sunbeam
Americannoun
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a beam or ray of sunlight.
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Australian Slang. a dish or utensil that has not been used during a meal and so does not have to be washed.
noun
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a beam, ray, or stream of sunlight
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slang a piece of crockery or cutlery laid for a meal but remaining unused
Other Word Forms
- sunbeamed adjective
- sunbeamy adjective
Etymology
Origin of sunbeam
before 1000; Middle English sunnebem, Old English sun ( ne ) bēam. See sun, beam
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.
Yosemite’s firefall — the winter convergence of sunbeams and falling water that has drawn growing crowds to the national park’s Horsetail Falls — will be different this year.
From Los Angeles Times
People name their children after her and tattoo their skin with her likeness: a queenly woman surrounded by sunbeams, her head bowed in prayer.
From Los Angeles Times
He’s the human version of a big St. Bernard sprawled out in a sunbeam.
From Literature
The only light came from the sunbeams that angled in at the cave’s arched mouth, some twenty feet away.
From Literature
Kristin Chenoweth is a dazzling performer—a sunbeam who shines so brightly when she steps on a Broadway stage you might be tempted to reach for sunglasses.
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.
