Does “field" here mean "answer adequately or successfully"?

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The New York Times described the site as a mashup of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.[3] One may "follow" a research interest, in addition to following individual users.[8] It has a blogging feature for users to write short reviews on peer-reviewed articles.[8] ResearchGate indexes self-published information on user profiles to suggest members to connect with those who have similar interests.[3] When a user posts a question, it is fielded to scientists that have identified on their user profile that they have a relevant expertise.[4] It also has private chat rooms where scientists can share data, edit shared documents, or discuss confidential topics.[7]

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Type: Question • Score: 3 • Views: 843 • Replies: 7

View best answer, chosen by oristarA

@oristarA,

It means "sent" or "forwarded". I must say this is a strange use of the word "field".

1 Reply

@manored,

Thanks

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@oristarA,

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/fielded

. field·ed, field·ing, fields
v.tr.
1.
a. Sports To catch or pick up (a ball) and often make a throw to another player, especially in baseball.
b. To respond to or deal with: fielded tough questions from the press.

__

it's almost like they've combined the two definitions

they've received/caught a question and are throwing it to an expert to answer

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Yes. I'd say it was a mistake.

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I think it's an acceptable use of the idiom, especially given ehBeth's post. It successfully conveys the intended message (to me, anyway).

http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/field+a+question

http://www.goenglish.com/Idioms/Field+Questions.asp

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@FBM,

When you field a question, you accept it and answer it.
When you collect it and send it to a third person, you're doing something else.
So I think the idiom is being stretched too far in this case, and that's why to me it is a mistake ( probably in the interest of trendy-speak).
But the intended meaning is not difficult to guess, so no biggie.

Does “field" here mean "answer adequately or successfully"?

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