[f. FIELD sb. and v. + -ER1.]
† 1. One who works in the field (see FIELD sb. 4). Obs.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. XVIII. 103. Now failleþ þis folke · boþe sowers [v.r. felders] and shupmen.
2. Sporting. One who backs the field against the favourite.
1853. Whyte Melville, Digby Grand, I. vi. ‘Stand the shot,’ whispers the busy fiend at my elbow: and I accommodate a vociferous ‘fielder’ with six to four in hundreds, as my concluding stake, and close my book with the air of quiet determination with which we may fancy Napoleon shutting up his telscope, after giving his last orders at the critical moment which should decide the fate of an army.
3. Cricket and Baseball. = FIELDSMAN.
