beam

Where “beam” sits in English frequency

Definition

1. 1
   Any large piece of timber or iron long in proportion to its thickness, and prepared for use.
2. 2
   One of the principal horizontal structural members, usually of steel, timber, or concrete, of a building.
3. 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. 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. 5
   The direction across a vessel, perpendicular to fore-and-aft.
6. 6
   The straight part or shank of an anchor.
7. 7
   The crossbar of a mechanical balance, from the ends of which the scales are suspended.
8. 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. 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. 10
    A ray or collection of approximately parallel rays emitted from the sun or other luminous body.
11. 11
    The principal stem of the antler of a deer.
12. 12
    One of the long feathers in the wing of a hawk.
13. 13
    The pole of a carriage or chariot.
14. 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. 15
    A ray; a gleam.
16. 16
    A horizontal bar which connects the stems of two or more notes to group them and to indicate metric value.
17. 17
    An elevated rectangular dirt pile used to cheaply build an elevated portion of a railway.
18. 18
    A balance beam.
19. 19
    A balance beam.
20. 20
    A broad smile.

Etymology

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.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: baem,bbeam,beamm,bema,ebam

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of beam - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

Frequently Asked Questions