field

See also Field

English

Etymology

From Middle English field, feeld, feld, from Old English feld (“field; open or cultivated land, plain; battlefield”), from Proto-Germanic *felþuz, *felþaz, *felþą (“field”), from Proto-Indo-European *pelh₂- (“field, plain”). 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.

Pronunciation

Noun

field (plural fields)

  1. A land area free of woodland, cities, and towns; open country.
    There are several species of wild flowers growing in this field.
  2. A wide, open space that is usually used to grow crops or to hold farm animals.
    There were some cows grazing in a field.
    A crop circle was made in a corn field.
  3. The open country near or belonging to a city -- usually used in plural.
  4. A physical phenomenon, such as force, potential, or fluid velocity, that pervades a region.
    magnetic field
  5. A course of study or domain of knowledge or practice.
    • 2013 May 10, Audrey Garric, “Urban canopies let nature bloom”, The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 22, page 30: 
      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.
    He was an expert in the field of Chinese history.
  6. An area that can be seen at a given time.
  7. A place where a battle is fought; a battlefield.
  8. An area reserved for playing a game.
    soccer field
    Substitutes are only allowed onto the field after their boots are checked.
  9. A realm of practical, direct, or natural operation, contrasting 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.
  10. (algebra) A set having two operations called addition and multiplication under both of which all the elements of the set are commutative and associative; for which multiplication distributes over addition; and for both of which there exist an identity element and an inverse element (except for the additive identity).
    The set of rational numbers, \mathbb{Q}, is the prototypical field.
  11. (geology) A region containing a particular mineral.
    oil field; gold field
  12. (heraldry) The background of the shield
  13. (computing) An area of memory or storage reserved for a particular value.
  14. A component of a database record in which a single unit of information is stored.
  15. A physical or virtual location for the input of information in the form of characters.
    The form has fields for each element of the customer's home address and ship-to address.
  16. (baseball, obsolete) The team in a match who is throwing the ball and trying to catch the ball hit by the other team (the bat).

Synonyms

Hypernyms

Hyponyms

Derived terms

terms derived from field (noun)

Translations

land area free of woodland, cities, and towns; open country
wide, open space used to grow crops or to hold farm animals
place where a battle is fought
physics: region affected by a particular force
course of study or domain of knowledge or practice
in mathematics
sports: area reserved for playing a game
geology: region containing a particular mineral
heraldry: background of the shield
computing: area of memory or storage reserved for a particular value
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

field (third-person singular simple present fields, present participle fielding, simple past and past participle fielded)

  1. (transitive, sports) To intercept or catch (a ball) and play it.
  2. (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 in (a game).
    • 2012 August 23, Alasdair Lamont, “Hearts 0-1 Liverpool”, BBC Sport:
      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.
    The away team fielded two new players and the second-choice goalkeeper.
  4. (transitive) To answer; to address.
    She will field questions immediately after her presentation.

Synonyms

Antonyms

  • (be the team throwing and catching the ball): bat

Translations

intercept or catch
to be the team catching and throwing the ball
place a team
to answer; to address
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

See also

Statistics

Anagrams

References

  • [1] - Etymology of "field"
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Last modified on 21 May 2013, at 15:56