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beam

(bēm)

1. A squared-off log or a large, oblong piece of timber, metal, or stone used especially as a horizontal support in construction.

2. Nautical

a. A transverse structural member of a ship's frame, used to support a deck and to brace the sides against stress.

b. The breadth of a ship at the widest point.

c. The side of a ship: sighted land off the starboard beam.

3. Informal The widest part of a person's hips: broad in the beam.

4. A steel tube or wooden roller on which the warp is wound in a loom.

5. An oscillating lever connected to an engine piston rod and used to transmit power to the crankshaft.

a. The bar of a balance from which weighing pans are suspended.

b. Sports A balance beam.

7. The main horizontal bar on a plow to which the share, coulter, and handles are attached.

8. One of the main stems of a deer's antlers.

a. A ray or shaft of light.

b. A concentrated stream of particles or a similar propagation of waves: a beam of protons; a beam of light.

10. A radio beam.

v. beamed, beam·ing, beams

v.intr.

1. To radiate light; shine.

2. To smile expansively.

v.tr.

1. To emit or transmit: beam a message via satellite.

2. To express by means of a radiant smile: He beamed his approval of the new idea.

Idiom:

on the beam

1. Following a radio beam. Used of aircraft.

2. On the right track; operating correctly.

[Middle English bem, from Old English bēam; see bheuə- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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