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cover the field

Idioms  
  1. Also,. Be comprehensive. For example, The review course will cover the field very well, or Bob's new assignment really covers the territory, or The superintendent's speech covered the waterfront on the drug problem. These expressions all employ the verb cover in the sense of “extend over” or “include,” a usage dating from the late 1700s, with the nouns (field, ground, territory, waterfront) each meaning “whole area.”


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“I changed it a bit to cover the field better. From that moment on we had the right game. Either I did badly at first or well afterwards.”

From Seattle Times • Aug. 18, 2022

Chief Ralph Terrazas told me that with some juggling here and some maneuvering there, he can cover the field while the department fills the vacancies.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 4, 2021

The skies opened again at 9:02 p.m., forcing the grounds crew to sprint toward the tarp and cover the field before the top of the sixth.

From Washington Post • Jul. 1, 2021

“And one unit can cover the field pretty well. We literally sat down and sketched it out on a piece of paper and figured out how these two systems could talk to each other.”

From New York Times • Sep. 30, 2016

Stray leaves cover the field, like headstones in a cemetery.

From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer

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