Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Field \Field\, n. [OE. feld, fild, AS. feld; akin to D. veld, G.
   feld, Sw. f["a]lt, 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.

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

            Fields which promise corn and wine.   --Byron.

   3. A place where a battle is fought; also, the battle itself.

            In this glorious and well-foughten field. --Shak.

            What though the field be lost?        --Milton.

   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.

                Without covering, save yon field of stars.
                                                  --Shak.

                Ask of yonder argent fields above. --Pope.

   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).

   6. An unresticted or favorable opportunity for action,
      operation, or achievement; province; room.

            Afforded a clear field for moral experiments.
                                                  --Macaulay.

   7. A collective term for all the competitors in any outdoor
      contest or trial, or for all except the favorites in the
      betting.

   8. (Baseball) That part of the grounds reserved for the
      players which is outside of the diamond; -- called also
      {outfield}.

   Note: 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.,
         measurment, 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.

   {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} (Zo["o]l.), 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} (Zo["o]l.), 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}. (Zo["o]l.)
      (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 mouse} (Zo["o]l.), a mouse inhabiting fields, as the
      campagnol and the deer mouse. See {Campagnol}, and {Deer
      mouse}.

   {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} (Zo["o]l.), the black-bellied plover
      ({Charadrius squatarola}); also sometimes applied to the
      Bartramian sandpiper ({Bartramia longicauda}).

   {Field spaniel} (Zo["o]l.), a small spaniel used in hunting
      small game.

   {Field sparrow}. (Zo["o]l.)
      (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} (Zo["o]l.), 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, or back}, {against the field}, to bet on (a horse,
      etc.) against all comers.

   {To take the field} (Mil.), to enter upon a campaign.

Coal \Coal\, n. [AS. col; akin to D. kool, OHG. chol, cholo, G.
   kohle, Icel. kol, pl., Sw. kol, Dan. kul; cf. Skr. jval to
   burn. Cf. {Kiln}, {Collier}.]
   1. A thoroughly charred, and extinguished or still ignited,
      fragment from wood or other combustible substance;
      charcoal.

   2. (Min.) A black, or brownish black, solid, combustible
      substance, dug from beds or veins in the earth to be used
      for fuel, and consisting, like charcoal, mainly of carbon,
      but more compact, and often affording, when heated, a
      large amount of volatile matter.

   Note: This word is often used adjectively, or as the first
         part of self-explaining compounds; as, coal-black; coal
         formation; coal scuttle; coal ship. etc.

   Note: In England the plural coals is used, for the broken
         mineral coal burned in grates, etc.; as, to put coals
         on the fire. In the United States the singular in a
         collective sense is the customary usage; as, a hod of
         coal.

   {Age of coal plants}. See {Age of Acrogens}, under {Acrogen}.
      

   {Anthracite} or {Glance coal}. See {Anthracite}.

   {Bituminous coal}. See under {Bituminous}.

   {Blind coal}. See under {Blind}.

   {Brown coal}, or {Lignite}. See {Lignite}.

   {Caking coal}, a bituminous coal, which softens and becomes
      pasty or semi-viscid when heated. On increasing the heat,
      the volatile products are driven off, and a coherent,
      grayish black, cellular mass of coke is left.

   {Cannel coal}, a very compact bituminous coal, of fine
      texture and dull luster. See {Cannel coal}.

   {Coal bed} (Geol.), a layer or stratum of mineral coal.

   {Coal breaker}, a structure including machines and machinery
      adapted for crushing, cleansing, and assorting coal.

   {Coal field} (Geol.), a region in which deposits of coal
      occur. Such regions have often a basinlike structure, and
      are hence called {coal basins}. See {Basin}.

   {Coal gas}, a variety of carbureted hydrogen, procured from
      bituminous coal, used in lighting streets, houses, etc.,
      and for cooking and heating.

   {Coal heaver}, a man employed in carrying coal, and esp. in
      putting it in, and discharging it from, ships.

   {Coal measures}. (Geol.)
      (a) Strata of coal with the attendant rocks.
      (b) A subdivision of the carboniferous formation, between
          the millstone grit below and the Permian formation
          above, and including nearly all the workable coal beds
          of the world.

   {Coal oil}, a general name for mineral oils; petroleum.

   {Coal plant} (Geol.), one of the remains or impressions of
      plants found in the strata of the coal formation.

   {Coal tar}. See in the Vocabulary.

   {To haul over the coals}, to call to account; to scold or
      censure. [Colloq.]

   {Wood coal}. See {Lignite}.