beam

[beem]

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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR beam ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

any of various relatively long pieces of metal, wood, stone, etc., manufactured or shaped especially for use as rigid members or parts of structures or machines.

Building Trades. a horizontal bearing member, as a joist or lintel.

Engineering. a rigid member or structure supported at each end, subject to bending stresses from a direction perpendicular to its length.

Nautical.

a horizontal structural member, usually transverse, for supporting the decks and flats of a vessel.
the extreme width of a vessel.
the shank of an anchor.

Aeronautics. the direction perpendicular to the plane of symmetry of an aircraft and outward from the side.

the widest part.

Slang. the measure across both hips or buttocks: broad in the beam.

Machinery.

walking beam.
(in a loom) a roller or cylinder on which the warp is wound before weaving.
a similar cylinder on which cloth is wound as it is woven.

the crossbar of a balance, from the ends of which the scales or pans are suspended.

a ray of light: The sun shed its beams upon the vineyard.

a group of nearly parallel rays.

Radio, Aeronautics. a signal transmitted along a narrow course, used to guide pilots through darkness, bad weather, etc.

Electronics. a narrow stream of electrons, as that emitted from the electron gun of a cathode ray tube.

the angle at which a microphone or loudspeaker functions best.

the cone-shaped range of effective use of a microphone or loudspeaker.

Citizens Band Radio Slang. beam antenna.

a gleam; suggestion: a beam of hope.

a radiant smile.

the principal stem of the antler of a deer.

verb (used with object)

to emit in or as in beams or rays.

Radio. to transmit (a signal) in a particular direction.

Radio and Television. to direct (a program, commercial message, etc.) to a predetermined audience.

verb (used without object)

to emit beams, as of light.

to smile radiantly or happily.

Idioms

beam in, Citizens Band Radio Slang. to be received under optimum conditions; be heard loud and clear: They told me I was really beaming in.

fly the beam, Radio, Aeronautics. (of an aircraft) to be guided by a beam.

off the beam,

not on the course indicated by a radio beam.
Informal.wrong; incorrect: The pollsters were off the beam again for the last presidential election.

on the beam,

on the course indicated by a radio beam, as an airplane.
Nautical.at right angles to the keel.
Informal.proceeding well; correct; exact: Their research is right on the beam and the results should be very valuable.

Origin of beam

before 900; Middle English beem, Old English bēam tree, post, ray of light; cognate with Old Frisian bām, Old Saxon bōm, Dutch boom, Old High German boum (German Baum), Gothic bagms, Old Norse bathmr tree; the identity of the consonant which has assimilated itself to the following m is unclear, as is the original root; perhaps Germanic *bagmaz < *bargmaz < Indo-European *bhorǵh-mos growth; see barrow²

Related formsbeam·less, adjectivebeam·like, adjectiveout·beam, verb (used with object)un·beamed, adjectiveun·der·beam, noun

Synonyms for beam

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR beam ON THESAURUS.COM

10. See gleam. 20. See shine¹.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for beam

girder, scaffolding, joist, shaft, pillar, pole, plank, timber, sill, radiation, bar, glow, ray, laser, shine, glare, transmit, radiate, emit

Examples from the Web for beam

Contemporary Examples of beam

Back then, no one ever imagined needing to beam live video to ground troops from a fighter jet.
Newest U.S. Stealth Fighter ‘10 Years Behind’ Older Jets
Dave Majumdar
December 26, 2014
Her door stands ajar, halving the room with a beam of light.
After the Genocide, Rwanda’s Widows Aging Alone
Nina Strochlic
August 31, 2014
The pulses are from a beam of light produced by the intense magnetic field, which sweeps across Earth as the neutron star rotates.
The Weirdest Object in the Universe
Matthew R. Francis
May 18, 2014
He set in place the beam on the 104th floor signed by President Obama and the First Lady.
Hero or Criminal? James Brady, the WTC Ironworker Who Jumped Off the Building
Michael Daly
March 25, 2014
Rather than plunging us into innocent love with an apparent stranger, they beam our conscious self-regard back at ourselves.
In Defense of the Selfie, Oxford English Dictionary’s Word of the Year
James Poulos
November 20, 2013

Historical Examples of beam

I keep the beam out of my own eye which I have no hope of pulling out of my neighhour's.
Weighed and Wanting
George MacDonald
Here the gatekeeper thrust in the beam to hold the gate shut.
Buried Cities: Pompeii, Olympia, Mycenae
Jennie Hall
A beam of light touching Ferry's face made his smile haggard.
The Cavalier
George Washington Cable
Her beam was irresistible, and they went to the large parlor.
The Cavalier
George Washington Cable
A Goliath o' Gath, wha hath a stroke like untae a weaver's beam.
Micah Clarke
Arthur Conan Doyle

British Dictionary definitions for beam

beam

noun

a long thick straight-sided piece of wood, metal, concrete, etc, esp one used as a horizontal structural member

any rigid member or structure that is loaded transversely

the breadth of a ship or boat taken at its widest part, usually amidships

a ray or column of light, as from a beacon

a broad smile

one of the two cylindrical rollers on a loom, one of which holds the warp threads before weaving, the other the finished work

the main stem of a deer's antler from which the smaller branches grow

the central shaft of a plough to which all the main parts are attached

a narrow unidirectional flow of electromagnetic radiation or particlesa beam of light; an electron beam

the horizontal centrally pivoted bar in a balance

informal the width of the hips (esp in the phrase broad in the beam)

a beam in one's eye a fault or grave error greater in oneself than in another person

off beam or off the beam

not following a radio beam to maintain a course
informalwrong, mistaken, or irrelevant

on the beam

following a radio beam to maintain a course
nauticalopposite the beam of a vessel; abeam
informalcorrect, relevant, or appropriate

verb

to send out or radiate (rays of light)

(tr) to divert or aim (a radio signal or broadcast, light, etc) in a certain directionto beam a programme to Tokyo

to pass (data, esp business card details, etc) from one hand-held computer to another by means of infrared beams

(intr) to smile broadly with pleasure or satisfaction

Derived Formsbeamed, adjectivebeaming, adjective, nounbeamless, adjectivebeamlike, adjectivebeamy, adjective

Word Origin for beam

Old English beam; related to Gothic bagms tree, Old High German boum tree

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for beam

Old English beam originally "living tree," but by late 10c. also "rafter, post, ship's timber," from Proto-Germanic *baumaz (cf. Old Norse baðmr, Old Frisian bam "tree, gallows, beam," Middle Dutch boom, Old High German boum, German Baum "tree," Gothic bagms), perhaps from PIE verb root *bheue- "to grow" (see be). The shift from *-au- to -ea- is regular in Old English.

Meaning "ray of light" developed in Old English, probably because it was used by Bede to render Latin columna lucis, the Biblical "pillar of fire." Nautical sense of "one of the horizontal transverse timbers holding a ship together" is from early 13c., hence "greatest breadth of a ship," and slang broad in the beam "wide-hipped" (of persons). To be on the beam (1941) was originally an aviator's term for "to follow the course indicated by a radio beam."

"emit rays of light," early 15c., from beam (n.) in the "ray of light" sense. Sense of "to smile radiantly" is from 1804; that of "to direct radio transmissions" is from 1927. Related: Beamed; beaming.

Idioms and Phrases with beam

beam

see broad in the beam; off the beam.