• enPR: bēm, IPA: /biːm/

beam (plural beams)

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; one of the transverse members of a ship's frame on which the decks are laid — supported at the sides by knees in wooden ships and by stringers in steel ones.
3. (nautical) The maximum width of a vessel.

   This ship has more beam than that one.

4. The crossbar of a mechanical balance, from the ends of which the scales are suspended.
   • 1717, Alexander Pope, “The Rape of the Lock”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: Printed by W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], OCLC 43265629 ↗, canto V:

     The doubtful beam long nods from side to side.

5. The principal stem of the antler of a deer.
6. (literary) The pole of a carriage or chariot.
7. (textiles) 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.
8. The straight part or shank of an anchor.
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. 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.
11. A ray or collection of approximately parallel rays emitted from the sun or other luminous body.

    a beam of light

    a beam of energy

    • c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act V, scene i]:

      How far that little candle throws his beams!

12. (figuratively) A ray; a gleam.

    a beam of hope, or of comfort

    • Mercy with her genial beam.

13. One of the long feathers in the wing of a hawk.
14. (music) A horizontal bar which connects the stems of two or more notes to group them and to indicate metric value.
15. (railway) An elevated rectangular dirt pile used to cheaply build an elevated portion of a railway.

• (nautical) breadth
• (heavy iron lever) working beam, walking beam
• (hawk's feather) beam feather
• see also Thesaurus:stick

• French: madrier
• German: Balken
• Italian: trave, asse
• Portuguese: trave, viga
• Russian: ба́лка
• Spanish: viga

• French: poutre
• Italian: architrave
• Portuguese: viga
• Russian: ба́лка

• Italian: traversa
• Russian: бимс

• Italian: braccio
• Russian: коромы́сло

• Italian: corno principale

• French: limon, timon
• Italian: barra timone
• Russian: ды́шло

• Russian: наво́й

• Russian: веретено́

• French: age
• Italian: bure
• Russian: гря́диль

• Russian: шату́н

• French: faisceau
• German: Strahl
• Italian: raggio
• Portuguese: feixe, raio
• Russian: луч
• Spanish: radio

• French: lien, ligature
• German: Balken

beam (beams, present participle beaming; past and past participle beamed)

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

   to beam forth light

2. (intransitive, figuratively) 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, science fiction) 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.

6. (transitive, currying) To stretch something (for example an animal hide) on a beam.
7. (transitive, weaving) To put (something) on a beam
8. (transitive, music) To connect (musical notes) with a beam, or thick line, in music notation.

• German: strahlen

• German: strahlen

• French: téléporter
• German: beamen

• German: beamen

1. Surname