Bible dictionaries

Field

What Bible dictionaries say about “Field”, one article after the other.

Easton’s Bible Dictionary & Webster’s 1828 Dictionary

Field - (Easton's Bible Dictionary)

(Heb. sadeh), a cultivated field, but unenclosed. It is applied to any cultivated ground or pasture (Gen. 29:2; 31:4; 34:7), or tillage (Gen. 37:7; 47:24). It is also applied to woodland (Ps. 132:6) or mountain top (Judg. 9:32, 36; 2 Sam. 1:21). It denotes sometimes a cultivated region as opposed to the wilderness (Gen. 33:19; 36:35). Unwalled villages or scattered houses are spoken of as "in the fields" (Deut. 28:3, 16; Lev. 25:31; Mark 6:36, 56). The "open field" is a place remote from a house (Gen. 4:8; Lev. 14:7, 53; 17:5). Cultivated land of any extent was called a field (Gen. 23:13, 17; 41:8; Lev. 27:16; Ruth 4:5; Neh. 12:29).

Field - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

FIELD, n.

1. A piece of land inclosed for tillage or pasture; any part of a farm, except the garden and appurtenances of the mansion; properly land not covered with wood, and more strictly applicable to tillage land than to mowing land, which is often called meadow. But we say, the master of the house is in the field with his laborers, when he is at a distance from his house on his farm. He is in the field, plowing, sowing, reaping or making hay.

2. Ground not inclosed.

3. The ground where a battle is fought.

We say, the field of battle; these veterans are excellent soldiers in the field.

4. A battle; action in the field.

What though the field be lost.

5. To keep the field, is to keep the campaign open; to live in tents, or to be in a state of active operations. At the approach of cold weather, the troops, unable to keep the field, were ordered into winter quarters.

6. A wide expanse.

Ask of yonder argent fields above.

7. Open space for action or operation; compass; extent. This subject opens a wide field for contemplation.

8. A piece or tract of land.

The field I give thee and the cave that is therein.

Gen 23.

9. The ground or blank space on which figures are drawn; as the field or ground of a picture.

10. In heraldry, the whole surface of the shield, or the continent.

11. In scripture, field often signifies the open country, ground not inclosed, as it may in some countries in modern times.

12. A field of ice, a large body of floating ice.

Matthew George Easton, Easton’s Bible Dictionary; Noah Webster, American Dictionary of the English Language (1828)

The article in Easton + Webster 1828

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE 1915)

feld.

See AGRICULTURE.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia — James Orr, general editor and contributors; CrossWire SWORD module ISBE 2.2

The article in ISBE 1915

Smith’s Bible Dictionary

The Hebrew sadeh is applied to any cultivated ground, and in some instances in marked opposition to the neighboring wilderness. On the other hand the sadeh is frequently contrasted with what is enclosed, whether a vineyard, a garden or a walled town. In many passages the term implies what is remote from a house, (Genesis 4:8; 24:63; 22:25) or settled habitation, as in the case of Esau. (Genesis 25:27) The separate plots of ground were marked off by stones, which might easily be removed, (19:14; 27:17) cf. Job 24:2; Prov 22:28; 23:10 The absence of fences rendered the fields liable to damage from straying cattle, (Exodus 22:5) or fire, (Exodus 22:6; 2 Samuel 14:30) hence the necessity of constantly watching flocks and herds. From the absence of enclosures, cultivated land of any size might be termed a field.

William Smith; revised by F. N. Peloubet and M. A. Peloubet; CrossWire SWORD module Smith 1.3

The article in Smith