field graden.
/ˈfiːld ˌɡreɪd/, U.S. /ˈfil(d) ˈɡreɪd/ Military (chiefly U.S.).
The rank or grade of a field officer; (each of) the ranks above captain and below general officer. Cf. field officer n. 1.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > warrior > soldier > leader or commander > officer or soldier of rank > [noun] > field-officer > position of
field grade1836
field-officerism1837
1836 G. Bomford Let. 30 May in Public Documents U.S. Senate (24th Congress, 1st Sess.) (1836) V. No. 388. No. 388. 3 Increase the number of the higher, or field grades, and thus place the ordnance on an equality in this respect with other staff departments of the army.
1862 J. E. B. Stuart Let. 14 July in F. Moore Rebellion Rec. (1866) IX. 453/1 In either cavalry or artillery, no field grade is too high for his merit and capacity.
1950 Times 24 May 6/2 Soviet officers of field grade wearing standard German police uniforms are attached to each officer school.
1994 William & Mary Q. 51 258 Those regularly appointed directly to the field grades of new regiments averaged thirty-nine years of age when commissioned.
Compounds
General attributive, esp. in field-grade officer, field-grade rank.
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1932 Appleton (Wisconsin) Post-Crescent 25 Nov. 5/6 Field grade officers, many of whom have had World war experience.
1938 Los Angeles Times 1 May 8/3 The War Department..could furnish a sufficient number of Regular Army officers of field grade rank to carry on the necessary supervisory work.
1980 E. P. McCaughey From Loyalist to Founding Father 291 Not until 1758 did the Assembly elevate an avowed Anglican to a field grade rank.
1993 Amer. Heritage Nov. 64/1 Thomason feared he wouldn't be getting his ticket punched for the field-grade promotions that lay ahead.
2000 T. Clancy Bear & Dragon xvii. 260 Careerist officers just serving their time and filling out their forms, as if that were what it meant to be a field-grade officer.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1836