beam
pronunciation
How to pronounce beam in British English:
UK [biːm]
How to pronounce beam in American English:
US [biːm]
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- Noun:
- a signal transmitted along a narrow path; guides pilots in darkness or bad weather
- long thick piece of wood or metal or concrete, etc., used in construction
- a column of light (as from a beacon)
- a group of nearly parallel lines of electromagnetic radiation
- (nautical) breadth amidships
- a gymnastic apparatus used by women gymnasts
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- Verb:
- smile radiantly; express joy through one's facial expression
- emit light; be bright, as of the sun or a light
- express with a beaming face or smile
- broadcast over the airwaves, as in radio or television
- especially of the complexion: show a strong bright color, such as red or pink
- experience a feeling of well-being or happiness, as from good health or an intense emotion
Word Origin
- beam
- beam: [OE] In Old English times the word bēam (like modern German baum) meant ‘tree’ – a signification preserved in tree-names such as hornbeam and whitebeam. But already before the year 1000 the extended meanings we are familiar with today – ‘piece of timber’ and ‘ray of light’ – had started to develop. Related forms in other Germanic languages (which include, as well as German baum, Dutch boom, from which English gets boom ‘spar’ [16]) suggest a West Germanic ancestor *bauma, but beyond that all is obscure.=> boom
- beam (n.)
- Old English beam originally "living tree," but by late 10c. also "rafter, post, ship's timber," from Proto-Germanic *baumaz (cognates: Old Norse baðmr, Old Frisian bam "tree, gallows, beam," Middle Dutch boom, Old High German boum, German Baum "tree," Gothic bagms), perhaps from PIE verb root *bheue- "to grow" (see be). The shift from *-au- to -ea- is regular in Old English. Meaning "ray of light" developed in Old English, probably because it was used by Bede to render Latin columna lucis, the Biblical "pillar of fire." Nautical sense of "one of the horizontal transverse timbers holding a ship together" is from early 13c., hence "greatest breadth of a ship," and slang broad in the beam "wide-hipped" (of persons). To be on the beam (1941) was originally an aviator's term for "to follow the course indicated by a radio beam."
- beam (v.)
- "emit rays of light," early 15c., from beam (n.) in the "ray of light" sense. Sense of "to smile radiantly" is from 1804; that of "to direct radio transmissions" is from 1927. Related: Beamed; beaming.
Example
- 1. And that allows the whole beam to be manipulated .
- 2. Backscatter scanners work by shooting a beam of x-rays at a subject .
- 3. The technology works by focusing sound into a narrow beam , just like light .
- 4. They sent a laser beam past a spherical electrode toward an oppositely charged flat electrode .
- 5. One person cried as the beam made it through a further section of the tunnel .