field-testing their prototype scanner at a chain store. 1970 Computers & Humanities IV. 323 To field⁓test and perfect the DOVACK Model for effectiveness, adaptability, and economic feasibility.

1958 J. S. Scott Dict. Civil Engin. 138 *Field tile. 1965 G. J. Williams Econ. Geol. N.Z. xx. 364/2 Similar deposits [of clay]..are used for making bricks, field-tiles and refractories at Kamo.

1816 C. James Milit. Dict. s.v. Train, *Field-train, a body of men consisting chiefly of commissaries and conductors of stores, which belong to the Royal Artillery. 1864 Burton Scot Abr. I. iv. 156 A field-train of unusual strength for those times.

1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 75 *Feelde ware might sinke or swym. 1750 Ellis Mod. Husbandm. ii. ii. 136 The farmer's corn, and other of his field ware.

c 1475 Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 794 Hec rustica, a *fyld⁓wyfe. 1591 H. Smith Prep. Marriage 35 Not a street-wife, like Thamar, nor a field-wife, like Dinah; but a house-wife.

1891 T. Hardy Tess I. 171 A field-man is a personality afield; a *field-woman is a portion of the field.

1645 in Rushw. Hist. Coll. (1701) iv. I. 42 The *Field-word for the King was Queen Mary: For the Parliament God our Strength. a 1693 Urquhart Rabelais iii. x. 83 Apollo was the Field-word in the..Day of that Fight.

    
    

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     Add: [IV.] [21.] field general N. Amer. Football colloq. = quarterback n. 2 a.

1926 Time 6 Dec. 38/3 Caulkins of Princeton, whom Roper has called the best *field general he ever developed. 1943 Esquire Nov. 69/1 First of all there was Albert, a superb ball-handler, a magician with the ball, and a gifted field general. 1969 Bengtson & Hunt Packer Dynasty ii. 14 The word went out that the Packers were looking for a field general.

    
    

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     ▸ field hockey n. chiefly N. Amer. = hockey n.² 1a; contrasted with ice hockey.

1895 Milwaukee Sentinel 13 Jan. 13/7 *Field hockey is less common and is a slightly different game... It is much easier than ice hockey, because anyone can run after the puck; whereas it takes skill to skate after it and maintain a balance while you swing your stick to hit it. 1958 Times 2 Apr. 4/2 Field hockey they call the game at home, to differentiate from a more popular pastime. 2006 A. Robbins Overachievers vi. 145 College Park, where the field hockey team was playing in the state championship game.

▪ II. field, v.
    (fiːld)
    [f. prec. n.]
    1. intr. To go into the field (see field n. 2); of a pigeon: To obtain its food from the field.

1868 Darwin Anim. & Pl. II. 32 Highly improved breeds of the pigeon will not ‘field’ or search for their own food.

    2. trans. a. To leave (corn) in the field to harden. b. transf. To expose (malt-wash or gyle in casks) to the action of the air and sun to promote oxidation.

1844 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. V. i. 267 [The oats] after being well fielded, were thrashed immediately.

    † 3. a. intr. To ‘take the field’ (see field n. 7); to fight. b. trans. To fight with. Obs.

1529 Lyndesay Compl. 355 And feildit vther, in land and burgh. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 598 How King Malcolme and the Danis feildit agane. 1536 Bellenden Cron. Scot. (1821) I. 135 It was defendit..to feild the Romanis with plane battall. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. vi. 29 Who, soone prepard to field, his sword forth drew.

    4. intr. To bet on the field (see field n. 10 a) against the favourite.

1886 Daily News 4 June 3/3 A marked disposition to ‘field’ on the Grand Prize of Paris. 1890 Ibid. 19 June 6/1 The professionals fielded staunchly.

    5. a. intr. To act as fielder in base-ball, cricket, etc. b. trans. To stop and return (the ball).

1823 Lady's Mag. July 390/2 How well we fielded! 1824 Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 41 Batting, bowling, and fielding, as if for life. 1833 J. Nyren Young Cricketer's Tutor 48 The fieldsman..should not wait and let the ball come to him, but dash in to meet it, fielding it with his right hand. 1880 Sir S. Lakeman What I saw in Kaffir-Land 57 They fielded for the cannon-shot..as though they were cricket-balls. 1883 Daily Tel. 21 Aug., The ball being sharply fielded at cover-point. Mod. Well fielded, Sir!

    c. to field out: to be or remain in the field as a fieldsman or as the fielding side.

1888 R. H. Lyttelton in Steel & Lyttelton Cricket vi. 280 An eleven that is really A1 in fielding very rarely has to field out for 300 runs. 1921 P. F. Warner My Cricketing Life xii. 225 He hated fielding, and had no wish to field out the whole summer! 1944 Blunden Cricket Country 11 Someone was bowling, someone batting, the rest fielding out.

    d. fig. To deal with (a succession of items), ‘catch’, ‘pick up’.

1902 Daily Chron. 2 Sept. 3/1, I would get an agile and hard-skinned man to field the novels as they come. 1908 Ibid. 20 Apr. 4/6 From Good Friday to the following Tuesday, if you stay in London, you have to field splashes of paint and skirt ladders. 1909 Ibid. 18 Nov. 4/6 The Correctors of the Press are demanding the proper consideration of men who field the mistakes of careless writers. 1969 Morning Star 11 Oct. 5/7 A man who has just emerged from two years in solitary confinement cannot be expected to field rapid fire questions from the Press.

    6. trans. Games. To select (a team or an individual) to play; to put into the field.

1922 Daily Mail 1 Dec. 11 The F.A. played four professionals in the defence, but fielded an amateur forward line. Ibid. 6 Dec. 12 North Midlands hope to field a powerful fifteen in to-day's match v. Warwickshire. 1925 Times 12 June 7/1 It would have been rather futile to field the remnants of the M.C.C.'s Australian team when its leading batsmen..were not available. 1927 Morn. Post 24 Oct. 13/3 The Oxford side fielded against the United Services was a more workmanlike lot. 1948 Evening Standard 28 Apr., The Australians are fielding their strongest team. 1955 Times 3 Aug. 3/7 Even more significantly, the British side fielded an unfit hooker. 1962 Listener 11 Oct. 586/1 The Swedes fielded a new pair in the first half [of a bridge championship].

Oxford English Dictionary