# fielder

Pronunciation: say "FEELD-er" US /ˈfildɚ/, UK /ˈfiːldə/; AUS say "FEEL-duh"

## Noun

1. A defensive player positioned in the field whose job is to catch or stop balls hit by the batter.
   - Simple: A defensive player who tries to catch or stop the ball in baseball or softball.
   - _The fielder fired the ball to second base to complete the double play._
   - _Quick fielders can turn a sure hit into an easy out._
2. A player on the fielding side in cricket whose job is to gather the ball after the batter has hit it, catch the batter out, or stop them from scoring.
   - Simple: In cricket, a player on the bowling team who stops the ball, catches batters out, and keeps runs down.
   - _The fielder at slip dove low to take a brilliant one-handed catch._
   - _Boundary fielders chased the ball to save two runs._
3. Agent noun of field. — Agent noun of field: one who fields anything.
   - Simple: Agent noun of field. Names a person or thing that fields something: that gathers or handles it.
   - _A skilled fielder of difficult questions, the spokesman never lost his composure._
   - _She became the office's unofficial fielder of every odd request._

## Noun

4. A laborer who works in the fields; a fieldworker. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A person who works in the fields, such as a farm laborer.

## Other meanings

- (noun) A dog trained in pursuit of game in the field.

## Origin

**Meanings 1, 4** — From Middle English feldere ("one who works in the field; rustic"), from Old English feldeware ("field-dweller"), equivalent to field plus -er. The baseball sense dates from 1832.
**Meanings 2–3** — From the verb field combined with the suffix -er.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/fielder (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).