adv. prop. phr. Forms: 1 on felda, 3 o felde, 4–5 a-felde, 6 afeld, 6– afield. [A prep.1 in, on + FIELD.]
1. On or in the field, esp. of labor or battle.
a. 1000. Psalms (Spl.), lxvii. 48. He sette foretácn his on felda Taneos.
c. 1400. Sir Percev., 1311. In felde for to fyght.
1591. Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., V. iv. 40. When thou didst keepe my Lambes a-field. Ibid. (1606), Tr. & Cr., V. iii. 67. Æneas is afield.
1789. Burns, Wks., III. 376. My chief, amaist my only pleasure, At hame, a-fiel, at wark or leisure.
1873. Dixon, Two Queens, I. I. i. 1. Fernando was afield against the Moors in what he called a holy war.
1877. M. Arnold, Poems, I. 96. As afield the reapers cut a swath.
2. To or into the field; hence, to battle.
c. 1230. Bestiary, 398. [Ðe fox] goð o felde to a furg, And falled ðar-inne.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. VI. 144. Helpe make morter Or bere mukke-a-felde.
1566. Udall, Royster Doyster, I. iv. (1847), 22. Oh your coustrelyng Bore the lanterne a field before the gozeling.
1676. Hobbes, Odyssey, X. 81. Then they a-field Their cattle drive.
1751. Johnson, Rambler, No. 138, ¶ 11. In harvest she rides afield in the waggon.
1870. Morris, Earthly Parad., I. ii. 532. And in meantime afield he never went, Either to hunting or the frontier war.
3. Away from home, abroad; to or at a distance; esp. in phr. far afield. Also fig.
1413. Lydg., Pylgr. Sowle, V. x. (1483), 101. Pacyence come pryckyng with a sobre chere and hitte Ire in the helme that it flewe a feld.
1536. Bellenden, Cron. Scotl. (1821), I. 84. This Metellane … governit all materis, baith at hame and afeld, with gret felicite.
1850. Kingsley, Alt. Locke, xi. (1876), 124. I had … never been further afield than Fulham or Battersea Rise.
1880. Spalding, Eliz. Demonol., 9. It will prevent the student from straying too far afield in his reading.
