field
from
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
field
n 1: a piece of land cleared of trees and usually enclosed; "he
planted a field of wheat"
2: a region where a battle is being (or has been) fought; "they
made a tour of Civil War battlefields" [syn: {battlefield},
{battleground}, {field of battle}, {field of honor}, {field}]
3: somewhere (away from a studio or office or library or
laboratory) where practical work is done or data is
collected; "anthropologists do much of their work in the
field"
4: a branch of knowledge; "in what discipline is his
doctorate?"; "teachers should be well trained in their
subject"; "anthropology is the study of human beings" [syn:
{discipline}, {subject}, {subject area}, {subject field},
{field}, {field of study}, {study}, {bailiwick}]
5: the space around a radiating body within which its
electromagnetic oscillations can exert force on another
similar body not in contact with it [syn: {field}, {field of
force}, {force field}]
6: a particular kind of commercial enterprise; "they are
outstanding in their field" [syn: {field}, {field of
operation}, {line of business}]
7: a particular environment or walk of life; "his social sphere
is limited"; "it was a closed area of employment"; "he's out
of my orbit" [syn: {sphere}, {domain}, {area}, {orbit},
{field}, {arena}]
8: a piece of land prepared for playing a game; "the home crowd
cheered when Princeton took the field" [syn: {playing field},
{athletic field}, {playing area}, {field}]
9: extensive tract of level open land; "they emerged from the
woods onto a vast open plain"; "he longed for the fields of
his youth" [syn: {plain}, {field}, {champaign}]
10: (mathematics) a set of elements such that addition and
multiplication are commutative and associative and
multiplication is distributive over addition and there are
two elements 0 and 1; "the set of all rational numbers is a
field"
11: a region in which active military operations are in
progress; "the army was in the field awaiting action"; "he
served in the Vietnam theater for three years" [syn:
{field}, {field of operations}, {theater}, {theater of
operations}, {theatre}, {theatre of operations}]
12: all of the horses in a particular horse race
13: all the competitors in a particular contest or sporting
event
14: a geographic region (land or sea) under which something
valuable is found; "the diamond fields of South Africa"
15: (computer science) a set of one or more adjacent characters
comprising a unit of information
16: the area that is visible (as through an optical instrument)
[syn: {field}, {field of view}]
17: a place where planes take off and land [syn: {airfield},
{landing field}, {flying field}, {field}]
v 1: catch or pick up (balls) in baseball or cricket
2: play as a fielder
3: answer adequately or successfully; "The lawyer fielded all
questions from the press"
4: select (a team or individual player) for a game; "The
Buckeyes fielded a young new quarterback for the Rose Bowl"
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Gun \Gun\ (g[u^]n), n. [OE. gonne, gunne; of uncertain origin;
cf. Ir., Gael., & LL. gunna, W. gum; possibly (like cannon)
fr. L. canna reed, tube; or abbreviated fr. OF. mangonnel, E.
mangonel, a machine for hurling stones.]
1. A weapon which throws or propels a missile to a distance;
any firearm or instrument for throwing projectiles,
consisting of a tube or barrel closed at one end, in which
the projectile is placed, with an explosive charge (such
as guncotton or gunpowder) behind, which is ignited by
various means. Pistols, rifles, carbines, muskets, and
fowling pieces are smaller guns, for hand use, and are
called {small arms}. Larger guns are called {cannon},
{ordnance}, {fieldpieces}, {carronades}, {howitzers}, etc.
See these terms in the Vocabulary.
[1913 Webster]
As swift as a pellet out of a gunne
When fire is in the powder runne. --Chaucer.
[1913 Webster]
The word gun was in use in England for an engine to
cast a thing from a man long before there was any
gunpowder found out. --Selden.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Mil.) A piece of heavy ordnance; in a restricted sense, a
cannon.
[1913 Webster]
3. pl. (Naut.) Violent blasts of wind.
[1913 Webster]
Note: Guns are classified, according to their construction or
manner of loading as {rifled} or {smoothbore},
{breech-loading} or {muzzle-loading}, {cast} or
{built-up guns}; or according to their use, as {field},
{mountain}, {prairie}, {seacoast}, and {siege guns}.
[1913 Webster]
{Armstrong gun}, a wrought iron breech-loading cannon named
after its English inventor, Sir William Armstrong.
{Big gun} or {Great gun}, a piece of heavy ordnance; hence
(Fig.), a person superior in any way; as, bring in the big
guns to tackle the problem.
{Gun barrel}, the barrel or tube of a gun.
{Gun carriage}, the carriage on which a gun is mounted or
moved.
{Gun cotton} (Chem.), a general name for a series of
explosive nitric ethers of cellulose, obtained by steeping
cotton in nitric and sulphuric acids. Although there are
formed substances containing nitric acid radicals, yet the
results exactly resemble ordinary cotton in appearance. It
burns without ash, with explosion if confined, but quietly
and harmlessly if free and open, and in small quantity.
Specifically, the lower nitrates of cellulose which are
insoluble in ether and alcohol in distinction from the
highest (pyroxylin) which is soluble. See {Pyroxylin}, and
cf. {Xyloidin}. The gun cottons are used for blasting and
somewhat in gunnery: for making celluloid when compounded
with camphor; and the soluble variety (pyroxylin) for
making collodion. See {Celluloid}, and {Collodion}. Gun
cotton is frequenty but improperly called
{nitrocellulose}. It is not a nitro compound, but an ester
of nitric acid.
{Gun deck}. See under {Deck}.
{Gun fire}, the time at which the morning or the evening gun
is fired.
{Gun metal}, a bronze, ordinarily composed of nine parts of
copper and one of tin, used for cannon, etc. The name is
also given to certain strong mixtures of cast iron.
{Gun port} (Naut.), an opening in a ship through which a
cannon's muzzle is run out for firing.
{Gun tackle} (Naut.), the blocks and pulleys affixed to the
side of a ship, by which a gun carriage is run to and from
the gun port.
{Gun tackle purchase} (Naut.), a tackle composed of two
single blocks and a fall. --Totten.
{Krupp gun}, a wrought steel breech-loading cannon, named
after its German inventor, Herr Krupp.
{Machine gun}, a breech-loading gun or a group of such guns,
mounted on a carriage or other holder, and having a
reservoir containing cartridges which are loaded into the
gun or guns and fired in rapid succession. In earlier
models, such as the {Gatling gun}, the cartridges were
loaded by machinery operated by turning a crank. In modern
versions the loading of cartidges is accomplished by
levers operated by the recoil of the explosion driving the
bullet, or by the pressure of gas within the barrel.
Several hundred shots can be fired in a minute by such
weapons, with accurate aim. The {Gatling gun}, {Gardner
gun}, {Hotchkiss gun}, and {Nordenfelt gun}, named for
their inventors, and the French {mitrailleuse}, are
machine guns.
{To blow great guns} (Naut.), to blow a gale. See {Gun}, n.,
3.
[1913 Webster +PJC]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
field \field\ (f[=e]ld), n. [OE. feld, fild, AS. feld; akin to
D. veld, G. feld, Sw. f[aum]lt, Dan. felt, Icel. fold field
of grass, AS. folde earth, land, ground, OS. folda.]
1. Cleared land; land suitable for tillage or pasture;
cultivated ground; the open country.
[1913 Webster]
2. A piece of land of considerable size; esp., a piece
inclosed for tillage or pasture.
[1913 Webster]
Fields which promise corn and wine. --Byron.
[1913 Webster]
3. A place where a battle is fought; also, the battle itself.
[1913 Webster]
In this glorious and well-foughten field. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
What though the field be lost? --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
4. An open space; an extent; an expanse. Esp.:
(a) Any blank space or ground on which figures are drawn
or projected.
(b) The space covered by an optical instrument at one
view; as, wide-field binoculars.
[1913 Webster + PJC]
Without covering, save yon field of stars.
--Shak.
[1913 Webster]
Ask of yonder argent fields above. --Pope.
[1913 Webster]
5. (Her.) The whole surface of an escutcheon; also, so much
of it is shown unconcealed by the different bearings upon
it. See Illust. of {Fess}, where the field is represented
as gules (red), while the fess is argent (silver).
[1913 Webster]
6. An unresticted or favorable opportunity for action,
operation, or achievement; province; room.
[1913 Webster]
Afforded a clear field for moral experiments.
--Macaulay.
[1913 Webster]
7. (Sports) An open, usually flat, piece of land on which a
sports contest is played; a playing field; as, a football
field; a baseball field.
Syn: playing field, athletic field, playing area.
[PJC]
8. Specifically: (Baseball) That part of the grounds reserved
for the players which is outside of the diamond; -- called
also {outfield}.
[1913 Webster]
9. A geographic region (land or sea) which has some notable
feature, activity or valuable resource; as, the diamond
fields of South Africa; an oil field; a gold field; an ice
field.
[WordNet 1.6]
10. A facility having an airstrip where airplanes can take
off and land; an airfield.
Syn: airfield, landing field, flying field, aerodrome.
[WordNet 1.6]
11. A collective term for all the competitors in any outdoor
contest or trial, or for all except the favorites in the
betting.
[1913 Webster]
12. A branch of knowledge or sphere of activity; especially,
a learned or professional discipline; as, she's an expert
in the field of geology; in what field did she get her
doctorate?; they are the top company in the field of
entertainment.
Syn: discipline, subject, subject area, subject field, field
of study, study, branch of knowledge.
[WordNet 1.6]
Note: Within the master text files of this electronic
dictionary, where a word is used in a specific sense in
some specialized field of knowledge, that field is
indicated by the tags: () preceding that sense of the
word.
[PJC]
13. A location, usually outdoors, away from a studio or
office or library or laboratory, where practical work is
done or data is collected; as, anthropologists do much of
their work in the field; the paleontologist is in the
field collecting specimens. Usually used in the phrase
{in the field}.
[WordNet 1.6]
14. (Physics) The influence of a physical object, such as an
electrically charged body, which is capable of exerting
force on objects at a distance; also, the region of space
over which such an influence is effective; as, the
earth's gravitational field; an electrical field; a
magnetic field; a force field.
[PJC]
15. (Math.) A set of elements within which operations can be
defined analagous to the operations of addition,
subtraction, multiplication, and division on the real
numbers; within such a set of elements addition and
multiplication are commutative and associative and
multiplication is distributive over addition and there
are two elements 0 and 1; a commutative division ring;
as, the set of all rational numbers is a field.
[WordNet 1.6]
Note: Field is often used adjectively in the sense of
belonging to, or used in, the fields; especially with
reference to the operations and equipments of an army
during a campaign away from permanent camps and
fortifications. In most cases such use of the word is
sufficiently clear; as, field battery; field
fortification; field gun; field hospital, etc. A field
geologist, naturalist, etc., is one who makes
investigations or collections out of doors. A survey
uses a field book for recording field notes, i.e.,
measurment, observations, etc., made in field work
(outdoor operations). A farmer or planter employs field
hands, and may use a field roller or a field derrick.
Field sports are hunting, fishing, athletic games, etc.
[1913 Webster]
{Coal field} (Geol.) See under {Coal}.
{Field artillery}, light ordnance mounted on wheels, for the
use of a marching army.
{Field basil} (Bot.), a plant of the Mint family ({Calamintha
Acinos}); -- called also {basil thyme}.
{Field colors} (Mil.), small flags for marking out the
positions for squadrons and battalions; camp colors.
{Field cricket} (Zool.), a large European cricket ({Gryllus
campestric}), remarkable for its loud notes.
{Field day}.
(a) A day in the fields.
(b) (Mil.) A day when troops are taken into the field for
instruction in evolutions. --Farrow.
(c) A day of unusual exertion or display; a gala day.
{Field driver}, in New England, an officer charged with the
driving of stray cattle to the pound.
{Field duck} (Zool.), the little bustard ({Otis tetrax}),
found in Southern Europe.
{Field glass}. (Optics)
(a) A binocular telescope of compact form; a lorgnette; a
race glass.
(b) A small achromatic telescope, from 20 to 24 inches
long, and having 3 to 6 draws.
(c) See {Field lens}.
{Field lark}. (Zool.)
(a) The skylark.
(b) The tree pipit.
{Field lens} (Optics), that one of the two lenses forming the
eyepiece of an astronomical telescope or compound
microscope which is nearer the object glass; -- called
also {field glass}.
{Field madder} (Bot.), a plant ({Sherardia arvensis}) used in
dyeing.
{Field marshal} (Mil.), the highest military rank conferred
in the British and other European armies.
{Field officer} (Mil.), an officer above the rank of captain
and below that of general.
{Field officer's court} (U.S.Army), a court-martial
consisting of one field officer empowered to try all
cases, in time of war, subject to jurisdiction of garrison
and regimental courts. --Farrow.
{Field plover} (Zool.), the black-bellied plover ({Charadrius
squatarola}); also sometimes applied to the Bartramian
sandpiper ({Bartramia longicauda}).
{Field spaniel} (Zool.), a small spaniel used in hunting
small game.
{Field sparrow}. (Zool.)
(a) A small American sparrow ({Spizella pusilla}).
(b) The hedge sparrow. [Eng.]
{Field staff} (Mil.), a staff formerly used by gunners to
hold a lighted match for discharging a gun.
{Field vole} (Zool.), the European meadow mouse.
{Field of ice}, a large body of floating ice; a pack.
{Field}, or {Field of view}, in a telescope or microscope,
the entire space within which objects are seen.
{Field magnet}. see under {Magnet}.
{Magnetic field}. See {Magnetic}.
{To back the field}, or {To bet on the field}. See under
{Back}, v. t. -- {To keep the field}.
(a) (Mil.) To continue a campaign.
(b) To maintain one's ground against all comers.
{To lay against the field} or {To back against the field}, to
bet on (a horse, etc.) against all comers.
{To take the field} (Mil.), to enter upon a campaign.
[1913 Webster]
from
Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
Field
(Heb. sadeh), a cultivated field, but unenclosed. It is applied
to any cultivated ground or pasture (Gen. 29:2; 31:4; 34:7), or
tillage (Gen. 37:7; 47:24). It is also applied to woodland (Ps.
132:6) or mountain top (Judg. 9:32, 36; 2 Sam. 1:21). It denotes
sometimes a cultivated region as opposed to the wilderness (Gen.
33:19; 36:35). Unwalled villages or scattered houses are spoken
of as "in the fields" (Deut. 28:3, 16; Lev. 25:31; Mark 6:36,
56). The "open field" is a place remote from a house (Gen. 4:8;
Lev. 14:7, 53; 17:5). Cultivated land of any extent was called a
field (Gen. 23:13, 17; 41:8; Lev. 27:16; Ruth 4:5; Neh. 12:29).
from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
FIELD. A part of a farra separately enclosed; a close. 1 Chit. Pr. 160. The
Digest defines a field to be a piece of land without a house; ager est
locus, que sine villa est. Dig. 50, 16, 27.
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
461 Moby Thesaurus words for "field":
DMZ, academic discipline, academic specialty, aceldama,
achievement, acreage, aerodrome, agora, air base, airdrome,
airfield, airport, alerion, ambit, amphitheater, ample scope,
animal charge, annulet, answer, applicants, applied science,
arable, archery ground, area, arena, argent, armorial bearings,
armory, arms, art, athletic field, auditorium, azure, back,
backdrop, background, badminton court, bag, bailiwick, bandeau,
bar, bar sinister, baseball field, basketball court, baton,
battle line, battle site, battlefield, battleground, bear garden,
bearings, beat, bend, bend sinister, billet, billiard parlor,
blank check, blazon, blazonry, block, border, borderland, bordure,
bounds, bowl, bowling alley, bowling green, boxing ring, breadth,
broad arrow, bull ring, cadency mark, campus, candidates, canton,
canvas, carte blanche, catch, champaign, chaplet, charge, chevron,
chief, cincture, circle, circuit, circus, classical education,
clearance, clearing, clos, close, coat of arms, cockatrice,
cockpit, coliseum, colosseum, combat area, combat zone, common,
compass, competition, competitor, competitors, concern, confine,
confines, container, contender, contestant, continuum, coop,
cope with, core curriculum, corn field, coronet, corrival, course,
course of study, court, courtyard, crescent, crest, cricket ground,
croft, croquet ground, croquet lawn, cross, cross moline, crown,
cultivated land, cup of tea, curriculum, curtilage, deal with,
delimited field, demesne, department, department of knowledge,
device, diamond, difference, differencing, dimension, discipline,
distance, division, domain, dominion, eagle, elbowroom, elective,
emptiness, empty space, emulator, enclave, enclosure, enemy line,
entrant, ermine, ermines, erminites, erminois, escutcheon, expanse,
expansion, expertise, extension, extent, fairway, falcon, fess,
fess point, field of battle, field of blood, field of inquiry,
field of study, file, firing line, flanch, fleur-de-lis, floor,
fold, football field, forte, forty, forum, free course, free hand,
free play, free scope, fret, front line, full scope, full swing,
fur, fusil, galactic space, garland, general education,
general studies, glaciarium, golf course, golf links, grassland,
green, greensward, gridiron, griffin, ground, gules, gym,
gymnasium, gyron, hall, handle, hatchment, hayfield, heliport,
helmet, hemisphere, heraldic device, hinterland, humanities,
ice rink, impalement, impaling, inescutcheon, infield,
infinite space, interest, interstellar space, island,
judicial circuit, jurisdiction, killing ground, kraal, label, land,
landing, landing beach, landing field, latitude, lawn, lea, leeway,
liberal arts, limits, line, line of battle, links, lion, list,
lists, locale, long rope, long suit, lot, lozenge, main interest,
major, maneuvering space, manipulate, manner, mantling, march,
margin, marketplace, marshaling, martlet, mascle, mat, mead,
meadow, measure, metal, metier, milieu, minor, mise-en-scene,
motto, mullet, natural science, no holds barred, nombril point,
nothingness, octofoil, ology, open forum, open space, or, orb,
orbit, ordinary, orle, outer space, outfield, oval, paddy,
palaestra, pale, paling, paly, parade ground, parcel of land, park,
pasture, patch, pean, pen, pet subject, pheon, pick up,
piece of land, pit, place, plat, platform, play, player,
playground, playing field, playroom, plot, plot of ground,
polo ground, pool hall, poolroom, port, possibilities, precinct,
prize ring, proportion, proseminar, province, public square,
pure science, purlieu, purpure, pursuit, purview, putting green,
quad, quadrangle, quadrivium, quarter, quartering, racecourse,
racket court, range, reach, real estate, realm, rear,
refresher course, region, reply to, respond to, retrieve, return,
rice paddy, ring, rink, rival, room, rope, rose, round, sable,
saltire, scene, scene of action, scenery, science,
scientific education, scope, scutcheon, sea room, seat of war,
section, seminar, setting, shambles, shield, site, skating rink,
soccer field, social science, space, spatial extension, specialism,
speciality, specialization, specialty, sphere, spread,
spread eagle, square, squared circle, squash court, stadium, stage,
stage set, stage setting, stop, strength, stretch, strong point,
study, style, subdiscipline, subject, subordinary,
superficial extension, surface, sward, sweep, swing,
technical education, technicality, technicology, technics,
technology, tenne, tennis court, terrain, territory, the field,
the front, theater, theater of operations, theater of war, thing,
tilting ground, tiltyard, tincture, toft, tolerance, torse, track,
tract, tressure, trivium, turf, type, unicorn, vair, vert, vier,
vocation, void, walk, way, weakness, wheat field, wide berth,
wreath, wrestling ring, yale, yard, zone of communications
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