DCHP-1 Online

field officer

• 1 the redwinged blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus.

  See also: soldier (black)bird  

  • a1820  (1838)  The inhabitants give this bird the sobriquet of "Field Officer."
  • 1866  . . . and flocks of the red-winged starling, or Field-officer, with jetty plumage and flashing epaulets of red and yellow, chatter round the marshy pools.
  • 1959  Red-Winged Blackbird [is also called] Field officer, field officer bird (the red patches on the wings of the male suggest military insignia. Ont.)

• 2 Fur Trade, Hist. a senior commissioned officer of the Hudson's Bay Company.

  • 1934  One of these [practices] was the admission of field officers (chief factors and chief traders) to partnership in the concern.
  • 1945  . . . James Cumines, erstwhile trader, now field officer. . . .