fieldwork

Noun

fieldwork (countable and uncountable, plural fieldworks)

1. (uncountable) 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...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.

   Synonyms:

   outwork

2. (uncountable) Work done out in the real world rather than in controlled conditions.
   • That well Bob set up last weekend was some good fieldwork.
3. 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. (countable, 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.