beam

noun

1. Any large piece of timber or iron long in proportion to its thickness, and prepared for use.

   “And a letter vnto Asaph the keeper of the kings forrest, that he may giue me timber to make beames for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the Citie, and for the house that I shall enter into: And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God vpon me.”

2. One of the principal horizontal structural members, usually of steel, timber, or concrete, of a building.

   “The brasswork here, how rich it is in beams, / And how, besides, it makes the whole house sound.”

   “Lucie opened the door: and what do you think there was inside the hill?—a nice clean kitchen with a flagged floor and wooden beams—just like any other farm kitchen.”

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).

   “This ship has more beam than that one.”

   “Being only 280 ft. long, with a beam of 66 ft, their speed is moderate, and for a long time difficulty was experienced in steering them.”

5. The direction across a vessel, perpendicular to fore-and-aft.

   “As the vessel passes a landmark, the landmark is said to be abeam. Once the vessel has passed the landmark, it falls abaft the beam, then it gradually falls astern.”

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.

   “The doubtful beam long nods from side to side.”

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.

    “a beam of light”

    “a beam of energy”

    “That light we ſee is burning in my hall: / How farre that little candle throws his beames, / So ſhines a good deed in a naughty world.”

    “What tho’ the moon—the white moon Shed all the splendour of her noon, Her smile is chilly—and her beam, In that time of dreariness, will seem (So like you gather in your breath) A portrait taken after death.”

    “A total of 15,000 beams of neutrinos were fired over a period of 3 years from CERN towards Gran Sassoin Italy, 730km (500 miles) away, where they were picked up by giant detectors.”

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.

    “a beam of hope, or of comfort”

    “Worthless and lost our offerings seem, / Drops in the ocean of his praise; / But Mercy with her genial beam / Is ripening them to pearly blaze, / To sparkle in His crown above, / Who welcomes here a child's as there an angel's love.”

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. A balance beam.
19. A balance beam.
20. A broad smile.

    “He could barely remove the beam from his face when he said: "Arsenal is a massive club and you feel the pressure but I try to put in performances.”

verb

1. (ambitransitive)To emit beams of light; to shine; to radiate.

   “to beam forth light”

   “Jesus beams golden light from his solar plexus into Eric's root chakra.”

2. (figuratively, intransitive)To smile broadly or especially cheerfully.

   “to beam with pride”

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.

   “Beam me up, Scotty; there's no intelligent life down here.”

   “The injured crewmembers were immediately beamed to sickbay.”

   “Beam me up (x4) / Beam me up town / Beam me down (x3) / Beam me back downtown”

6. (transitive)To transmit, especially by direct wireless means such as infrared.

   “To beam a file using the File Transfer Protocol.”

   “To beam a file to another Pocket PC, follow these steps: […]”

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.

name

1. A surname.
2. (abbreviation, acronym, alt-of)Acronym of Bogdan's Erlang Abstract Machine.

   “Elixir is a functional, dynamic language built on top of Erlang and the Erlang VM (BEAM).”