beam

CEFRB2

/ˈbiːm/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    a column of light (as from a beacon).

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

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

Examples

  • A beam of sunlight came through the clouds.

  • This beam won't hold the weight of the second story.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • [ˈbɪi̯m]

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

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

  2. 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.

  3. 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).

More examples

In context

  • This ship has more beam than that one.

  • 1808 Richard Hall Gower. On the Theory and Practice of Seamanship. It often happens that by a sudden squall of wind a vessel is thrown over upon her beam ends, without a prospect of recovering her erect while she remains upon the same tack, therefore attempts...

  • Capt. King, from Demarara, was invaded by the gale on the evening of the 6th, in lat. 21° 51', and his vessel was thrown on her beam ends. He was forced to cut away her main-mast. Lost a man, who was washed overboard. . . . Capt. Mood, on a voyage from Alexan...

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The old wooden blank supporting the roof cracked under the heavy snow, causing the ceiling to sag dangerously.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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, and Swedish bom (“beam”), Icelandic baðmur (“t...