sunbeam

[suhn-beem]

noun

1. a beam or ray of sunlight.

2. Australian Slang.,  a dish or utensil that has not been used during a meal and so does not have to be washed.

sunbeam

/ ˈsʌnˌbiːm /

noun

1. a beam, ray, or stream of sunlight

2. slang,  a piece of crockery or cutlery laid for a meal but remaining unused

Other Word Forms

• sunbeamed adjective
• sunbeamy adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of sunbeam¹

before 1000; Middle English sunnebem, Old English sun ( ne ) bēam. See sun, beam

Example Sentences

The only light came from the sunbeams that angled in at the cave’s arched mouth, some twenty feet away.

Read more on 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.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The classrooms are also bathed in daylight via skylights and clerestories, with sunbeams touching the playfully angled surfaces.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Mom gave him a look that was all sunbeams.

Read more on Literature

On a frigid Wednesday afternoon, sunbeams poured into Maurice Sendak’s studio in Ridgefield, Conn., crisscrossing one another with the precision and warmth of the children’s books that were born in this room.

Read more on New York Times

Related Words

• bulb 
• candle 
• daylight 
• flash 
• glare 
• glow 
• lamp 
• lantern 
• radiation 
• ray 
• star 
• sun 
• sunshine 
• window