n. [ Gr. &unr_;, fr. Syr. ōkēl damō the field of blood. ] The potter's field, said to have lain south of Jerusalem, purchased with the bribe which Judas took for betraying his Master, and therefore called the field of blood. Fig.: A field of bloodshed. [ 1913 Webster ]

The system of warfare . . . which had already converted immense tracts into one universal aceldama. De Quincey. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. [ Pref. a- + field. ] 1. To, in, or on the field. “We drove afield.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

How jocund did they drive their team afield! Gray. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Out of the way; astray. [ 1913 Webster ]

Why should he wander afield at the age of fifty-five! Trollope. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. 1 a place where planes take off and land; an airport; -- usually used of airports other than those with regularly sheduled commercial flights, such as those at military bases or small fields for private aircraft.
Syn. -- landing field, flying field, field [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. a region where a battle is fought.
Syn. -- battleground, field of battle, field. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. Same as Beild. Fairfax. [ 1913 Webster ]

imp. & p. p. of Behold. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ Pref. bel-, denoting relationship + dame mother: cf. F. belledame fair lady, It. belladonna. See Belle, and Dame. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Grandmother; -- corresponding to belsire. [ 1913 Webster ]

To show the beldam daughters of her daughter. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An old woman in general; especially, an ugly old woman; a hag.
Syn. -- hag, beldam, witch, crone. [ 1913 Webster ]

Around the beldam all erect they hang. Akenside. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A shelter. Same as Beild. [ Scot. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To shelter. [ Scot. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a place where bricks are made and sold.
Syn. -- brickyard. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ Australia ] 1. Orig., at Sydney, a cold and violent south or southwest wind, rising suddenly, and regularly preceded by a hot wind from the north; -- now usually called southerly buster. It blew across the Brickfields, formerly so called, a district of Sydney, and carried clouds of dust into the city. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. By confusion, a midsummer hot wind from the north. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

v. t. To unite by a butt weld. [ 1913 Webster ]

See Butt weld, under Butt. [ 1913 Webster ]

pos>n. (Baseball) The part of the outfield directly ahead of the catcher.
Syn. -- center. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. a davenport with upright armrests. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. a fitted overcoat with a velvet collar. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. owned by a relatively few shareholders; -- of business organizations; as, a closely-held corporation. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. A field where corn is or has been growing; -- in England, a field of wheat, rye, barley, or oats; in America, a field of Indian corn. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a European annual (Agrostemma githago) having large trumpet-shaped reddish-purple flowers and poisonous seed; a common weed in grainfields and beside roadways; naturalized in America.
Syn. -- corn cockle, corncockle, corn-cockle, corn campion, Agrostemma githago. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

{ , n. [ AS. danegeld. See Dane, and Geld, n. ] (Eng. Hist.) An annual tax formerly laid on the English nation to buy off the ravages of Danish invaders, or to maintain forces to oppose them. It afterward became a permanent tax, raised by an assessment, at first of one shilling, afterward of two shillings, upon every hide of land throughout the realm. Wharton's Law Dict. Tomlins. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To deprive of an elder or elders, or of the office of an elder. [ Obs. ] Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ AS. eald. ] Old. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. yldu, yldo, eldo, old age, fr. ald, eald, old. See Old. ] 1. Age; esp., old age. [ Obs. or Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

As sooth is said, eelde hath great avantage. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Great Nature, ever young, yet full of eld. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Old times; former days; antiquity. [ Poetic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Astrologers and men of eld. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To age; to grow old. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To make old or ancient. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Time, that eldeth all things. Rom. of R. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ AS. yldra, compar. of eald old. See Old. ] 1. Older; more aged, or existing longer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Let the elder men among us emulate their own earlier deeds. Jowett (Thucyd. ) [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Born before another; prior in years; senior; earlier; older; as, his elder brother died in infancy; -- opposed to younger, and now commonly applied to a son, daughter, child, brother, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

The elder shall serve the younger. Gen. xxv. 23. [ 1913 Webster ]

But ask of elder days, earth's vernal hour. Keble. [ 1913 Webster ]

Elder hand (Card Playing), the hand playing, or having the right to play, first. Hoyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. ealdor an elder, prince, fr. eald old. See Old, and cf. Elder, a., Alderman. ] 1. One who is older; a superior in age; a senior. 1 Tim. v. 1. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An aged person; one who lived at an earlier period; a predecessor. [ 1913 Webster ]

Carry your head as your elders have done. L'Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A person who, on account of his age, occupies the office of ruler or judge; hence, a person occupying any office appropriate to such as have the experience and dignity which age confers; as, the elders of Israel; the elders of the synagogue; the elders in the apostolic church. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In the modern Presbyterian churches, elders are lay officers who, with the minister, compose the church session, with authority to inspect and regulate matters of religion and discipline. In some churches, pastors or clergymen are called elders, or presbyters. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (M. E. Ch.) A clergyman authorized to administer all the sacraments; as, a traveling elder. [ 1913 Webster ]

Presiding elder (Meth. Ch.), an elder commissioned by a bishop to have the oversight of the churches and preachers in a certain district. --
Ruling elder, a lay presbyter or member of a Presbyterian church session. Schaff. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. ellern, eller, AS. ellen, cf. LG. elloorn; perh. akin to OHG. holantar, holuntar, G. holunder; or perh. to E. alder, n. ] (Bot.) A genus of shrubs (Sambucus) having broad umbels of white flowers, and small black or red berries. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The common North American species is Sambucus Canadensis; the common European species (S. nigra) forms a small tree. The red-berried elder is S. pubens. The berries are diaphoretic and aperient. The European elder (Sambucus nigra) is also called the elderberry, bourtree, Old World elder, black elder, and common elder. [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 ]

Box elder. See under 1st Box. --
Dwarf elder. See Danewort. --
Elder tree. (Bot.) Same as Elder. Shak. --
Marsh elder, the cranberry tree Viburnum Opulus). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) 1. The berrylike drupe of the elder. That of the Old World elder (Sambucus nigra) and that of the American sweet elder (S. Canadensis) are sweetish acid, and are eaten as a berry or made into wines or jellies. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. + WordNet 1.5 ]

2. the European variety of elder (see 3rd elder), a common black-fruited shrub or small tree of Europe and Asia; the fruit is used for wines and jellies.
Syn. -- bourtree, black elder, common elder, European elder, Sambucus nigra. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Somewhat old; elderly. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Somewhat old; advanced beyond middle age; bordering on old age; as, elderly people. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Made of elder. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

He would discharge us as boys do eldern guns. Marston. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The state of being older; seniority. “Paternity an eldership.” Sir W. Raleigh. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Office of an elder; collectively, a body of elders. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) Danewort. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ AS. yldest, superl. of eald old. See Elder, a. ] 1. Oldest; longest in duration. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Born or living first, or before the others, as a son, daughter, brother, etc.; first in origin. See Elder. “My lady's eldest son.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Their eldest historians are of suspected credit. Bp. Stillingfleet. [ 1913 Webster ]

Eldest hand (Card Playing), the player on the dealer's left hand. R. A. Proctor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Icel. elding, fr. elda to kindle, eldr fire; akin to AS. æld fire, ælan to burn. ] Fuel. [ Prov. Eng. ] Grose. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Hideous; ghastly; as, an eldritch shriek or laugh. [ Local, Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To defend, as with a shield; to shield. [ Archaic ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Shielded; enshielded. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ , n. [ G. feldspath; feld field + spath spar. ] (Min.) A name given to a group of minerals, closely related in crystalline form, and all silicates of alumina with either potash, soda, lime, or, in one case, baryta. They occur in crystals and crystalline masses, vitreous in luster, and breaking rather easily in two directions at right angles to each other, or nearly so. The colors are usually white or nearly white, flesh-red, bluish, or greenish. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The group includes the monoclinic (orthoclastic) species orthoclase or common potash feldspar, and the rare hyalophane or baryta feldspar; also the triclinic species (called in general plagioclase) microcline, like orthoclase a potash feldspar; anorthite or lime feldspar; albite or soda feldspar; also intermediate between the last two species, labradorite, andesine, oligoclase, containing both lime and soda in varying amounts. The feldspars are essential constituents of nearly all crystalline rocks, as granite, gneiss, mica, slate, most kinds of basalt and trachyte, etc. The decomposition of feldspar has yielded a large part of the clay of the soil, also the mineral kaolin, an essential material in the making of fine pottery. Common feldspar is itself largely used for the same purpose.

{ , a. Pertaining to, or consisting of, feldspar. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. (Ball Playing) To catch, stop, throw, etc. (the ball), as a fielder. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Fielded; p. pr. & vb. n. Fielding. ] 1. To take the field. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Ball Playing) To stand out in the field, ready to catch, stop, or throw the ball. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. feld, fild, AS. feld; akin to D. veld, G. feld, Sw. fält, Dan. felt, Icel. fold field of grass, AS. folde earth, land, ground, OS. folda. ] 1. Cleared land; land suitable for tillage or pasture; cultivated ground; the open country. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A piece of land of considerable size; esp., a piece inclosed for tillage or pasture. [ 1913 Webster ]

Fields which promise corn and wine. Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A place where a battle is fought; also, the battle itself. [ 1913 Webster ]

In this glorious and well-foughten field. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

What though the field be lost? Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. An open space; an extent; an expanse. Esp.: (a) Any blank space or ground on which figures are drawn or projected. (b) The space covered by an optical instrument at one view; as, wide-field binoculars. [ 1913 Webster + PJC ]

Without covering, save yon field of stars. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ask of yonder argent fields above. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Her.) The whole surface of an escutcheon; also, so much of it is shown unconcealed by the different bearings upon it. See Illust. of Fess, where the field is represented as gules (red), while the fess is argent (silver). [ 1913 Webster ]

6. An unresticted or favorable opportunity for action, operation, or achievement; province; room. [ 1913 Webster ]

Afforded a clear field for moral experiments. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Sports) An open, usually flat, piece of land on which a sports contest is played; a playing field; as, a football field; a baseball field.
Syn. -- playing field, athletic field, playing area. [ PJC ]

8. Specifically: (Baseball) That part of the grounds reserved for the players which is outside of the diamond; -- called also outfield. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. A geographic region (land or sea) which has some notable feature, activity or valuable resource; as, the diamond fields of South Africa; an oil field; a gold field; an ice field. [ WordNet 1.6 ]

10. A facility having an airstrip where airplanes can take off and land; an airfield.
Syn. -- airfield, landing field, flying field, aerodrome. [ WordNet 1.6 ]

11. A collective term for all the competitors in any outdoor contest or trial, or for all except the favorites in the betting. [ 1913 Webster ]

12. A branch of knowledge or sphere of activity; especially, a learned or professional discipline; as, she's an expert in the field of geology; in what field did she get her doctorate?; they are the top company in the field of entertainment.
Syn. -- discipline, subject, subject area, subject field, field of study, study, branch of knowledge. [ WordNet 1.6 ]

Within the master text files of this electronic dictionary, where a word is used in a specific sense in some specialized field of knowledge, that field is indicated by the tags: () preceding that sense of the word. [ PJC ]

13. A location, usually outdoors, away from a studio or office or library or laboratory, where practical work is done or data is collected; as, anthropologists do much of their work in the field; the paleontologist is in the field collecting specimens. Usually used in the phrase
in the field. [ WordNet 1.6 ]

14. (Physics) The influence of a physical object, such as an electrically charged body, which is capable of exerting force on objects at a distance; also, the region of space over which such an influence is effective; as, the earth's gravitational field; an electrical field; a magnetic field; a force field. [ PJC ]

15. (Math.) A set of elements within which operations can be defined analagous to the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division on the real numbers; within such a set of elements addition and multiplication are commutative and associative and multiplication is distributive over addition and there are two elements 0 and 1; a commutative division ring; as, the set of all rational numbers is a field. [ WordNet 1.6 ]

☞ Field is often used adjectively in the sense of belonging to, or used in, the fields; especially with reference to the operations and equipments of an army during a campaign away from permanent camps and fortifications. In most cases such use of the word is sufficiently clear; as, field battery; field fortification; field gun; field hospital, etc. A field geologist, naturalist, etc., is one who makes investigations or collections out of doors. A survey uses a field book for recording field notes, i.e., measurement, observations, etc., made in field work (outdoor operations). A farmer or planter employs field hands, and may use a field roller or a field derrick. Field sports are hunting, fishing, athletic games, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

Coal field (Geol.) See under Coal. --
Field artillery, light ordnance mounted on wheels, for the use of a marching army. --
Field basil (Bot.), a plant of the Mint family (Calamintha Acinos); -- called also basil thyme. --
Field colors (Mil.), small flags for marking out the positions for squadrons and battalions; camp colors. --
Field cricket (Zool.), a large European cricket (Gryllus campestric), remarkable for its loud notes. --
Field day. (a) A day in the fields. (b) (Mil.) A day when troops are taken into the field for instruction in evolutions. Farrow. (c) A day of unusual exertion or display; a gala day. --
Field driver, in New England, an officer charged with the driving of stray cattle to the pound. --
Field duck (Zool.), the little bustard (Otis tetrax), found in Southern Europe. --
Field glass. (Optics) (a) A binocular telescope of compact form; a lorgnette; a race glass. (b) A small achromatic telescope, from 20 to 24 inches long, and having 3 to 6 draws. (c) See Field lens. --
Field lark. (Zool.) (a) The skylark. (b) The tree pipit. --
Field lens (Optics), that one of the two lenses forming the eyepiece of an astronomical telescope or compound microscope which is nearer the object glass; -- called also field glass. --
Field madder (Bot.), a plant (Sherardia arvensis) used in dyeing. --
Field marshal (Mil.), the highest military rank conferred in the British and other European armies. --
Field officer (Mil.), an officer above the rank of captain and below that of general. --
Field officer's court (U.S.Army), a court-martial consisting of one field officer empowered to try all cases, in time of war, subject to jurisdiction of garrison and regimental courts. Farrow. --
Field plover (Zool.), the black-bellied plover (Charadrius squatarola); also sometimes applied to the Bartramian sandpiper (Bartramia longicauda). --
Field spaniel (Zool.), a small spaniel used in hunting small game. --
Field sparrow. (Zool.) (a) A small American sparrow (Spizella pusilla). (b) The hedge sparrow. [ Eng. ] --
Field staff (Mil.), a staff formerly used by gunners to hold a lighted match for discharging a gun. --
Field vole (Zool.), the European meadow mouse. --
Field of ice, a large body of floating ice; a pack. --
Field, or
Field of view, in a telescope or microscope, the entire space within which objects are seen. --
Field magnet. see under Magnet. --
Magnetic field. See Magnetic. --
To back the field, or
To bet on the field. See under Back, v. t. --
To keep the field. (a) (Mil.) To continue a campaign. (b) To maintain one's ground against all comers. --
To lay against the field or
To back against the field, to bet on (a horse, etc.) against all comers. --
To take the field (Mil.), to enter upon a campaign. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Engaged in the field; encamped. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

To help fielded friends. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Consisting of fields. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The fielden country also and plains. Holland. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Ball Playing) A ball payer who stands out in the field to catch or stop balls. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. feldfare, AS. feldfare; field + faran to travel. ] (Zool.) a small thrush (Turdus pilaris) which breeds in northern Europe and winters in Great Britain. The head, nape, and lower part of the back are ash-colored; the upper part of the back and wing coverts, chestnut; -- called also fellfare. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Ball Playing) The act of playing as a fielder. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Zool.) any nocturnal Old World mouse of the genus Apodemus inhabing woods and fields and gardens. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. (Zool.) any mouse inhabiting fields, as the campagnol and the deer mouse. See Campagnol, and Deer mouse. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A cannon mounted on wheels, for the use of a marching army; a piece of field artillery; -- called also field gun. [ 1913 Webster ]