field: [OE] Like plain, field seems originally to have meant ‘a(chǎn)rea of flat, open land’. It comes ultimately from the Indo-European base *plth-, which also produced Greek platús ‘broad’, English place and plaice, and possibly also English flan and flat. A noun derived from it, *peltus, entered prehistoric West Germanic as *felthuz, which subsequently disseminated as German feld, Dutch veld (English acquired veld or veldt [19] via its Afrikaans offshoot), and English field. => flan, flat, place, plaice, veld
field (n.)
Old English feld "plain, pasture, open land, cultivated land" (as opposed to woodland), also "a parcel of land marked off and used for pasture or tillage," probably related to Old English folde "earth, land," from Proto-Germanic *felthuz "flat land" (Cognates: Old Saxon and Old Frisian feld "field," Old Saxon folda "earth," Middle Dutch velt, Dutch veld Old High German felt, German Feld "field," but not found originally outside West Germanic; Swedish f?lt, Danish felt are borrowed from German; Finnish pelto "field" is believed to have been adapted from Proto-Germanic). This is from PIE *pel(e)-tu-, from root *pele- (2) "flat, to spread" (see plane (n.1)). The English spelling with -ie- probably is the work of Anglo-French scribes (compare brief, piece).
As "battle-ground," c. 1300. Meaning "sphere or range of any related things" is from mid-14c. Physics sense is from 1845. Collective use for "all engaged in a sport" (or, in horse-racing, all but the favorite) is 1742; play the field "avoid commitment" (1936) is from notion of gamblers betting on other horses than the favorite. Cricket and baseball sense of "ground on which the game is played" is from 1875. Sense of "tract of ground where something is obtained or extracted" is from 1859. As an adjective in Old English combinations, often with a sense of "rural, rustic" (feldcirice "country-church," feldlic "rural"). Of slaves, "assigned to work in the fields" (1817, in field-hand), opposed to house. A field-trial originally was of hunting dogs.
field (v.)
"to go out to fight," 16c., from field (n.) in the specific sense of "battlefield" (Old English). The sports meaning "to stop and return the ball" is first recorded 1823, originally in cricket; figurative sense of this is from 1902. Related: Fielded; fielding.
雙語例句
1. He was the fastest thing I ever saw on a baseball field.
他是我在棒球場上見過的跑得最快的家伙。
來自柯林斯例句
2. Pinch-hitter Francisco Cabrera lashed a single to left field.
替補隊員弗朗西斯科·卡布雷拉向左外場猛地擊出一個一壘打。
來自柯林斯例句
3. He was on the training field for some light work yesterday.
昨天他在訓練場進行了一些強度較小的訓練。
來自柯林斯例句
4. Expertly he zigzagged his way across the field, avoiding the deeper gullies.