Forms: 1 béacen, becen, becun, 2 bæcen, 4 bikene, bekne, 4–5 bekene, beeken, 5–6 beken, -yn, 6 bekin, beakon, 6– beacon, s. w. dial. bick’n. [OE. béacn (neut.) = OFris. bácen, bęcen, OS. bôkan, MDu. bôkin, -en, OHG. bouhhan, MHG. bouchen:—OTeut. *baukno(m). Not known outside of Teutonic.
(In this and the following words in bea- the occasional identity of the OE. and modern spellings is not due to continuity of form, the two being separated by a ME. spelling in e, ee, which prevailed for more than 3 centuries. Modern ea represents not merely OE. éa and ea, but also many other OE. and OF. vowels, as seen in bead, beadle, beak, bear, beast. See EA-.)]
† 1. A sign, a portent. Obs.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., John iv. 48. Buta beceno & soða uundra ʓie ʓesee, ne ʓelefeð ʓie.
c. 1000. Ags. G., ibid., Tacna & fore-beacna.
c. 1160. Hatton G., Tacne & fore-bæcne.
† 2. An ensign, standard. Obs.
a. 1000. Beowulf, 5547. Segn éac ʓenom, béacna beorhtost.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 471. Religioun shal be shewid in sensible signes, as habitis, and bikenes, & hye housis.
1483. Cath. Angl., 26/1. A Bekyn or a standard, statela.
3. A signal; spec. a signal-fire. a. A burning cresset raised on a pole, or fixed at the top of a building.
[Lambarde, Peramb. Kent (1826), 64 says he finds it ordained about the eleventh year of Edward III. that beacons ‘should be high standards with their pitchpots.’]
c. 1859. Macaulay, Armada. The beacon blazed upon the roof of Edgcombe’s lofty hall.
c. 1870. Thorne, Environs of Lond., 266. From it [the tower of Monken Hadley Church] projects the ancient iron beacon, one of the last of its kind left.
b. A fire, of wood, pitch, or other material, lighted on an eminence and serving as a signal (of danger, etc.); by a chain of beacons at convenient distances apart, tidings could be rapidly spread over a wide area.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XVII. 262. Ȝe brenne, but ȝe blaseth nouȝte, þat is a blynde bekene.
1480. Caxton, Chron. Eng., ccvi. 188. That men shold tende the bekenes that the countrey myght be warned.
1533. Bellenden, Livy, 348 (Jam.). He tuke thare tentis … and incontinent made ane bekin of reik.
1625. K. Long, trans. Barclay’s Argenis, I. i. 9. Publike trees … which being kindled by the King’s command, give notice to the people … and these they call Beacons.
1815. Scott, Ld. of Isles, IV. viii. Signal of Ronald’s high command, A beacon gleam’d o’er sea and land.
4. Hence gen. A signal station, watch-tower.
1611. Bible, Gen. xxxi. 49. Therefore was the name of it called … Mizpah [marg. that is a beacon or watchtower].
1772. Pennant, Tours Scotl., 104. On the eminencies beacons were established, for alarming the country.
1846. Prescott, Ferd. & Is., II. xviii. 165. Ascertained by the erection of beacons at suitable distances.
5. A conspicuous hill commanding a good view of the surrounding country, on which beacons were (or might be) lighted. Still applied to such hills in various parts of England; e.g., Brecon Beacons near Abergavenny, Dunkery Beacon on Exmoor, Culmstock Beacon, Cothelstone Beacon, etc. (On some of these the beacon towers still exist.)
1597. T. Beard, Theat. Gods Judgm., 58. He lies upon a beacons side With watchfull eie to circumscribe their traine.
1882. Athenæum, 26 Aug., 265/3. Nothing can bring up the image of chalk country like the words combe, dean, beacon.
† b. A division of a wapentake; probably a district throughout which a beacon could be seen, or which was bound to furnish one. Obs.
1641. Best, Farm. Bks. (1856), 90. There is in everie weapontacke soe many severall divisions or beacons…; there is in the weapontacke of Harthill fower beacons, viz.; Bainton beacon, Hunsley beacon, [etc.].
6. A lighthouse or other conspicuous object placed upon the coast or at sea, to warn vessels of danger or direct their course.
[a. 1000. Beowulf, 6301. Hlǽw on hliðe, wǽʓ-liðendum wíde tó-sýne … beadu-rófes béacn.]
1397. Act 21 Rich. III., xviii. § 1. Les Beckenes devant la port Moeqes.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 240 b. The beken lyghted in ye nyght, directeth the maryner … to ye port entended.
1684. Lond. Gaz., No. 1911/4. In the place of the Shore Beacon, there is at present a white Buoy laid.
1837. Hawthorne, Amer. Note Bks. (1871), I. 97. A ledge of rocks, with a beacon upon it.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., xvii. My blessing … Is on the waters day and night, And like a beacon guards thee home.
b. fig.
1606. Shaks., Tr. & Cr., II. ii. 16. Modest Doubt is cal’d The Beacon of the wise.
1773. Monboddo, Language (1774), I. Introd. 3. My errors may be of use, by serving as beacons to direct into the right course men of greater learning.
1840. Carlyle, Heroes, ii. 82. Great brother-souls, flame-beacons through so many lands and times.
7. Comb., chiefly attrib., as beacon-bell, -blaze, -grate, -place, -turret, -vessel; also beacon-wise adv.
1548. Udall, Erasm. Par. Luke xix. 154. Out of the beakon place of the Crosse.
1577. Holinshed, Chron., I. 6/1. He gaue knowledge thereof to his wife, in raising a fire on heigth beaconwise.
1814. Scott, Ld. of Isles, I. xxii. By that blithe beacon-light they steer’d. Ibid. (1820), Monast., xviii. The glowworm, which makes a goodly show among the grass of the field, would be of little avail if deposited in a beacon-grate.
1862. Mrs. Norton, Lady La G., Ded. 30. A voice whose sound Came like a beacon-bell, heard clear above The whirl of violent waters.
