What does beam mean?
Definitions for beam
bimbeam
This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word beam.
Princeton's WordNet
radio beam, beamnoun
a signal transmitted along a narrow path; guides airplane pilots in darkness or bad weather
beamnoun
long thick piece of wood or metal or concrete, etc., used in construction
beam, ray, electron beamnoun
a group of nearly parallel lines of electromagnetic radiation
beam, beam of light, light beam, ray, ray of light, shaft, shaft of light, irradiationnoun
a column of light (as from a beacon)
beamnoun
(nautical) breadth amidships
beamnoun
the broad side of a ship
"they sighted land on the port beam"
balance beam, beamverb
a gymnastic apparatus used by women gymnasts
beamverb
smile radiantly; express joy through one's facial expression
shine, beamverb
emit light; be bright, as of the sun or a light
"The sun shone bright that day"; "The fire beamed on their faces"
beamverb
express with a beaming face or smile
"he beamed his approval"
air, send, broadcast, beam, transmitverb
broadcast over the airwaves, as in radio or television
"We cannot air this X-rated song"
glow, beam, radiate, shineverb
have a complexion with a strong bright color, such as red or pink
"Her face glowed when she came out of the sauna"
glow, beam, radiate, shineverb
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"
Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
Bam, Beam
being initials in the name of any place, usually imply it to have been woody; from the Saxon beam, which we use in the same sense to this day. Edmund Gibson Camden.
BEAMnoun
Etymology: beam , Sax. a tree; sunnebeam, a ray of the sun.
A beam is the largest piece of wood in a building, which always lies cross the building or the walls, serving to support the principal rafters of the roof, and into which the feet of the principal rafters are framed. No building has less than two beams, one at each head. Into these, the girders of the garret floor are also framed; and if the building be of timber, the teazel-tenons of the posts are framed. The proportions of beams in or near London, are fixed by act of parliament. A beam fifteen feet long, must be seven inches on each side its square, and five on the other; if it be sixteen feet long, one side must be eight inches, the other six; and so proportionable to their lengths. Builder’s Dict.
The building of living creatures is like the building of a timber house; the walls and other parts have columns and beams, but the roof is tile, or lead, or stone. Francis Bacon, N. Hist.
He heav’d, with more than human force, to move
A weighty stone, the labour of a team,
And rais’d from thence he reach’d the neighb’ring beam. Dryd.But Lycus, swifter,
Springs to the walls and leaves his foes behind,
And snatches at the beam he first can find. John Dryden, Æneid.Poise the cause in justice’ equal scales,
Whose beam stands sure, whose rightful cause prevails. William Shakespeare, Henry VI. p. ii.If the length of the sides in the balance, and the weights at the ends be both equal, the beam will be in a horizontal situation: but if either the weights alone be equal, or the distances alone, the beam will accordingly decline. John Wilkins, Mathem. Mag.
And taught the woods to echo to the stream
His dreadful challenge, and his clashing beam. John Denham.Juturna heard, and seiz’d with mortal fear,
Forc’d from the beam her brother’s charioteer. Dryden.The staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam. 1 Chr. xi. 23.
Let them present me death upon the wheel,
Or pile ten hills on the Tarpeian rock,
That the precipitation might downstretch
Below the beam of sight. William Shakespeare, Coriolanus.Pleasing, yet cold, like Cynthia’s silver beam. Dryden.
As heav’n’s blest beam turns vinegar to sour. Alexander Pope.
To Beamverb
To emit rays or beams.
Etymology: from the noun.
Each emanation of his fires
That beams on earth, each virtue he inspires. Alexander Pope.
ChatGPT
beam
A beam is a long, sturdy structure used for support in construction, primarily horizontally to support structures above it, like ceilings, roofs and bridges. It can also refer to a ray or shaft of light or other form of energy in science, or the width measurement of a ship or boat. More generally, it can refer to any long, solid and linear object.
Webster Dictionary
Beamnoun
any large piece of timber or iron long in proportion to its thickness, and prepared for use
Beamnoun
one of the principal horizontal timbers of a building or ship
Beamnoun
the width of a vessel; as, one vessel is said to have more beam than another
Beamnoun
the bar of a balance, from the ends of which the scales are suspended
Beamnoun
the principal stem or horn of a stag or other deer, which bears the antlers, or branches
Beamnoun
the pole of a carriage
Beamnoun
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
Beamnoun
the straight part or shank of an anchor
Beamnoun
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
Beamnoun
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
Beamnoun
a ray or collection of parallel rays emitted from the sun or other luminous body; as, a beam of light, or of heat
Beamnoun
fig.: A ray; a gleam; as, a beam of comfort
Beamnoun
one of the long feathers in the wing of a hawk; -- called also beam feather
Beamverb
to send forth; to emit; -- followed ordinarily by forth; as, to beam forth light
Beamverb
to emit beams of light
Wikidata
Beam
The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point as measured at the ship's nominal waterline. Generally speaking, the wider the beam of a ship, the more initial stability it has, at expense of reserve stability in the event of a capsize, where more energy is required to right the vessel from its inverted position. Typical length-to-beam ratios for small sailboats are from 2:1 to 5:1. Large ships have widely varying beam ratios, some as large as 20:1. Rowing shells designed for flatwater racing may have length to beam ratios as high as 30:1, while a coracle has a ratio of almost 1:1 - it is nearly circular. The beam of many monohull yachts can be calculated using the following formula: LOA is Length Overall. All units are in feet. Some examples - For a standard 27' yacht: the cube root of 27 is 3, 3 squared is 9 plus 1 = 10. The beam of many 27' monohulls is 10'. - For a Volvo Open 70 yacht: 70.5 to the power of 2/3 = 17 plus 1 = 18. The beam is often around 18'. - For a 741' long ship: the cube root is 9, and 9 squared is 81, plus 1. The beam will usually be around 82' e.g. Seawaymax.
Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
Beam
bēm, n. a large and straight piece of timber or iron forming one of the main supports against lateral pressure of a building, ship, &c.: (fig.) from the figure of the mote and the beam—Matt. vii. 3: any of the transverse pieces of framing extending across a ship's hull, the greatest width of a ship or boat: the part of a balance from which the scales hang: the pole of a carriage: a cylinder of wood in a loom: a ray of light.—v.t. to send forth light: to shine.—n. Beam′-en′gine, a steam-engine which has a beam connecting the piston-rod with the crank of the wheel-shaft, as distinguished from one that has its piston-rod directly attached to the crank.—adv. Beam′ily.—n. Beam′iness.—adjs. Beam′less, without beams: emitting no rays of light; Beam′y, shining.—A beam sea, one rolling against the ship's side.—Before the beam, the bearing of any object when seen more in advance than on the beam; Abaft the beam, the reverse.—Lee or Weather beam, the side away from or towards the wind.—On her beam ends, a phrase applied to the position of a ship when so much inclined to one side that the beams become nearly vertical.—On the starboard beam, applied to any distant point out at sea, at right angles to the keel, and on the starboard or right-hand (as viewed from the stern) side of the ship; On the port beam similarly applies to the left hand. [A.S. béam, a tree, stock of a tree, a ray of light; Ger. baum, a tree; Gr. phyma, a growth—phy-ein, to grow.]
The Nuttall Encyclopedia
Beam
an ancient prov. of France, fell to the crown with the accession of Henry IV. in 1589; formed a great part of the dep. of Basses-Pyrénées, capital Pau.
The New Hacker's Dictionary
beam
[from Star Trek Classic's “Beam me up, Scotty!”] 1. To transfer softcopy of a file electronically; most often in combining forms such as beam me a copy or beam that over to his site. 2. Palm Pilot users very commonly use this term for the act of exchanging bits via the infrared links on their machines (this term seems to have originated with the ill-fated Newton Message Pad). Compare blast, snarf, BLT.
Dictionary of Nautical Terms
beam
A long double stratum of murky clouds generally observed over the surface of the Mediterranean previous to a violent storm or an earthquake. The French call it trave.
beam
(See ABEAM.)--Before the beam is an arc of the horizon, comprehended between a line that crosses the ship's length at right angles and some object at a distance before it; or between the line of the beam and that point of the compass which she stems. On the weather or lee beam is in a direction to windward or leeward at right angles with the keel.
Editors Contribution
beam
A stream of color and light.
The beam of light illuminated the colors within the light.
Submitted by MaryC on January 4, 2020
beamnoun
The existing presenting a quality of light in amplitude modulation. 1.) A long, sturdy piece of squared timber or metal spanning an opening or part of a building, usually to support the roof or floor above.
The vehicles were authorized to beam up 10 to 20 minutes before the haaj.
Etymology: Ray
Submitted by Tehorah_Elyon on January 30, 2024
beam
To emit light.
Her face and eyes beamed with joy at her partner's proposal.
Submitted by MaryC on January 4, 2020
beam
To express joy through our face, eyes or expression.
Her husband beamed at her daily and she responded with the same.
Submitted by MaryC on January 4, 2020
Suggested Resources
BEAM
What does BEAM stand for? -- Explore the various meanings for the BEAM acronym on the Abbreviations.com website.
Surnames Frequency by Census Records
BEAM
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Beam is ranked #2584 in terms of the most common surnames in America.
The Beam surname appeared 13,972 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 5 would have the surname Beam.
92.6% or 12,946 total occurrences were White.
3% or 428 total occurrences were Black.
1.9% or 272 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.
1.4% or 205 total occurrences were of two or more races.
0.4% or 64 total occurrences were American Indian or Alaskan Native.
0.4% or 56 total occurrences were Asian.
Matched Categories
British National Corpus
Nouns Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'beam' in Nouns Frequency: #2082
Anagrams for beam »
bema
Numerology
Chaldean Numerology
The numerical value of beam in Chaldean Numerology is: 3
Pythagorean Numerology
The numerical value of beam in Pythagorean Numerology is: 3
Examples of beam in a Sentence
You are... the lens in the beam. You can only receive, give, and possess the light as the lens does.
At that time there was a beam that could catapult people to the stars, and that was ‘ The Tonight Show, ’ we all gathered around the heat of that. … If Johnny liked me it meant something to me, that I ’m not only good at what I do but he thinks I ’m intelligent and likes to talk to me.
What a crazy world we live in Trying to treat addiction as a legal problem, and trying to treat criminal misbehaviors using guns as a medical problem Beam me up, Scotty. Ain't no intelligent life down here.
We keep improving technology to do that better and better, so proton beam therapy is the next step.
I’m constantly concerned about issues of mental health and keeping myself on the beam and being a good father to my son and things like that. You develop a thick skin when you have been in politics and served time in prison.
Popularity rank by frequency of use
References
Translations for beam
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
- balkAfrikaans
- شعاع, الحزمArabic
- şüa, dirəkAzerbaijani
- нурBashkir
- праменьBelarusian
- кросно, бимс, греда, лъч, стъбло, балансьор, трегерBulgarian
- břevno, paprsek, trámCzech
- bjælke, drager, stråleDanish
- Strahl, Balken, strahlen, beamenGerman
- ακτινοβολώGreek
- radioEsperanto
- radio, vigaSpanish
- palkki, valin, aisa, loimitukki, varsi, leveys, kiertokanki, tyvi, tukki, orsi, säde, poikittaispalkki, runko, kangastukki, palkittaa, säteillä, säteilyttääFinnish
- ligature, faisceau, timon, poutre, limon, madrier, lien, ageFrench
- bíomaIrish
- gerendaHungarian
- ճառագայթ, շող, ճաճանչArmenian
- balokIndonesian
- bjálki, geisliIcelandic
- asse, raggio, corno principale, traversa, barra timone, braccio, architrave, traveItalian
- 梁, ビーム, 光線Japanese
- 光線, 빔, 광선Korean
- StralLuxembourgish, Letzeburgesch
- sijaLatvian
- kurupaeMāori
- rasuk, sinaranMalay
- dissel, biels, straal, balk, bundel, stralenDutch
- belka, promieńPolish
- trave, viga, feixePortuguese
- grindăRomanian
- навой, балка, коромысло, веретено, луч, грядиль, перекладина, шатун, брус, бимс, дышло, траверзRussian
- rrezeAlbanian
- bjälke, stråle, balk, strålaSwedish
- barakilan, sinagTagalog
- kiriş, ışınTurkish
- промінь, балкаUkrainian
- sinch, to'simUzbek
- tiaVietnamese
- bemVolapük
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