a guiding or warning signal, as a light or fire, especially one in an elevated position.
a tower or hill used for such purposes.
a lighthouse, signal buoy, etc., on a shore or at a dangerous area at sea to warn and guide vessels.
Navigation.
a radar device at a fixed location that, upon receiving a radar pulse, transmits a reply pulse that enables the original sender to determine their position relative to the fixed location.
a person, act, or thing that warns or guides.
a person or thing that illuminates or inspires.
The Bible has been our beacon during this trouble.
Digital Technology.
a low-energy radio transmitter at a specific location within a store, museum, office space, etc., which identifies nearby mobile devices in order to send them location-specific messages or collect location-specific data.
There must be a beacon in the luggage aisle because I just got a coupon for this suitcase on my phone.
to serve as a beacon to; warn or guide.
to furnish or mark with beacons.
a ship assigned to beacon the shoals.
a signal fire or light on a hill, tower, etc, esp one used formerly as a warning of invasion
a hill on which such fires were lit
a lighthouse, signalling buoy, etc, used to warn or guide ships in dangerous waters
short for radio beacon
a radio or other signal marking a flight course in air navigation
short for Belisha beacon
a person or thing that serves as a guide, inspiration, or warning
a stone set by a surveyor to mark a corner or line of a site boundary, etc
to guide or warn
(intr) to shine
First recorded before 950; Middle English beken, Old English bēacen “sign, signal”; cognate with Old Frisian bāken, Old Saxon bōkan, Old High German bouhhan
If your nose is shining like a beacon, I hope you are a reindeer employed by a jolly fat man from the North Pole. Beacon comes from an Old English word meaning “sign,” and that's what actual beacons are for lost ships: signs of having made it to land. Beacons are often some kind of light, like the bonfires that the ancient Greeks lit on hillsides to communicate that an army had come home from overseas. You'll also see beacon used figuratively, especially in the phrase “beacon of hope.”
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“Sid never slowed down, attending his final show where it all began just last November in his home state of Rhode Island. Sid was a beacon of light and will be greatly missed.”
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 13, 2026
Soon after the airman landed, he was able to get to an elevated ridge and make contact by activating an emergency beacon to send his proof of life, according to senior officials.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 5, 2026
They wear a combat vest which contains a radio/GPS-coded beacon to transmit their position, while they also carry water, food, first-aid material and a pistol in order to survive.
From Barron's • Apr. 5, 2026
According to reports in US media, the airman hid himself in a mountain crevice and restricted the use of his beacon - concerned the signal could be picked up by Iran.
From BBC • Apr. 5, 2026
Under the low red glare of sunset, the beacon, and the gibbet, and the mound of the Battery, and the opposite shore of the river, were plain, though all of a watery lead colour.
From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
