FIELD, open country as opposed to woodland, and partic ularly land for cultivation divided up into separate portions by hedges, banks, stone walls, etc. (Ger. Feld, Dutch veld, from the Gr. root rXaros, broad). The word is applied to a region with particular reference to its products, as oil-field, gold-field, etc. There are many applications of the word; thus from the use of the term for the place where a battle is fought, or for the whole theatre of war, come such phrases as to "take the field" for the opening of a campaign, "in the field" of troops engaged in the operations of a campaign (also "field-fortifications" and "field-day"). A "field-officer" ranks above a captain and below a general (see OFFICERS) ; a field marshal is the highest general officer in the British and many European armies (see MARSHAL). "To field" in certain games is to stop or catch the ball played by the "in" side. "The field" is used in hunting, for those tak ing part in the sport, and in racing for all the horses entered for a race, and, in such expressions as "to back the field," is confined to all the horses with the exception of the "favourite." A common application of the word is to a wide surface as of the sky or sea, or of such physical phenomena as ice or snow, or to the ground on which armorial bearings are displayed (see HERALDRY) , or the "ground" of a flag; thus the white ensign of the British navy has a red St. George's cross on a white "field." The word is used in science of the sphere of observation or of operations, and has come to be almost equivalent to a department of knowledge. In physics it is particularly applied to the area in fluenced by some agent, e.g., the magnetic or electric field. A "field-glass" is the name given to a binocular glass used in the field (see BINOCULAR INSTRUMENT). See also COMMONS; FIELD SYSTEM.