Coal n.
 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 Brown 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.


 field n.
 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; as, wide-field binoculars.
    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.
 8. Specifically: Baseball That part of the grounds reserved for the players which is outside of the diamond; -- called also outfield.
 11. A collective term for all the competitors in any outdoor contest or trial, or for all except the favorites in the betting.
 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 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.

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