beam-ends

American  

[beem-endz] / ˈbimˌɛndz /

plural noun

1. Nautical. the ends of the transverse deck beams of a vessel.

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idioms

1. on her beam-ends, heeled so far on one side that the deck is practically vertical.

   The schooner was blown over on her beam-ends.

2. on one's / the beam-ends, in desperate straits, especially financial straits. Also on the beam's ends.

beam-ends British  

plural noun

1. the ends of a vessel's beams

2. (of a vessel) heeled over through an angle of 90°

3. 1. out of resources; destitute

   2. desperate

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Etymology

Origin of beam-ends

First recorded in 1765–75

Example Sentences

In the ruinous days of September 1940, a bomb blasted two of the museum's rooms into reportedly picturesque and possibly symbolic confusion: Hitler lurched on his beam-ends, his head chipped to its core.

From Time Magazine Archive

I'd got on my beam-ends in Oporto, and couldn't afford to be fastidious about a berth.

From The Recipe for Diamonds by Hyne, Charles John Cutcliffe Wright

She was down on her beam-ends, with the sea breaking over her.

From The Secret of the Reef by Bindloss, Harold

I was on my beam-ends, without a dollar in my pocket, when he held out his hand to me.

From Long Odds by Bindloss, Harold

On May 14th the Hecla reached Hakluyt’s Headland, where a severe gale was encountered, which almost laid the ship on her beam-ends, and her canvas had to be reduced to her maintop-sail and storm-sails.

From The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism. Volume 3 by Whymper, Frederick