fieldwork
nounUK /ˈfiːldwɜːk/ · CA, US /ˈfildwɝk/
Etymology From Middle English *felde-werk (found in plural felde werkes), equivalent to field + work.
1
Agriculture, Business, Lifestyle Work done out in the fields as opposed to that done elsewhere on the farm (e.g., barn, house, outbuildings, office).
- The days now were occupied in field work and more field work; he cleared new bits of ground, getting out roots and stones; plowing, manuring, harrowing, working with pick and spade, breaking lumps of soil and crumbling them with hand and heel; a tiller of the ground always, laying out fields like velvet carpets. He waited a couple of days longer―there was a look of rain about―and then he sowed his grain.1917, Knut Hamsun, Growth of the Soil, Book 1, Ch.3, at p.30
- Besides the bookkeeping and marketing, there's a ton of fieldwork to get done this week.
2
Work done out in the real world rather than in controlled conditions.
- That well Bob set up last weekend was some good fieldwork.
3
In scientific research The collection of raw data in the field.
- I thought the fieldwork in the course I was taking was going to be hard, but it was just interviewing people.
4
Rare A temporary fortification built by troops in the field; a defensive earthwork in the field.
- Billy's out building some fieldwork so that our enemies don't walk right over us.
- Related terms
- fieldhand, field test, field trip, in the field