field

noun

1. a wide stretch of open land; plain
2. a piece of cleared land, set off or enclosed, for raising crops or pasturing livestock
3. a piece of land used for some particular purpose a landing field
4. an area of land producing some natural resource a gold field
5. any wide, unbroken expanse a field of ice
6. 1. a battlefield
   2. a battle
7. 1. an area of military operations
   2. a military area away from the post or headquarters
8. 1. an area where practical work is done, as by a social worker, geologist, etc., away from the central office, laboratory, or the like: usually with the camping equipment tested in the field
   2. a realm of knowledge or of special work or opportunity the field of electronics
9. an area of observation, as in a microscope
10. the background, as on a flag or coin
11. 1. an area where games or athletic events are held
    2. the part of such an area, usually inside a closed racing track, where contests in the high jump, long jump, shot put, pole vault, etc. are held
    3. ☆ in baseball, any part of the outfield a batter who hits to all fields
    4. all the entrants in a contest
    5. all the entrants in a contest except the one(s) specified
12. Comput. any of the units of storage that are grouped to form a record ()
13. Heraldry the surface or part of the surface of a shield
14. Horse Racing those horses, in a race with more than twelve entrants, that are grouped together to function as a unit for betting purposes
15. Math. a set of numbers or other algebraic elements for which arithmetic operations (except for division by zero) are defined in a consistent manner to yield another element of the set
16. Physics a region, volume, or space where a specific, measurable force, as gravity or magnetism, exists
17. TV
    1. the area viewed by the camera
    2. the area that the scanning element covers in one vertical sweep

Etymology: ME feld < OE, akin to Ger feld, Du veld < IE *pelt- < base *pele-, *pla-, flat and broad > L planus, plane, Gr palamē, flat hand

adjective

1. of, operating in, or held on the field or fields
2. growing in fields; having a field as its habitat

transitive verb

1. 1. Baseball, Cricket to catch (a batted or thrown ball)
   2. to put (a team or player) in the field for a game or competition
2. to position in a given location to field an army
3. Informal
   1. to answer (a question) extemporaneously
   2. to deal with; handle to field phone calls

intransitive verb