Adjacent Words

Beam definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

BEAM, n. [We see by the Gothic, that the word belongs to Class Bg. It properly signifies the stock or stem of a tree; that is, the fixed, firm part.]
1. The largest, or a principal piece in a building, that lies across the walls, and serves to support the principal rafters.
2. Any large piece of timber, long in proportion to its thickness, and squared, or hewed for use.
3. The part of a balance, from the ends of which the scales are suspended; sometimes used for the whole apparatus for weighing.
4. The part on the head of a stag, which bears the antlers, royals and tops.
5. The pole of a carriage, which runs between the horses.
6. A cylinder of wood, making part of a loom, on which weavers wind the warp before weaving; and this name is given also to the cylinder on which the cloth is rolled,as it is wove.
7. The straight part or shank of an anchor.
8. In ships, a great main cross timber, which holds the sides of a ship from falling together. The beams support the decks and orlops. The main beam is next the mainmast.
9. The main piece of a plow, in which the plow-tails are fixed, and by which it is drawn.
10. Beam compass, an instrument consisting of a square wooden or brass beam, having sliding sockets, that carry steel or pencil points; used for describing large circles, and in large projections for drawing the furniture on wall-dials.
On the beam, in navigation, signified any distance from the ship, on a line with the beams, or at right angles with the keel.
Before the beam, is an arch of the horizon between a line that crosses the ship at right angles, or the line of the beam, and that point of the compass which she steers.
Beam ends. A vessel is said to be on her beam ends, when she inclines so much on one side that her beams approach a vertical position.
Beam-feathers, in falconry, the long feathers of a hawk's wing.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a signal transmitted along a narrow path; guides airplane pilots in darkness or bad weather [syn: radio beam, beam]
2: long thick piece of wood or metal or concrete, etc., used in construction
3: a group of nearly parallel lines of electromagnetic radiation [syn: beam, ray, electron beam]
4: a column of light (as from a beacon) [syn: beam, beam of light, light beam, ray, ray of light, shaft, shaft of light, irradiation]
5: (nautical) breadth amidships
6: the broad side of a ship; "they sighted land on the port beam"
7: a gymnastic apparatus used by women gymnasts [syn: balance beam, beam] v
1: smile radiantly; express joy through one's facial expression
2: emit light; be bright, as of the sun or a light; "The sun shone bright that day"; "The fire beamed on their faces" [syn: shine, beam]
3: express with a beaming face or smile; "he beamed his approval"
4: broadcast over the airwaves, as in radio or television; "We cannot air this X-rated song" [syn: air, send, broadcast, beam, transmit]
5: have a complexion with a strong bright color, such as red or pink; "Her face glowed when she came out of the sauna" [syn: glow, beam, radiate, shine]
6: experience a feeling of well-being or happiness, as from good health or an intense emotion; "She was beaming with joy"; "Her face radiated with happiness" [syn: glow, beam, radiate, shine]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English beem, from Old English b?am tree, beam; akin to Old High German boum tree Date: before 12th century 1. a. a long piece of heavy often squared timber suitable for use in construction b. a wood or metal cylinder in a loom on which the warp is wound c. the part of a plow to which handles, standard, and coulter are attached d. the bar of a balance from which scales hang e. one of the principal horizontal supporting members (as of a building or ship) <a steel beam supporting a floor>; also boom, spar <the beam of a crane> f. the extreme width of a ship at the widest part g. an oscillating lever on a central axis receiving motion at one end from an engine connecting rod and transmitting it at the other 2. a. a ray or shaft of light b. a collection of nearly parallel rays (as X rays) or a stream of particles (as electrons) c. a constant directional radio signal transmitted for the guidance of pilots; also the course indicated by a radio beam 3. the main stem of a deer's antler 4. the width of the buttocks II. verb Date: 15th century transitive verb 1. to emit in beams or as a beam 2. to support with beams 3. a. to transmit especially by satellite ; broadcast b. to transmit (data) electronically c. to direct to a particular audience intransitive verb 1. to send out beams of light 2. to smile with joy

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 a long sturdy piece of squared timber or metal spanning an opening or room, usu. to support the structure above. 2 a a ray or shaft of light. b a directional flow of particles or radiation. 3 a bright look or smile. 4 a a series of radio or radar signals as a guide to a ship or aircraft. b the course indicated by this (off beam). 5 the crossbar of a balance. 6 a a ship's breadth at its widest point. b the width of a person's hips (esp. broad in the beam). 7 (in pl.) the horizontal cross-timbers of a ship supporting the deck and joining the sides. 8 the side of a ship (land on the port beam). 9 the chief timber of a plough. 10 the cylinder in a loom on which the warp or cloth is wound. 11 the main stem of a stag's antlers. 12 the lever in an engine connecting the piston-rod and crank. 13 the shank of an anchor. --v. 1 tr. emit or direct (light, radio waves, etc.). 2 intr. a shine. b look or smile radiantly. Phrases and idioms: beam-compass (or -compasses) compasses with a beam connecting sliding sockets, used for large circles. a beam in one's eye a fault that is greater in oneself than in the person one is finding fault with (see Matt.
7:3). off beam colloq. mistaken. on the beam colloq. on the right track. on the beam-ends (of a ship) on its side; almost capsizing. on one's beam-ends near the end of one's resources. Etymology: OE beam tree f. WG

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Beam Beam, n. [AS. be['a]m beam, post, tree, ray of light; akin to OFries. b[=a]m tree, OS. b?m, D. boom, OHG. boum, poum, G. baum, Icel. ba?mr, Goth. bahms and Gr. ? a growth, ? to become, to be. Cf. L. radius staff, rod, spoke of a wheel, beam or ray, and G. strahl arrow, spoke of a wheel, ray or beam, flash of lightning. ?97. See Be; cf. Boom a spar.] 1. Any large piece of timber or iron long in proportion to its thickness, and prepared for use. 2. One of the principal horizontal timbers of a building or ship. The beams of a vessel are strong pieces of timber stretching across from side to side to support the decks. --Totten. 3. The width of a vessel; as, one vessel is said to have more beam than another. 4. The bar of a balance, from the ends of which the scales are suspended. The doubtful beam long nods from side to side. --Pope. 5. The principal stem or horn of a stag or other deer, which bears the antlers, or branches. 6. The pole of a carriage. [Poetic] --Dryden. 7. A cylinder of wood, making part of a loom, on which weavers wind the warp before weaving; also, the cylinder on which the cloth is rolled, as it is woven; one being called the fore beam, the other the back beam. 8. The straight part or shank of an anchor. 9. The main part of a plow, to which the handles and colter are secured, and to the end of which are attached the oxen or horses that draw it. 10. (Steam Engine) A heavy iron lever having an oscillating motion on a central axis, one end of which is connected with the piston rod from which it receives motion, and the other with the crank of the wheel shaft; -- called also working beam or walking beam. 11. A ray or collection of parallel rays emitted from the sun or other luminous body; as, a beam of light, or of heat. How far that little candle throws his beams ! --Shak. 12. Fig.: A ray; a gleam; as, a beam of comfort. Mercy with her genial beam. --Keble. 13. One of the long feathers in the wing of a hawk; -- called also beam feather. Abaft the beam (Naut.), in an arc of the horizon between a line that crosses the ship at right angles, or in the direction of her beams, and that point of the compass toward which her stern is directed. Beam center (Mach.), the fulcrum or pin on which the working beam of an engine vibrates. Beam compass, an instrument consisting of a rod or beam, having sliding sockets that carry steel or pencil points; -- used for drawing or describing large circles. Beam engine, a steam engine having a working beam to transmit power, in distinction from one which has its piston rod attached directly to the crank of the wheel shaft. Before the beam (Naut.), in an arc of the horizon included between a line that crosses the ship at right angles and that point of the compass toward which the ship steers. On the beam, in a line with the beams, or at right angled with the keel. On the weather beam, on the side of a ship which faces the wind. To be on her beam ends, to incline, as a vessel, so much on one side that her beams approach a vertical position.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Beam Beam, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Beamed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Beaming.] To send forth; to emit; -- followed ordinarily by forth; as, to beam forth light.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Beam Beam, v. i. To emit beams of light. He beamed, the daystar of the rising age. --Trumbull.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(beams, beaming, beamed) 1. If you say that someone is beaming, you mean that they have a big smile on their face because they are happy, pleased, or proud about something. (WRITTEN) Frances beamed at her friend with undisguised admiration... 'Welcome back,' she beamed. ...the beaming face of a 41-year-old man on the brink of achieving his dreams. VERB: V at/with n, V with quote, V-ing 2. A beam is a line of energy, radiation, or particles sent in a particular direction. ...high-energy laser beams. ...a beam of neutrons. N-COUNT: usu n N, N of n 3. If something beams radio signals or television pictures or they are beamed somewhere, they are sent there by means of electronic equipment. The interview was beamed live across America... The live satellite broadcast was beamed into homes across America. ...a ship which is due to begin beaming radio broadcasts to China. VERB: be V-ed prep/adv, V prep/adv, V n prep/adv 4. A beam of light is a line of light that shines from an object such as a lamp. N-COUNT: usu N of n, n N 5. If something such as the sun or a lamp beams down, it sends light to a place and shines on it. A sharp white spot-light beamed down on a small stage... All you see of the outside world is the sunlight beaming through the cracks in the roof. VERB: V adv/prep, V adv/prep 6. A beam is a long thick bar of wood, metal, or concrete, especially one used to support the roof of a building. The ceilings are supported by oak beams. N-COUNT 7. see also off-beam

Easton's Bible Dictionary

occurs in the Authorized Version as the rendering of various Hebrew words. In 1 Sam. 17:7, it means a weaver's frame or principal beam; in Hab. 2:11, a crossbeam or girder; 2 Kings 6:2, 5, a cross-piece or rafter of a house; 1 Kings 7:6, an architectural ornament as a projecting step or moulding; Ezek. 41:25, a thick plank. In the New Testament the word occurs only in Matt. 7:3, 4, 5, and Luke 6:41, 42, where it means (Gr. dokos) a large piece of wood used for building purposes, as contrasted with "mote" (Gr. karphos), a small piece or mere splinter. "Mote" and "beam" became proverbial for little and great faults.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

bem: The word is used to translate various Old Testament terms:

(1) gebh (1Ki 6:9), tsela`, "a rib" (1Ki 7:3), qurah (2Ch 3:7; 34:11; So 1:17), all refer to constructional beams used in buildings for roofing and upper floors, main beams being carried on pillars generally of wood. The last term is used in 2Ki 6:2,5 ("as one was felling a beam") of trees which were being cut into logs. A related form is qarah (used of the Creator, Ps 104:3; of building, Ne 2:8; 3:3,6). Yet another term, kaphim, is used in Hab 2:11: "The stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it"--a protest against sin made by inanimate things. The Douay version, in translating, "the timber that is between the joints of the building," suggests the use of bond timbers in buildings, similar to that used at one time in English brickwork. It probably refers to its use in mud brick buildings, although bond timbers might also be used in badly built stone walls. The Arabs of the present day use steel joints to strengthen angles of buildings.

(2) Beam, in weaving, represents two words, 'eregh (Jud 16:14, the beam of a loom to which Samson's hair was fastened; used in Job 7:6 of a weaver's shuttle), and manor (1Sa 17:7; 2Sa 21:19; 1Ch 11:23; 20:5), of a spear-staff.

(3) In the New Testament Jesus uses the word dokos, "a rafter," in bidding the censorious person first cast the "beam" out of his own eye before attempting to remove the "mote" from another's eye (Mt 7:3; Lu 6:41,42).

See ARCHITECTURE; HOUSE.

Arch. C. Dickie

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. 1. Girder, piece of timber. 2. Ray, pencil, streak, gleam. See glimmer. II. v. n. Shine, emit rays, gleam, glisten, glitter, beacon. III. v. a. Shoot forth, emit in rays or beams.

Moby Thesaurus

AM signal, CRT spot, DM display, Doppler signal, FM signal, H beam, I beam, IF signal, IF video signal, IM display, RF amplifier, RF echoes, RF signal, RF stage, TV band, X ray, abutment, actinic ray, actinism, amplitude, angle rafter, arc-boutant, atomic beam, atomic ray, audio signal, backside, balk, bank, bar, batten, be bright, be in heaven, be pleased, beacon, beam, beam of light, beat signal, bedazzle, beggar description, behind, billet, blaze, blind, blips, bloom, board, boarding, boom, border, bottom, bounce, bounces, box girder, brace, breadth, breakwater, breastsummer, bright smile, broad grin, broadcast, broadness, broadside, bulwark, burn, buttress, buttress pier, buttressing, can, cant hook, caper, caracole, cheek, chirp, chirrup, chop, clapboard, claw bar, coast, corbel, cord, cordwood, crack a smile, crank, crossbeam, crosstie, crow, crowbar, dance, daze, dazzle, deal, delight, derriere, die with delight, diffuse light, direct signal, display, distance across, double-dot display, driftwood, ear-to-ear grin, echo, echo signal, embankment, equalizing pulse, expanse, extent, fan marker, fanny, feel happy, firewood, flame, flank, flare, flare path, flash, flying buttress, footing beam, frolic, fulgurate, fullness, gambol, gamma ray, girder, give light, glance, glare, gleam, gleaming smile, glint, glow, glowing smile, go into raptures, grin, grinning, groin, hammer beam, hand, handedness, handspike, hanging buttress, hardwood, haunch, hip, hip rafter, idiotic grin, incandesce, infrared ray, invisible radiation, iron crow, jam, jetty, jimmy, joist, jowl, joy, jutty, knock dead, laterality, lath, lathing, lathwork, latitude, lattice girder, laugh, leam, lever, lilt, limb, lintel, local oscillator signal, log, lumber, luster, many-sidedness, marker, marlinespike, mole, multilaterality, newscast, output pulse, output signal, outrigger, panelboard, paneling, panelwork, patch, peavey, pedal, pencil, photoemission, photon, picture, picture carrier, pier, pier buttress, pinch bar, pips, plank, planking, plate girder, plyboard, plywood, pole, post, posterior, prize, profile, pry, puncheon, purr, pylon, quarter, racon, radar beacon, radar signal, radiate, radiate cheer, radiation, radio, radio beacon, radio-frequency amplifier, radio-frequency signal, radio-frequency stage, radiobroadcast, radiorays, rafter, rampart, ray, ray of light, reading, rear, reflected signal, reflection, retaining wall, return, return beam, return signal, ribbon, ribbon of light, ridge strut, ridgepole, ripping bar, romp, sardonic grin, scanning beam, seat, seawall, send, send out rays, shaft, shake, sheathing, sheathing board, sheeting, shine, shine brightly, shingle, shoot, shoot out rays, shore, shortwave, shortwave signal, shoulder, side, sideboard, siding, sign off, sign on, signal, signal display, sill, simper, sing, skip, slab, slat, sleeper, smile, smile brightly, smiling, smirk, softwood, solar rays, sound carrier, span, spar, sparkle, splat, sportscast, spot, spread, sprit, stave, stick, stick of wood, stovewood, streak, stream, stream of light, streamer, stringpiece, strut, stud, studding, stupid grin, summer, summertree, synchronizing signal, take great satisfaction, target image, television channel, temple, three-by-four, tie, tie beam, timber, timbering, timberwork, toothful grin, trace, transmit, transmitter signal, transom, transverse, trave, traverse, tread on air, treadle, trestle, truss, truss beam, two-by-four, ultraviolet ray, unidirectional signal, unilaterality, vertical synchronizing pulse, video signal, violet ray, voltage pulse, weatherboard, whistle, wideness, width, wind cone, wind indicator, wind sock, wireless, wood, wrecking bar