beam

Meaning

Noun

1. Any large piece of timber or iron long in proportion to its thickness, and prepared for use.
2. One of the principal horizontal structural members, usually of steel, timber, or concrete, of a building.
3. One of the transverse members of a ship's frame on which the decks are laid, and acting as part of the support for keeping the sides of the vessel in shape — supported at the sides by knees in wooden ships and by stringers in steel ones; cf. abeam, beam-ends.
4. The maximum width of a vessel (note that a vessel with a beam of 15 foot can also be said to be 15 foot abeam).
5. The direction across a vessel, perpendicular to fore-and-aft.
6. The straight part or shank of an anchor.
7. The crossbar of a mechanical balance, from the ends of which the scales are suspended.
8. In steam engines, 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.
9. The central bar 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. A ray or collection of approximately parallel rays emitted from the sun or other luminous body.
11. (informal) The principal stem of the antler of a deer.
12. (informal) One of the long feathers in the wing of a hawk.
13. (literary) The pole of a carriage or chariot.
14. A cylinder of wood, making part of a loom, on which weavers wind the warp before weaving and the cylinder on which the cloth is rolled, as it is woven.
15. (figuratively) A ray; a gleam.
16. A horizontal bar which connects the stems of two or more notes to group them and to indicate metric value.
17. An elevated rectangular dirt pile used to cheaply build an elevated portion of a railway.
18. (abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis) Ellipsis of balance beam.
19. A broad smile.

Verb

1. (ambitransitive) To emit beams of light; to shine; to radiate.
2. (figuratively, intransitive) To smile broadly or especially cheerfully.
3. (transitive) To furnish or supply with beams.
4. (transitive) To give the appearance of beams to.
5. (transitive) To transmit matter or information via a high-tech wireless mechanism.
6. (transitive) To transmit, especially by direct wireless means such as infrared.
7. (transitive) To stretch something (for example, an animal hide) on a beam.
8. (transitive) To put (something) on a beam.
9. (transitive) To connect (musical notes) with a beam, or thick line, in music notation.

Synonyms

ray

girder

shine

rafter

radiate

joist

gleam

ray of light

log

flash

bar

glow

crossbeam

timber

smile

😄

light

electron beam

balance beam

light beam

pole

glare

transmit

shaft

radio beam

line

rod

crosspiece

air

send

broadcast

column

support

spark

spoke

sleeper

bundle

balk

spar

traverse

radius

radiant

plank

prop

irradiation

grin

😁

flare

glisten

brace

glitter

light up

Translations

poutre

Balken

trave

viga

balk

trave

rayon

ribbe

barrote

traviesa

trabe

raggio

biga

onderlegger

mertek

Pronounced as (IPA)

/biːm/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: beem

Inherited from Old English: bēam

Cognate with Western Frisian: beam

Cognate with Saterland Frisian: Boom

Cognate with Dutch: boom

Cognate with German: Baum

Cognate with Luxembourgish: Bam

Cognate with Albanian: bimë

Inherited from Middle English: bemen

Inherited from Old English: bēamian

In summary

From Middle English beem, from Old English bēam (“tree, cross, gallows, column, pillar, wood, beam, splint, post, stock, rafter, piece of wood”), from Proto-West Germanic *baum, from Proto-Germanic *baumaz (“tree, beam, balk”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰew- (“to grow, swell”).
Cognate with North Frisian Boom, buum (“tree”), Saterland Frisian Boom (“tree”), West Frisian beam (“tree”), Cimbrian pome, póom, puam (“tree”), Dutch boom (“tree”), German Low German Boom (“tree”), German Baum (“tree”), Luxembourgish Bam (“tree”), Mòcheno pa'm (“tree”), Vilamovian baojm (“tree”), Yiddish בוים (boym, “tree”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, Swedish bom (“beam”), Icelandic baðmur (“tree”), Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌲𐌼𐍃 (bagms, “tree”), Albanian bimë (“a plant”). Doublet of boom.
The original English meaning of beam ("tree") is preserved in some compound words such as quickbeam.
The verb is from Middle English bemen, from Old English bēamian (“to shine, to cast forth rays or beams of light”), from the noun.