take the field Definition

field
noun

1. A piece of land enclosed for crop-growing or pasturing animals.

Thesaurus: pasture, plot, garden.
2. A piece of open grassland.

Thesaurus: range, meadow, mead, grassland, green, moor, tract.
3. An area marked off as a ground for a sport, etc.
4. An area rich in a specified mineral, etc.

Example: coalfield
Example: oilfield
5. An expanse of something specified, usually from the natural world.

Example: snowfields
Example: poppy fields
6. An area of knowledge, interest or study; speciality.

Thesaurus: range, territory, province, domain, sphere, reach, area, scope, jurisdiction.
7. physics.
A region of space in which one object exerts force on another.
Example: force field
8. The area included in something; the range over which a force, etc extends; the area visible to an observer at any one time.

Example: field of vision
9a. The contestants in a race, competition, etc;

Thesaurus: entrants, entries, participants, competitors, contestants, opponents,contenders, candidates, competition, opposition, nominees, runners.
9b. All contestants except for the favourite; the rivals of a particular contestant.
10a. A battlefield;

Example: fell on the field
10b. The battle itself.
11. sport.especially cricket.
The fielders collectively.
12. Any place away from the classroom, office, etc, eg a field centre, where practical experience is gained. See also fieldwork.
13. The background to the design on a flag, coin, heraldic shield, etc.
14. The people taking part in a hunt.

Form: the field
15. math.
A system or collection of elements upon which binary operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division can be performed excluding division by 0.
16. computing.
A set of characters comprising a unit of information.

verb fielded, fielding

tr & intr
1a. sport, especially cricket.
Said of a team: to be the team whose turn it is to retrieve balls hit by the batting team;
tr & intr
1b. sport, especially cricket.
Said of a player: to retrieve the ball from the field;
Thesaurus: retrieve, catch, receive.
intr
1c. sport, especially cricket.
Said of a player: to play in the field.
2. To put forward as (a team or player) for a match.
3. To enter someone in a competition.

Example: Each group fielded a candidate
4. To deal with a succession of (inquiries, etc).

Example: to field questions
Thesaurus: answer, cope with, deal with, deflect, return, handle.

Idiom: hold the field

To remain supreme.

Idiom: lead the field

To be in the foremost or winning position.

Idiom: play the field

colloq
To try out the range of possibilities before making a choice.

Idiom: take the field

Said of a team: to go on to the pitch ready for a match.

To go into battle; to begin a campaign.

Etymology: Anglo-Saxon feld.