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. veit, 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 sb.3); it is uncertain whether the Teut. *felþu-, *foldôn- are formed with t suffix from a pre-Teut. root pel-, represented in OSl. polte plain, field, or belong to the Aryan root pelth or pelt, whence Skr. prthivī earth, Gr. πλατύς broad.]
I. Ground; a piece of ground.
† 1. 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 ȝearcode swete huniȝ.
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.
| Sir Jon de Eiuile, & mani oþer knizt, | |
| To wodes & to feldes hulde hom day & nizt. |
a. 1300. Cursor M., 3608 (Cott.). Bath in feild and in forest.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 664.
| For soth is seyde, goon ful many yeres, | |
| That feld hath eyen, and the woode hath eeres. |
a. 1400[?]. Arthur, 472. Þe feltes fulle of men y-scleyn.
1538. Starkey, England, I. ii. 52. Man, wythout cyty or towne, law or relygyon, wan[d]eryd abrode in the wyld feldys and wodys.
1593. Marlowe, in Pass. Pilgr., xix. Hilles and vallies, dales and fields.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 758.
| Whom ev’n the savage beasts had spar’d, they kill’d, | |
| And 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]. 14.
| Man his daies ere als hai, | |
| Als blome of felde sal he welyen awai. |
a. 1300. Cursor M., 6080 (Cott.).
| Letus wild, | |
| þe quilk þat groues on þe feild. |
1382. Wyclif, Luke xii. 28. Forsothe if God clothith thus the hey, which to day is in the feeld, and to morwe is sent in to a furneys; how moche more ȝou of litel feith?
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., I. vi. 28. The feld is the fundament of the flouris.
1611. Bible, Gen. ii. 5. And euery plant of the field, before it was in the earth, and euery herbe of the field, before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to raine vpon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.
† 2. 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, 671.
| Gamelyn answerde þe kynge with his crowne | |
| He moste nedes walke in felde þat may not walke in towne. |
1526. Tindale, Mark xv. 21. They compelled won that passed by called Simon of cerene (which cam oute of the felde and was father off Alexander and Rufus) to beare hys crosse.
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., II. i. 238.
| Hel. I, in the Temple, 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, for two or three years nothing was so happy as hunting.
1801. Strutt, Sports & Past., I. i. 6. King John was particularly attached to the sports of the field; and his partiality for fine horses, hounds, and hawks, is evident.
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. 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-, corn-, hay-, turnip-, 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. V shall goo in to the feeld and gedre eeris.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., 275. Persoones of the clergie receyuen, holden, and occupien lordschip of housis and feeldis, not oonli in which thei hem silf dwellen and which thei hem silf tilien, but also which thei hem silf setten forth to be fermed of othere occupiers, and receyuen rente therfore of the same occupiers.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, IV. lvi. 516. That with the pale … flowers groweth in drie medowes, and in the feeldes also.
1657. R. Austen, A Treatise of Fruit-Trees, I. 56. The Flanders[-Cherry] beare well in Orchards, and feilds at large.
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 were nigh at hand, through which the New River took its winding course, and where there was merry hay-making in the summer time.
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! Follow but forth for a little time the thoughts of all that we ought to recognize in those words. All spring and summer is in them.
c. Common, open field: see those words.
d. A piece of ground put to a particular use, as bleach, camping, print-field: see BLEACH, etc.
5. An extent or tract of ground covered with or containing some special natural formation or production. Chiefly with defining word, as coal, diamond, gold, oil fields: see those words.
1859. Cornwallis, New World, I. 55. In the windows of each of these gold shops were several bowls filled with the precious metal, and in general labelled with the name of the field from which it was taken, thus Bendigo, McIvor, Ballarat, Forest Creek, and The Ovens, all great gold producing districts, were respectively represented in the wooden bowls of the gold brokers.
1875. Wood & Lapham, Waiting for Mail, 39.
| You’ve tried the best Victorian fields | |
| And have been in Otago a while, | |
| And even at half fifty notes a-week | |
| You ought to have made a pile. |
6. 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 be fyȝt & þe fild entres.
c. 1460. Fortescue, Abs. & Lim. Mon., ix. The Erlis of Lecestir and Glocestre, wich were þe grettest lordes off Englond, rose ayenest thair kynge Herre the iijde, and toke hym and his sonne prisoners in the ffelde.
1592. R. D., Hypnerotomachia, 22. Instruments of warre. As well ayerie and marine, as for the field singularly well cut.
1604. Shaks., Oth., I. iii. 85.
| Till now, some nine Moones wasted, 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, | |
| To try the Fortune of some doubtful Day. |
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 of the rebellion had fled together from the field of Sedgemoor, and had reached the coast in safety.
1851. E. S. 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 huerione 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 sophist from the field was a vocation worthy of the powers of Socrates.
1886. B. L. Farjeon, Three Times Tried, I. 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 and oute of the waye, and therfor y wille leue you the felde, and go my way.
1673. Dryden, Marriage à la Mode, II. i. Bless me from this tongue! it may keep the field against a whole army of lawyers.
c. 1686. Roxb. Ball. (1886), VI. 125.
| When she found he was Loyal, then the Damsel did yield, | |
| Making no more denyal; thus he conquer’d the field: | |
| Then they both were united, in true love to dwell, | |
| And the Parents invited, so the matter went well. |
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.
| There all day long Sir Pelleas kept the field | |
| With honour: so by that strong hand of his | |
| The sword and golden circlet were achieved. |
1887. A. Birrell, Obiter Dicta, Ser. II. 67. Pope has had many editors, but the last edition will probably 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, Letter, in Naunton, Fragmenta Regalia (Arb.), 61. They will first fortifie and learn the strength of the Rebels, before they dare take the field.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., II. xxix. 174. The forces of the Common-wealth keeping the field no longer.
1676. Temple, Lett. 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 (1840), 10. As the cardinal, with all the military part of the court, was in the field.
1769. Junius, Lett. ii. 13. A sincere love and attachment to his King and Country, and to their glory, first impelled him to the field, where he never gained aught but honour.
1835. I. Taylor, Spiritual Despotism, iii. 85. Their [the Greek people’s] eye was directed not to the temple, but to the senate or the field.
1852. Thackeray, Esmond, III. i. Esmond could not resist his kind patron’s entreaties, and again took the field, not attached to any regiment, but under Webb’s orders.
1863. H. Cox, Instit., III. viii. 713. In time of war, all the expenditure connected with every department of an army in the field abroad, except that which is provided for in the ordinary Parliamentary estimates, is conducted by the officers of the Commissariat.
transf. and fig. 1614. 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 battle; now rare exc. in such phrases as A hard-fought, 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 & Arthoureȝ.
c. 1435. Torrent of 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. Warkw., Chron., 6. The Walschmenne loste the felde.
1484. Caxton, Fables of Æsop, III. iv. The egle with the help of the other byrdes he gat the feld and vaynquysshed and ouercame the bestes.
1487. Wriothesley, Chron. (1875), I. 2. Slayne all in a feild that they made againste the Kinge.
1502. Arnolde, Chron. (1811), p. xxxiv. This yere was a felde of Saint Albons, bytwene the Kynge and ye 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 … came to Blackheth and made a felde agaynst the kynge and lost it.
1586. Warner, Alb. Eng., IV. xx. (1589), 89. The Danes … got the feeld.
1596. Shaks., Merch. V., II. i. 25.
| By this Symitare | |
| That slew the Sophie, and a Persian Prince | |
| That won three fields of Sultan Solyman. |
1605. Verstegan, Dec. Intell., v. (1628), 129. Besides sundry Skirmishes, had with them foure battailes or Foughten Fields.
1667. Milton, P. L., I. 105. What though the field be lost?
1816. Byron, Ch. Har., III. xlix.
| In their baronial feuds and 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 nn armed force.
1502. Arnolde, Chron. (1811), p. xxxiv. This yere ye Duke of Yorke set his felde at Brent Heth, in Kent.
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 made Emperour by the Souldiers, perswaded that Irene had made choice of him to be her Successour; he was slain in a pitch’d Field against the Bulgarians; a bad man he was, and Reigned nine years.
† 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. The Archb. and inferior Minister are both equal, in respect of theyr fight in the Lordes battailes, as the Generall of the fielde and the common Souldiours are.
1647. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., VII. (1703), II. 269. There were on the other, above twenty Officers of the Field, and Persons of Honour, and publick Name, slain upon the place, and more of the same Quality hurt.
9. 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 sb. to be supplied from the context.
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.
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.
1771. P. Parsons, Newmarket, II. 149. Camillus against the field, for a hundred guineas.
1872. Lever, Lord Kilgobbin, lxx. ‘Bet on the field—never back the favorite,’ was his formula for inculcating the wisdom of trusing to the general game of life, rather than to any particular emergency.
1885. Truth, XVII. 23 May, 853/2. The Great Northern Handicap has declined in iportance nearly as much as the Somersetshire Stakes, but this year it 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 Alteram Partem, III. cxxxiii. 101 Nobody knows whether our own government will have the courage to speak up for ‘Victor Emmanuel against the field.’ Elizabeth would have done it, and so would Cromwell.
1884. The Saturday Review, LVII. 2 Feb., 139/2. An historical prize will bring together a much larger ‘field,’ and encourage a wider emulation.
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, and just running in upon the fox, with the brush full in your hopes,—being suddenly left in the lurch, or in other words,—in the ditch.
1830. Greville, Mem. Geo. IV. (1874), II. xiii. 77. As the field which had been out with the King’s hounds were returning to town, they were summoned to assist in quelling a riot at Woburn.
1841. J. T. Hewlett, The Parish Clerk, II. 15. The hounds and huntsman, with the ‘field’ at their heels, followed.
1890. The Saturday Review, LXIX. 1 Feb., 135/1. Fields of hunting and riding men are very large. Many hunt to ride, rather than ride to hunt, and much of the downright interest in hunting is lost in the madding crowd of riding men.
c. Cricket. The ‘side’ who are ‘out’ in the ‘field’; see 9; also the players on both sides.
1850. ‘Bat,’ Cricket Man., 51. The disposition of the field depends entirely upon circumstances.
1857. Hughes, Tom Brown, II. viii. The ball comes skimming and twisting along about three feet from the ground; he rushes at it, and it sticks somehow or other in the fingers of his left hand, to the utter astonishment of himself and the whole field.
1859. All the Year Round, No. 13, 23 July, 306/1. We bowled all we knew, and our field worked like tigers.
1862. Sporting Life, 14 June. On the reappearance of the ‘field,’ H. H. Stephenson took the wicket.
1883. Daily Tel., 24 June. The first over was sent down … by Palmer … his field being arranged thus.
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-, out-, right-, centre-, left- field.
1830. Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. IV. (1863), 174. That exceedingly bad field, his cousin Charles, caught him out without a notch.
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., 43. Long Field Off, On.
1859. All the Year Round, No. 13, 23 July, 305/2. Southey, though a good bowler and ‘field,’ and a terrific hitter, excelled most at the wicket.
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. Shaks., Per., I. i. 37.
| Tell thee with speechless tongues, and semblance | |
| That, without covering, save yon field of stars, | |
| They here stand martyrs, slain in Cupid’s wars. |
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 102.
| Then to their common Standard they repair; | |
| The nimble Horsemen scour the Fields of Air. |
1732. Pope, Ess. Man. I. 41.
| Or ask of yonder argent fields above, | |
| Why Jove’s Satellites are less than Jove. |
1813. Shelley, Q. Mab, IV. 20.
| The orb of day, | |
| In southern climes, o’er ocean’s waveless field | |
| Sinks sweetly smiling. |
1860. Ruskin, Mod. Paint., V. VII. iv. § 6. 141, note. Under its gray veil, as it approaches, are formed detached bars, darker or lighter than the field [of cloud] above, according to the position of the sun.
b. of ice or snow.
1813. Bakewell, Introd. Geol. (1815), 55. Vast masses of rock near the sea shore are sometimes enveloped in fields of ice, and raised up and transported to distant countries.
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. v. 178. Whether by shepherd or traveller, the snows round the Aiguilles of Chardonnet and Argentière are the least trodden of all the Mont Blanc fields.
c. of immaterial things; cf. 15.
1577. B. 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.
| How fond loue had made him blinde, | |
| And wrapt him in a field of woes. |
1712. Sir R. Blackmore, Creation, VI (1818), 203.
| Who can this Field of Miracles survey, | |
| And not with Galen all in Rapture say, | |
| Behold a God, Adore him, and Obey! |
1847. L. Hunt, Men, Women, & B., II. xi. 265. By his scorn and his final judgments, he discloses to us the whole field of his ignorance beyond it.
1867. A. Barry, Sir Charles Barry, vi. 190. The scheme of the Commission was, so to speak, an ideal one, drawn up with great skill and knowledge, so as to cover the whole field of English history, and bring out those salient points, which might properly be connected with the palace of the legislature.
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, all of lyght goulys. |
c. 1435. Torrent of Portugal, 1119.
| Sir Torrent ordenyth hym a sheld, | |
| It was ryche in every ffeld. |
1572. Bossewell, Armorie, II. 56. The field is parted per fesse embattyled, Topaze, & Emeraude, two Lyciskes Passant conterchaunged of the fielde.
1610. Guillim, Heraldry, II. ii. (1660), 52. The Field is the whole Surface (if I may so call it) of the Shield overspread with some Metall, Colour, or Furre, and comprehendeth in it the charge, if it hath any.
1705. Hearne, Collect., 12 Dec. The Arms of the University of Oxon are a field Jupiter, a Book Expansed in Fesse, Luna, garnished, having seven Labels with Seales, Sol.
1819. Rees, Cycl., III. s.v. Bar, When the field is divided into four, six, eight, ten, twelve, or more equal parts, it is then blazoned, barry.
1859. Tennyson, Elaine, 659.
| Sir Lancelot’s azure lions, crown’d with gold, | |
| Ramp in the field. |
fig. 1593. Shaks., Lucr., 71.
| This silent warre of Lillies and of Roses, | |
| Which Tarquin vew’d in her faire faces field. |
1607. Hieron, Wks., I. 414. A field of sincerity, charged with deedes of piety, cannot but be accomplisht with a crest of glory.
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 the yelke of a new layd egge, [etc.].
1695. Dryden, trans. Du Fresnoy’s Art of Painting, xlv. 51. Let the Field, or Ground of the Picture, be clean, free, transient, light, and well united with Colours which are of a friendly nature to each other.
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 note. The field, in numismatic phrase, 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. Shaks., 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. 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 faire field to vse eloquence in, if he did but only repeate the lamentable, and truly affectionated speeches.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 228. As for the increase of Vertue generally, what proportion it beareth to the increase of the Matter, it is a large Field, and to be handled by it self.
1674. Owen, Holy Spirit (1693), 82. It is not suited unto my Design to examine or refute the Expositions of others, whereof a large and plain Field doth here open it self unto us.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 160, 3 Sept., ¶ 4. This particular Failure in the Ancients, opens a large Field of Raillery to the little Wits, who can laugh at an Indecency but not relish the Sublime in these Sorts of Writings.
1750. Beawes, Lex Mercat. (1752), 2. A Succession of these opened to us the wide Field for Trade that now lies before us.
1810. T. Thomson, A System of Chemistry (ed. 4), II. 161. Mr Davy has laid open a very interesting field of investigation, which promises, if pursued far enough, to throw much light upon the nature of combustion.
a. 1862. Buckle, Civiliz. (1873), III. v. 350. The philosopher and the practical man, having each a separate part to play, each is, in his own field, supreme.
b. (without a or the.) Scope, opportunity, extent of material for action or operation. ? Obs.
1664. Dryden, The Rival Ladies, III. i.
| Gons. Thou hast not Field enough in thy young Breast, | |
| To entertain such storms to struggle in. |
1681. W. Temple, Memoirs, III. Wks. 1731, I. 343. I thought I had Field enough left for doing them good Offices to the Duke.
1719. Swift, A Letter to a Young Clergyman (1721), 19. Take the Matter in this Light, and it will afford Field enough for a Divine to enlarge on, by shewing the Advantages which the Christian World has over the Heathen.
16. The space or range within which objects are visible through an optical instrument in any one position.
1747. W. Gould, An Account of English Ants, 31. If you kill her, and immediately place her Body on the Field of a Microscope, or on a Piece of Paper, you will in a few Moments perceive some Eggs to proceed from the Extremity of her Body.
1765. Maty, in Phil. Trans., LV. 305. It filled the field of the telescope.
1812–6. J. Smith, The Panorama of Science and Art, I. 474. When such an aperture is well centred, the visible field is at least as much as twenty degrees in diameter.
1871. Tyndall, Fragm. Sc. (1879), II. xiii. 307. The field of the microscope is crowded with organisms, some wabbling slowly, others shooting rapidly across the microscopic field.
1884. F. J. Britten, The Watch and Clockmakers’ Handbook, 102. There is a very superior achromatic glass with two plano-convex lenses, which has the double advantage of giving a perfectly colourless view and a flat field.
b. Field of observation, view or vision: the space to which observation, etc. is limited.
1812–6. J. Smith, The Panorama of Science and Art, II. 718. The whole field of view through the foot-wide arch.
1817. Chalmers, Astron. Disc. ii. (1852), 53. They have crossed that circle by which the field of observation is enclosed.
1855. Bain, The Senses and the Intellect, II. ii. § 3. Although the eye can take in a wide field at once, the power of minute observation is confined to a very small part in the centre of the retina.
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. We note the glimmer of a great social principle beneath the folds of political history; but in a moment the field of vision is overclouded, and we dare not indulge the speculations which have risen in our minds lest it should appear that they are founded on a misapprehension of our own, or on a misstatement of our informant.
fig. 1877. E. R. Conder, The Basis of Faith, ii. 83. Why should we fence off, by an arbitrary barrier, life from those chemic, electric, thermal, photal, and nervous forces, apart from which no scintillation of its existence twinkles within the field of our knowledge?
17. Physics. The area or space under the influence of, or within the range of, some agent. To be in, out of the field: see quot. 1884. Magnetic field: any space possessing magnetic properties, either on account of magnets in its vicinity, or on account of currents of electricity passing through or round it.
1863. Tyndall, Heat, ii. § 35 (1870), 37. The heat developed ultimately is the exact equivalent of the power employed to move the medal in the excited magnetic field.
1881. Maxwell, 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.
IV. attrib. and Comb.
18. General relations: a. simple attrib. (sense 1), as field-dew, flower; (sense 2), as field-craft, -dweller, -honour, -mate, -pastime, -properties (of a greyhound), -smell, -tent, (senses 2 and 4) field-trial; (sense 4), as field-crop, -gale, -hedge, -husbandry, -path, -rent, -road, -seed, -stones; (sense 7), as field-battalion, -cap, -duties, -equipment, -evolutions, -exercise, -insignia, -movements, -service, -troops, -watch. b. objective (sense 4), as field-purging ppl. adj. c. locative (sense 4), as field-faring ppl. adj.
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.
1887. Pall Mall G., 26 Sept., 5/2. No one … expects to fill his bag save by *field-craft.
1860. Gosse, The Romance of Natural History (1866), 105. The injuries done to us in our *field-crops, in our gardens, in our orchards, in our woods and forests, not to mention those which attack our living stock or our persons, by these most minute of creatures, are indeed well calculated to impress on us the truth of that Oriental proverb, which tells us that the smallest enemy is not to be despised.
1889. Daily News, 16 Dec., 7/1. Indian agricultural field crop seeds.
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., V. i. 422.
| With this *field dew consecrate, | |
| Every fairy take his gait. |
1844. Regul. & Ord. Army, 127. Subordinate Officers understand their *Field Duties as detailed in that Catechism.
1575. in Russia at close 16th C. (Hakluyt Soc.), Introduction, ix. The … Tartars are barbarowse and *fyilde dwellers and in contenewel warres and spoyles.
1808. Wellington, in Gurw., Desp., IV. 29. With the exception of the ordnance preparation sent for the attack of the forts on that river, it has not been deemed necessary to encumber the army with any larger detail of artillery than what belongs to 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, The Military Encyclopædia, Field Day, a term used when a regiment is taken out to the field, for the purpose of being instructed in the *field exercise and evolutions.
1892. Pall Mall G., 8 Dec., 2/1. A sketch of *fieldfaring women.
1653. Walton, Angler, 214. These and many other *Field-flowers, so perfum’d the air, that I thought this Meadow like the field in Sicily (of which Diodorus speaks) where the perfumes arising from the place, makes all dogs that hunt in it, to fall off, and to lose their hottest sent.
1825. Lytton, Falkland, 59. My boy has been with me: I see him now from the windows gathering the field-flowers, and running after every butterfly which comes across him.
1891. S. C. Scrivener, Our Fields & Cities, 33. I was rather glad to see the horse turning towards a *field-gate, for the odour was overpowering.
1833. in Cobbett, Rur. Rides (1885), I. 399. As the owner of a *field-hedge and bank owns also the ditch on his neighbour’s side.
1737. M. Green, Spleen (1738), 5.
| Hunting I reckon very good | |
| To brace the nerves, and stir the blood: | |
| But after no *field-honours itch, | |
| 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.
1786. Burns, The Brigs of Ayr, 36.
| The feather’d *field-mates, bound by Nature’s tie, | |
| Sires, mothers, children, in one carnage lie. |
1798. Wellington, in Gurw., Desc., I. 12. The attention which Colonel Wellesley had bestowed on the discipline and well-being of the troops, and in practising them in combined *field movements.
1807. Wordsw., Sonnets (1838). 151.
| See the first mighty Hunter leave the brute— | |
| To chase mankind, with men in armies packed | |
| For his *field-pastime high and absolute, | |
| While, to dislodge his game, cities are sacked! |
1722. De Foe, Col. Jack (1840), 66. It was agreed to spread from the *field-path to the road way, all the way towards Pancras church, to observe any chance game, as they called it, which they might shoot flying.
1847. Mary Howitt, Ballads, etc., 254.
| Sweet wife, make haste: down yonder, | |
| Down by the miller’s farm, | |
| Through old field-paths we ’ll wander, | |
| Thy hand within my arm. |
1883. Chamb. Jrnl., 19 May, 305/2. Add to this, strong legs, good round cat-like feet, a long shapely neck, a tail which acts as a rudder, and a coat like a silken garment, warm and light, and we have the ‘bench’ and *field properties of a greyhound.
1601. J. Weever, The Mirror of Martyrs, E vj b.
| Now was the month which Ianus hath to name, | |
| Of old new christened by Pompilius; | |
| And wondrous proud that he had got such fame; | |
| Added *feeld-purging Februarius. |
1580. Hollyband, Treas. Fr. Tong, Champart, *fielde rent.
1864. H. Spencer, Illustr. Univ. Progr., 418. While along the *field-roads, which, in their unformed, unfenced state, are typical of lacunæ, the movement is the slowest, the most irregular, and the most infrequent.
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, the Elders for the defence of their Territory, all armed and under continual Discipline, in which they assembled both upon Military and Civill occasions.
1869. E. A. Parkes, A Manual of Practical Hygiene (ed. 3), 118. On field service and on transport ships the same duties are enjoined.
1818. Shelley, Rosalind, 1109.
| And now to the hushed ear it floats | |
| Like *field smells known in infancy, | |
| Then failing, soothes the air again. |
1799. J. Robertson, Agric. Perth, 572, App. Similar collections of *field stones are met with in many parts of this country. In some instances they were gathered off the land, where it seemed to be fit for tillage: In other cases they seem to have been monuments of some great event; which practice prevailed universally among rude nations, before the invention of written records.
1892. J. Park Harrison, in Jrnl. Archæol. Inst., XLIX. No. 194. 155. The discovery of the remains of circular foundations composed of small field-stones concreted with sticky gravel.
1755. Smollett, Quix. (1803), IV. 174. Among these trees we have pitched some *field-tents, upon the banks of a plentiful stream which fertilizes all these meadows.
1849. Johnston, Exp. Agric., 60. Such *field-trials as appear to me likely to throw light upon it.
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. F. Seebohm, Eng. Village Community, i. (1884), 4. A common *fieldway gives access to the strips.
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, -cricket, -mouse, -rat, -slug, -spider; field-duck, the little bustard (Otis tetrax) found chiefly in France; field-finch (see quot.); field-lark (Alauda arvensis); field-martin (Tyrannus carolinensis); field-plover (U.S.), a name for two species of plover, and for a sandpiper (Bartramia longicanda); 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 in the desyr of his soule droȝ wind of his loue; noon shal turne it awey.
1600. E. Blount, Hosp. Incur. Fooles, A iv. Those *field-Crickets that 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.
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, and softly disappears. |
1563. 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, sb., Prov. name for the Tree Pipit, Anthus arboreus.
1708. Motteux, Rabelais, IV. lxiii. Rhizotome with the soft Coat of a *Field-Tortoise, alias, eclip’d a Mole, was making himself a Velvet Purse.
1868. Wood, Homes without H., xxxi. 598. The Short-tailed Field Mouse otherwise termed Campagnol or *Field Vole (Arvicola arvensis).
20. In many names of plants growing in the fields, as field-bindweed, -forget-me-not, -mushroom, -rhubarb, etc.; field-ash (Pyrus aucuparia); field-basil: see BASIL1 2; field-bromegrass (Bromas 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 Bròmus arvénsis, *field brome-grass, is strictly an annual plant, but, nevertheless, is found in some of the best pastures. Ibid., I. 151. The Long-red, or 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—Agaricus campestris—is the only species which is 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, as usual, enamelled with its never-failing consorts—the Pile-wort (the lesser Celandine of Wordsworth)—the Dog-violet—the barren Strawberry—and the *Field-Rush, now all in flower and beauty.
1861. Miss Pratt, Flower. Pl., IV. 48. *Field Scorpion-grass…. The stem varies from six inches to a foot and a half in height, and the whole plant is rough with spreading bristles.
1597. Gerard, Herball, 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.
| Tho toke she *feldwode and verveine, | |
| Of herbes ben nought better tweine. |
1861. Miss Pratt, Flower. Pl., III. 159. *Field Woodruff…. The flowers are bright blue, expanding in June, the fruit large and smooth. Ibid., V. 300. *Field Wood Rush…. This is a common plant in dry pastures…. It has a straight unbranched stem.
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 plowing, in pl. cattle; † field-bishop, transl. Fr. évêque des champs, one who is hanged in chains; † 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-colo(u)rs (Mil.), small flags for marking out the ground for the squadrons and battalions; also the colors 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. (A.V. ‘satyrs’); field-dressing, appliances for dressing a wound in the field; field-driver (see quots.); † field-fight, a fight in the open, a pitched battle; field-fleck, ? nonce-wd., a ‘spot’ of land; † 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-gun = field-piece; whence field-gunner; field-hand, (a) a slave who works on a plantation; (b) a farm-laborer; 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-keeper, a scarer of birds from cornfields; field-kirk (Antiq.; repr. O.E. feldcirice) a chapel or oratory in the fields; 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 laborer, 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-naturalist, a naturalist who studies by outdoor observation; 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-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. sb., attrib. (see quot.); field-reeve (see quots.); field-roller, a roller drawn over a plowed 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-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-sports, outdoor sports, esp. hunting; † field-staff (see quots.); † field-teacher, an instructor in military exercises; field-telegraph, one used in military operations; 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, The Military Encyclopædia, 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. In the lodge, at the entry, are divers good statues of Consuls, etc., with two pieces of *field artillery upon carriages, (a mode much practiced in Italy before the great men’s houses) which they look on as a piece of state more than defense.
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 E N W S … represent the *field-bar of the telescope.
1875. trans. Comte de Paris’ Hist. Civ. War Amer., I. 450. Fort McRae replied, and was supported by the fire of several *field-batteries erected in the vicinity of the arsenal.
1697. Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), IV. 255. On Wensday next will be a general exercise of a *feild battle.
1382. Wyclif, Num. xxxii. 26. Oure litil children, and wymmen, and *feeldbeestis, and howsbeestis we shulen leeue in the cytees of Galaad.
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. This Year 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.
1535. Coverdale, 2 Kings v. 19. He was gone from him a *felde bredth in the londe. Ibid., Gen. xxxv. 16. Whan he was yet a *felde brode from Ephrath.
1865. Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., V. XIX. v. 505. The whole force in Torgau is now about 3,000, still with only *field-cannon, but with a Captain over them.
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, note. *Field-cornet is the title given to a magistrate who decides in the first instance little disputes that arise among the colonists themselves, or between the Hottentots and the colonists bordering upon them.
1863. W. C. Baldwin, African Hunting, 231. I was asked by a field-cornet what I had in my wagon, and where my permit was.
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 22.
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 ye 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, and receive fees, commonly called pound-shot, for cattle.
1860. Bartlett, Dictionary of 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, or on common and unimproved lands, and not under the charge of a keeper. New England.
1888. Bryce, Amer. Commw., II, II. xlviii. 229. Hog reeves (now usually called field drivers).
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. Miss J. Barlow, Irish Idylls, iii. 32. A meagre *field-fleck and a ramshackle shanty on the hill’s wan grey slope.
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 which are only wanted for periods not exceeding one or two campaigns, perhaps only for a few days, are termed *Field Fortifications.
1856. Olmsted, A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States, 46. Able-bodied *field-hands were hired out … at the rate of one hundred dollars a year, and their board and clothing.
1870. Froude, Cæsar, ix. 91. He had an army of slaves—but these slaves were not ignorant field hands; they were skilled workmen in all arts and trades, whose labours he turned to profit in building streets and palaces.
1701. Lond. Gaz., No. 3713/3. Their *Field-Hospital is arrived here.
1869. E. A. Parkes, A Manual of Practical Hygiene (ed. 3), 635. The movable field hospitals (regimental, division, and general, in rear) to be made of tents.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., II. 13. The *field ice is of two or three fathoms thickness, is separated by the winds, and less dreaded than the rock or mountain-ice.
1875. Bedford, Sailor’s Pocket-bk., iv. (ed. 2), 118. In the frequented parts of the North Atlantic, the limits of field-ice in March extend from Newfoundland to the Southward as far as 42° N. latitude, and to the Eastward of the meridian of 44° W.
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 leȝer-stow ne siȝ, mid þrittiȝum scillingum.
1857. Mrs. Gaskell, C. Brontë (1860), 4. It is probable that there existed on this ground a ‘field-kirk,’ or oratory, in the earliest times.
1837. Goring & Pritchard, Microgr., 207. The said slider-holder, with its *field-lens.
1891. S. P. Thompson, Dynamo-El. Mach. (ed. 4), 2. Every dynamo, whether intended for use as a generator or as motor, 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 density.
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 not only adroit, but a laborious hunter, or field-man.
1689–90. Proc. agst. French, in Select. Harl. Misc. (1793), 478. A detachment of one hundred and fifty … landed with the forelorn, 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.
1789. Montagu, Let., in G. White, Selborne (1877), II. 236. You say you are a *field-naturalist.
1890. J. Watson, Confess. Poacher, v. 62. In *field-netting rabbits, lurchers are equally quick, seeming quite to appreciate the danger of noise.
1860. Bartlett, Dictionary of Americanisms, *Field Notes. The notes and memoranda made by a surveyor or engineer in the field.
1875. G. P. Colley, in Encycl. Brit., II. 579/2. All necessary tools and implements for a company of engineers, and a *‘field-park.’
1590. J. Smythe, Concern. Weapons, 35. And the next day he entered the towne and brought in foure and twentie *field peeces.
1853. Kinglake, Crimea (1876), I. xiv. 276. The head of the vast column of troops which now occupied the whole of the western Boulevard, and a couple of field-pieces stood pointed towards the barricade.
1382. Wyclif, Luke vi. 17. Jhesu comynge doun fro the hil with hem, stood in a *feeld place.
1659. Burton’s Diary (1828), IV. 470. Dr. Petty ought to have returned all the original maps, *field-plots, and field books relating to the lands of Ireland.
1884. Mag. Art, March, 215/2. The deep blue of the sea, the purple and gold of the moorlands, the tender greys of lichen-covered rocks in shadowed valleys, the velvety green of spring-watered field-plots, have no charms for them.
1612. Sturtevant, Metallica (1854), 96. *Field-pondage is a kind of Pipeage which from higher springs and fountaines conueigheth and distributeth water into seuerall pastures, closes, and fields, and in euery one of the said places maketh 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. Appoynted to be ouerseers of the feild or *Field Reeues, in the execution whereof they stroke the offenders’ sheepe in dryvinge them to the pownd.
1881. 2nd Suppl. Cumbrld. Gloss., Field Reeve, a person having charge of a stinted pasture belonging to different owners.
1607. Rowlands, Famous Hist., 48.
| We will not make our Prison of this place, | |
| As long as there is *Field-roome to be got: | |
| Tis my desire, to meete the Dukes good grace, | |
| And combate him, because he loues me not. |
1612. Drayton, Poly-olb., xii. 204.
| Falling backe where they | |
| Might field-roomth find at large, their ensignes to display. |
1672. Dryden, The Conquest of Granada, II. IV. i.
| The Combat of the Tyrants, Hope and Fear; | |
| Which Hearts, for want of Field-room, cannot bear. |
1688. Capt. J. S., Fortification, 123. *Field-Skonces, and others Forts with Ramparts.
1680. G. Hickes, Spirit of Popery, Pref., 1–2. For our Scottish-Nonconformists, especially those of the *Field-Separation, it would be lost labour to write Books for them, who lye under as strong a prejudice against the Church-Writers, as the most bigoted Papists do.
1851. J. S. Macaulay, Field Fortif., 245. It is presumed that the beginner in *field-sketching has already learned to copy plans.
1674. Essex Papers (Camden), I. 210. *Field sports, of wch I have ever bin a Lover.
1814. Scott, Wav., iv. He tried to counterbalance these propensities, by engaging his nephew in field-sports, which had been 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.
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 140 men, 10 wagons, and 40 miles of wire for each army corps in the field.
1875. G. P. Colley, in Encycl. Brit., II. 597/2. The field telegraph detachments, in the same way, are trained in peace time to everything connected with telegraphy.
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.
| *Féelde ware might sinke or swym, while ye had eny, | |
| Towne ware was your ware, to tourne the peny. |
1730. W. Ellis, Mod. Husbandm., II. ii. 135–6. A Hedge that is half Thorn, and plaished, and made to grow very thick, and to a good Heighth, may intimidate the lesser, younger Thieves, and Women, from attempting to steal the Farmer’s Corn, and other of his Field Ware, for fear the Difficutly of going backward and forwrd, over his Hedges, whould betray them.
c. 1475. Pict. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 794. Hec rustica, a *fyldwyfe.
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. xiv. 171. A field-man is a personality afield; a *field-woman is a portion of the field; she has somehow lost her own margin, imbibed the essence of her surrounding, and assimilated herself with it.
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 dreadful Day of that Fight.
