field of fire
4
8.8
- noun
- /fiːld əv faɪər/
- Specialized
:
campo de tiro
- From that position, his field of fire could control access to the chopper pad, modular living quarters, and the majority of the platform deck areas.
- a clear field of fire
- a good field of fire
- provide a field of fire
Outside the walls, homes are levelled to clear fields of fire.
- Outside the walls, homes are levelled to clear fields of fire.
Examples
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With its sturdy stone structure, the clear fields of fire around it, and their stockpiles of supplies, the Germans expected to hold out in the opera house indefinitely.
Blog text (21) -
I want a secure perimeter with a clear field of fire.
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Maintain your fields of fire.
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I want a clear field of fire in all directions.
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Set up a field of fire along this ridge.
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Platoon leaders, check your field of fire!
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We get them in overlapping fields of fire.
-
From there, he had a clear field of fire without shooting toward the house, and a line of retreat into the barn if he needed one.
Fiction book (1992) -
The remaining bodyguard is laying down a withering field of fire, and one of the attackers falls.
Fiction book (2000) -
I want a secure perimeter with a clear field of fire.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'the area covered by gunfire' is directly derivable from combining 'field' (an area) with 'of fire' (fire understood as gunfire/shooting), following a straightforward noun + of + noun compositional pattern. This construction is common cross‑linguistically and uses literal senses of the constituents, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Field of fire comes from soldiers naming the open field in front of them where their guns could send fire (bullets or shells). That's why it now means 'the area that can be covered by gunfire'.