Forms: 1 béam, 2 bæm, beam, 3–4 bem, 4–5 beem, 4–6 beme, (5–6 Sc. beym(e, beim, 5–6 bealme), 6–7 beame, 6– beam. [Common Teutonic: OE. béam ‘tree,’ ‘plank,’ = OFris. bâm, OS. bâm, bôm, MDu., Du. boom, OHG., MHG. boum, Ger. baum ‘tree’:—West Ger. *baumo-z. The East Ger. words, Goth. bagm-s, ON. baðm-r ‘tree,’ though supposed to be identical, present phonetic differences of which no explanation has been found, and render somewhat doubtful the original Teutonic form of the word, as also a suggested derivation (which would suit the WGer.) from the vb. root bû-, beu-, = Gr. φυ- (cf. φῦμα a growth), Skr. bhu-, bhaw- to grow (cf. BE). It remains uncertain whether the original sense was ‘tree’ as a kind of plant, or ‘tree’ as a wooden stem, stock or post: OE. had both meanings, but that of (growing) ‘tree,’ the regular sense in the continental langs., is (exc. in a few compound names) lost in mod.Eng., where the word has received many transferred applications, among which that of beam of light, sun-beam, is remarkable.]
I. A material beam.
* of wood (actually or originally).
† 1. A tree; only in OE., exc. in the now unanalysed compounds, HORNBEAM, QUICKBEAM, WHITEBEAM or Beam-tree, names of trees.
826. Chart. Ecgberht, in Cod. Dipl., V. 84. Súðæweardæ oð ðet scírhiltæ on ðonæ gréatan béam.
c. 1000. Riddles (Grein), lvi. 7. Ic þæs béames mæʓ éaðe for eorlum æðelu secʓan.
† 2. The rood-tree or cross. (Cf. ‘hanged on a tree,’ Acts v. 30). Beam-light: lighted candles placed before the rood. Fees of the beam: perquisites of the unconsumed remnants of such candles.
c. 1000. Crist (Grein), 1094. He on ðone hálʓan béam ahongen wæs.
c. 1305. in Leg. Rood (1871), 146. Cristened we weore in Red rem, Whon his bodi bledde on þe Beem.
1461–83. Ord. R. Househ., 49. The Deane of the Chapell hathe all the offerings of wax … with the moderate fees of the beame … wher the tapers be consumed into a shaftmennt.
1529. Bk. Founders’ Comp., in N. & Q., Ser. III. IX. 62. Payd for makyng of viij square taprs for the beme lyght of St. Margt … vs. iiijd.
1720. Stow’s Surv. (Strype, 1754), I. I. xv. 74/2. The Cross and the Beam beyond the Altar.
3. A large piece of squared timber, long in proportion to its breadth and thickness, such as is used in house- or ship-building, where beams form important parts of the structure: originally, the squared timber of a whole tree, but now used without any such restriction. The ordinary current sense: for naval use, see II.
978. O. E. Chron. At Calne … se halʓa Dunstan ana ætstod uppon anum beame.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Matt. vii. 3. Þú ne ʓesyhst þone beam on þinum aʓenum eaʓan.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 1606. And slep and saȝ, an soðe drem, Fro ðe erðe up til heuene bem A leddre stonden.
1297. R. Glouc., 288. Þe flor to brac vnder hem … Seyn Dunston by cas … hente hym by a bem, and ysaued was.
c. 1340. Cursor M. (Trin.), 8781. Þe beem [Cotton, balk] þat most þe werk shulde bynde.
1413. Lydg., Pylgr. Sowle, IV. iii. (1483), 59. A grete tre was hewen doune for to be made a beme.
1595. Shaks., John, IV. iii. 129. A rush will be a beame To hang thee on.
1611. Bible, 2 Kings vi. 2. Let vs … take thence euery man a beame, and let vs make vs a place there where we may dwell.
1807. Crabbe, Village, I. 262. Such is that room which one rude beam divides.
b. with special shape or purpose indicated:
Camber-beam: one with its upper surface curving downward on both sides from the middle. Collar-beam: a beam used to join together roof-rafters above the base of the roof, acting either as a tie or a strut. Dragon-beam: a short piece of timber lying diagonally with the wall plates at the angles of the roof, for receiving the heel of the hip rafter. Hammer-beam: a beam acting as a tie, but not extending across the whole span of the roof. Tie-beam: the beam that connects the bottom of a pair of principal rafters, and prevents them from thrusting out the walls.
1734. Builder’s Dict., Dragon Beams are two strong Braces or Struts … meeting in an Angle upon the Shoulder of the Kingpiece.
1823. P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., 221. Camber-Beams, those beams used in the flats of truncated roofs, and raised in the middle with an obtuse angle, for discharging the rain water towards both sides of the roof. Ibid., 222. Dragon-beam, the piece of timber which supports the hip-rafter, and bisects the angle formed by the wall plates.
1845. Gloss. Gothic Archit., I. 317. In the Perpendicular style hammer-beam roofs were introduced. Ibid. The roof … of Malvern priory had a variety of cross-braces above the tie-beams cut into ornamental featherings.
c. fig., esp. with allusion to the figure of the mote and the beam (Matt. vii. 3).
[Cf. c. 1000 in 3.]
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. X. 264. Sithen a beem in þine owne ablyndeth þi-selue.
a. 1555. Latimer, Serm. & Rem. (1845), 314. Learn from your own beams to make allowance for your neighbour’s motes.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., IV. ii. 162. You found his Moth, the King your Moth did see: But I a Beame doe finde in each of three.
a. 1649. Drumm. of Hawth., Hist. Jas. IV., Wks. (1711), 74. Her tears and prayers shook the strongest beams of his resolutions.
4. The wooden roller or cylinder in a loom, on which the warp is wound before weaving; also called fore-beam, yarn-beam, yarn-roll. The similar roller on which the cloth is wound as it is woven; also called back-beam, breast-beam, cloth-beam.
c. 1000. Supp. Ælfric’s Gloss., in Wülcker, Voc., /187. Liciatorium, webbeam.
1382. Wyclif, 1 Sam. xvii. 7. The shaft of his speer was as the beem [Coverdale, lome] of websters.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 30/2. Beeme of webstarrys lome, liciatorium.
1552. Huloet, Beame of timber wherupon embroderers … do rolle their worke, iugum.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., V. i. 23. I feare not Goliah with a Weauers beame.
1675. Hobbes, Odyss. (1677), 230. So I A beam set up, and then began to weave.
1831. G. Porter, Silk Manuf., 215. The beam, or yarn-roll, on which the threads are wound.
5. The great timber of the plow, to which all the other parts of the plow-tail are fixed.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gloss., in Wülcker, Voc., /104. Buris, sulhbeam.
c. 1450. in Ibid., /569. Burris, the plowebeme.
1483. Cath. Angl., 27/1. A beym of ye plwgh, buris.
1592. Warner, Alb. Eng., VIII. xlii. (1597), 205. But to the Headland shall our Plough, vnles we breake our Beame.
1787. T. Jefferson, Corr. (1830), 135. The plough here is made with … a beam twelve feet long.
1832. C. Howard, Sel. Farms (L.U.K.), 3. The plough is of a light construction … the length of the beam is six feet six inches.
6. The transverse bar from the ends of which the scales of a balance are suspended; the balance itself. Often fig. with reference to the scales held by the allegorical figure of justice.
1420. E. E. Wills (1882), 46. A beme þat y weye þer-with.
1503. Act 19 Hen. VII., vi. Deceivable and untrue Beams and Scales.
1581. Lambarde, Eiren., IV. xix. (1588), 605. Let us holde the beame, and put in balaunce their reasons on either side.
1711. Pope, Rape Lock, V. 73. The doubtful beam long nods from side to side.
1802. Rees, Cycl., s.v. Balance, The beam, the principal part of the balance, is a lever of the first kind.
1875. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 9), s.v. Balance, The beam … is supported on a polished horizontal frame of agate or hard steel.
b. Phrases, The common beam, the King’s beam (Hist.); the public standard balance formerly in the custody of the Grocers’ Company of London; fig. an authorized standard. To kick or strike the beam: (of one scale of a balance) to be so lightly loaded that it flies up and strikes the beam; to be greatly outweighed; often fig.
[1386. Records Grocers’ Co. Lond. (facsimile 67), Item paie a Iohan Reche pour defendre le pursute dell Bem.]
1448. MS. Records do. 147. Weying the same marchaundise at ther owne beeme, and not at the commorn beeme.
1494. Fabyan, VII. 341. Than was layde vnto theyr charge, that … they hadde alteryd the kynges beame. Ibid., 391. The kynges bealme.
1607. Hieron, Wks., I. 79. To make the written word (as it were) the standard or the kings beame, by which to try all doctrine.
1647. Ward, Simp. Cobler, 38. A sin … that seemes small in the common beame of the world, may be very great in the scoales of his Sanctuary.
1712. Addison, Spect., No. 463, ¶ 3. The latter, to shew its comparative Lightness, immediately flew up and kickt the Beam.
1860. G. P. Morris, Poems (ed. 15), 53. Wealth!—a straw within the balance, Opposed to love will strike the beam.
† 7. The pole or shaft of a chariot. Obs.
1600. Chapman, Iliad, V. 736. The chariot’s … beam that look’d before Was massy silver.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Æneid, XII. 687 (J.).
| Juturna heard, and seiz’d with Mortal Fear, | |
| Forc’d from the Beam her Brother’s Charioteer. |
8. Tanning. A block of varying shape upon which hides are fixed to be scraped or shaved.
1875. Ure, Dict. Arts, III. 93. The furniture in this department consists of a beam on which the leather is shaved, etc.
** of other materials.
† 9. A large bar of metal; a piece of metal fulfilling the functions of sense 3. Obs.
c. 885. K. Ælfred, Oros., II. viii. § 5. Hiora ærenan beamas … ne mehton from Galliscum fyre forbærnede weorþan.
1387. Trevisa, Higden, Rolls Ser. V. 315. Hormisda lefte in Seynt Peter his chirche a beme [trabem] of silver.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol. (1841), IV. lxxix. § 5. A certain beam of gold about seven hundred and a half in weight.
1613. Purchas, Pilgr., II. vii. 132. A greate beame of gold.
10. The shank or main part of an anchor (Phillips 1706, Johnson, etc.); but according to Admiral Smyth, the stock.
11. In the steam-engine, etc.: A heavy iron lever, having a reciprocating 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 or wheel-shaft, to which it communicates motion; also called working- and walking-beam.
1758. Fitzgerald, in Phil. Trans., L. 727. [In] the fire-engine … it was necessary to contrive some way to make the beam, tho’ moving alternately, to turn a wheel constantly round one way.
1851. Carlyle, Sterling, III. ii. (1872), 175. I saw half the beam of a great steam-engine … cast in about five minutes.
1884. Harper’s Mag., July, 270/1. The walking-beam which drives the side-wheels.
12. The main trunk of a stag’s horn that bears the branches or ‘antlers.’
1575. Turberv., Venerie, 53. When the beame is great, burnished … and not made crooked by the antlyers.
1630. J. Taylor (Water P.), Wks., I. 93/1. A Buckes hornes are composed of Burre, Beame, [etc.].
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist., I. II. v. (1862), 325. The fourth year that part [of the horn] which bears the antlers is called the beam.
1862. C. P. Collyns, Notes Chase Wild Red Deer, ii. 26. The ‘beam,’ or main horn, increases in size and length as the stag grows older.
† 13. The part of a cock’s leg below the thigh and above the spur. Obs.
1614. Markham, Cheap Husb. (1623), 135. His legs straight, and of a strong beame. [So 1727 in Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Cock.]
II. Nautical extensions of senses 1, 3.
† 14. poet. A ship, a bark: perhaps, originally one made of a hollowed trunk. Obs.
c. 1000. Riddles (Grein), xi. 7. Ic of fæðmum cwóm brimes and béames.
1509. Barclay, Ship of Fools (1570), 178. Howe thou thee aventrest in holowe beame To passe the sea.
15. One of the horizontal transverse timbers, stretching from side to side of a ship, supporting the deck, and holding the vessel together. On the beams: cf. on the beam-ends (sense 18).
1627. Capt. Smith, Seaman’s Gram., ii. 5. The maine beame is euer next the maine mast, where is the ships greatest breadth.
1784. Cook, Voy. (1790), III. 809. Before we could raise the main tack, the Dolphin was laid upon her beams.
1795. Nelson, in Nicolas, Disp., II. 5. The ships built at Toulon have their sides, beams, decks … from this Island.
1873. Act 36 & 37 Vict., lxxxv. § 3. The number denoting her registered tonnage shall be cut in on her main beam.
16. Hence, The greatest breadth of a ship.
1627. Capt. Smith, Seaman’s Gram., iii. 15. Suppose a Ship of 300. Tunnes be 29 foot at the Beame.
1781. Nelson, in Nicolas, Disp., I. 43. The Albemarle is not so wide on the gun-deck by four inches, but the same beam.
1875. ‘Stonehenge,’ Brit. Sports, II. VIII. i. § 3. The shallow hull gave way … to sharp bottoms, less beam, and a great deal of lead.
17. Hence designating the side of a vessel or sideward direction, esp. in technical phrases. Lee or weather beam: the side away from or towards the wind. On or upon the (starboard or larboard) beam: at some distance on the (right or left) side of a ship, at right angles to the keel. Abaft or before the beam: behind or before an imaginary line drawn right across the center of the ship. Beam sea: one rolling against the ship’s side.
1628. Digby, Jrnl., 83. You gett your chace vpon your beame.
1791. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 159. The wind … was but one point before our beam.
1833. Marryat, P. Simple (1863), 101. Land on the lee beam! Ibid. (1836), Midsh. Easy., xxx. The other frigate had passed half her length clear of the beam of the Aurora.
1883. Froude, Sketches, 67. The wind rose … bringing … a heavy beam sea.
18. Beam-ends, the ends of a ship’s beams. To be, or be laid, on the beam-ends: to have them touching the water, so that the vessel lies on its side in imminent danger of capsizing; fig. to be quite laid aside, utterly at a loss, hard up.
1773. Gentl. Mag., XLIII. 321. The gust laid her upon her beam-ends.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 517. A number of large river craft … on their beam-ends for want of water.
1830. Marryat, King’s Own, xxvi. Our first-lieutenant was … on his beam-ends, with the rheumatiz.
1844. Dickens, Mar. Chuz., xl. (D.). Tom was thrown upon his beam-ends again for some other solution.
III. An immaterial beam, of light, color, etc.
19. A ray, or ‘bundle’ of parallel rays, of light emitted from the sun or other luminous body; outstreaming radiance. [Apparently this sense arose in OE. through literal translation from the Lat.; not, however, as often thought, of radius solis ‘a spoke’ of the sun, but of columna lucis a ‘pillar’ or ‘column’ of light; an expression used more than once by Bæda (e.g., H. E. III. xi) to denote a column or stream of light rising from a saint’s dead body, which Ælfred renders by swylce sunnebéam. Also, in the poetical version of Exodus, the pillars or columns of fire and cloud, are béamas twéʓen; the fiery pillar is wuldres béam, column or beam of glory, byrnende béam, and in the metrical Psalms, fýren béam a fire beam. We may compare the beam- or balk-like appearance of the illuminated dusty atmosphere of a room, and the representations of light from heaven in paintings.]
c. 885. in O. E. Chron., an. 678. Her ateowede cometa … and scan iii monðas ælce morʓen swilce sunne beam [Bæda, excelsam radiantis flammæ quasi columnam.]
c. 1000. Ags. Ps. cv. 34. Het him neode, nihta ʓehwylce, fyrenne beam beforan wisian.
c. 1205. Lay., 17887. Þe leome þa strehte west riht a seouen bæmen [1250 bemes] wes idiht.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., B. 603. Bryȝt blykked þe bem of þe brode heuen.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, XI. 190. Armys … blenknyt with the sonnys beyme.
c. 1430. Hymns Virg., 208. Þe briȝt beemys blent my siȝt.
1596. Shaks., Merch. V., V. i. 90. How farre that little candell throwes his beames.
1664. Power, Exp. Philos., I. 77. So were the Luminous Beams variously transmitted, refracted, or reflected.
1869. Tyndall, in Fortn. Rev., 228. But what, in the first instance, is a beam of light? It is a train of innumerable waves, excited in, and propagated through, an almost infinitely attenuated and elastic medium, which fills all space, and which we name the æther.
b. The appearance of rays produced by the sun’s shining upon mist through gaps in the clouds.
1846. Ruskin, Mod. Paint. (1851), I. II. 3 i. § 15. 209. The appearance of beams can only take place in a part of the sky which has clouds between it and the sun.
c. A radiating line of color.
1705. Petiver, in Phil. Trans., XXV. 1953. The other [shells] have red beams, which shoot from the hinge, and are broader at the edges.
20. transf. A similar ray of heat.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., II. § 3. 244. Two beams of heat, from two distinct sources.
1882. Longm. Mag., 38. In passing through the liquid layer, a beam of heat encounters the same number of molecules as in passing through the vapour layer.
21. fig. Ray, gleam, emanation: † Eye-beam, beam of sight, a glance.
1579. Gosson, Sch. Abuse (Arb.), 33. Basiliskes … poyson as well with the beame of their sighte as with the breath of their mouth.
1587. Marlowe, Dido, III. i. 708. Lest their gross eye-beams taint my lovers cheeks.
1674. Owen, Holy Spirit (1693), 235. A Beam of Truth from the Light of Nature.
1742. Collins, Epist., 56. Bring No beam of comfort to the guilty king.
1818. Byron, Juan, I. lxi. Her cheek all purple with the beam of youth.
† 22. Math. The radius of a circle, an axial line. (Translating L. radius, apparently from the association of beam and ray of light.) Obs.
1570. Dee, Math. Præf., 19. Beames, or naturall lines.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, II. (1811), 81. The beame is a line stretching directly from the circle to the center.
1624. Wotton, Archit., in Reliq. Wotton. (1672), 52. The Axel-tree, or middle Beam of the Eye.
† 23. Arch. (See quot.) Obs.
1664. Evelyn, trans. Freart’s Archit., 130. Raies or Beames, which … are those plain spaces between the Flutings.
IV. Comb., as beam-house, -knife, -man (sense 8); beam-engine, -gudgeon (sense 11); beam-antler (12); beam-knee, -plate (15); also beam-arm, a crooked timber extending from the side of a beam to the ship’s side, in the wake of the hatchway (Adm. Smyth); beam-bird, dial. name of the Spotted Flycatcher; beam-board, the platform of a steel-yard or balance; beam-centre, the central pin on which the beam of a steam-engine works; beam-compass, an instrument consisting of a wooden or brass beam with sliding sockets, for drawing larger circles than an ordinary pair of compasses can describe; beam-ends (see 18); beam-feather (see quot.); beam-fish, ? a shark (see quot.); beam-like a., like a beam, of timber or of light; beam-line, the line that shows the junction of the upper sides of the successive beams with the ship’s sides; beam-trawl v., to fish with a trawl-net of which the mouth is kept open by a beam.
1623. Cockeram, s.v. Pollard, *Beame antler is the next start growing above the Brow antler.
c. 1850. Rudim. Nav. (Weale), 95. *Beam-Arm, or Fork-Beam, a forked piece of timber, nearly of the depth of the beam, scarphed, tabled, and bolted, for additional security to the sides of beams athwart large openings in the decks, as the main hatchway and the mast-rooms.
1766. Pennant, Zool. (1768), II. 263. Known in that county [York] by the name of the *beam-bird, because it nestles under the ends of beams in outbuildings, &c.
1785. Roy, in Phil. Trans., LXXV. 402. A *beam-compass, sufficient to take in twenty feet.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, A. viij b. And oon principall feder of thes same is in the myddis … that is called the *Beme feder of the tayle.
1721. Bailey, *Beam-feathers [among falconers], the long feathers of a Hawk’s Wing [in mod. dicts.].
1742. Bailey, *Beam-fish, a sea monster like a pike, a dreadful enemy to mankind, seizing like a blood-hound, and never letting go, if he gets fast hold.
1885. H. M. Newhall in Harper’s Mag., Jan., 274/2. The … tip-cart again makes its appearance … ready to take a load to the *beam-house.
1869. Sir E. Reed, Shipbuild., viii. 145. And the *Beam-knee ends are welded on to the central piece.
1620. Quarles, Jonah (1638), 27. The great Leviathan set ope His *beame-like Jawes.
1820. Shelley, Sens. Plant, II. The bee and the *beamlike ephemeris.
1884. West. Morn. News, 3 Sept., 2/1. To Tanners.—Wanted, young man as *Beamman.
1614. Chapman, Odyss., I. 675. And hung them on a *beam-pin near the bed.
1658. Ussher, Ann., vi. 360. The planet of Mercurie … was seen, near to the *beam star in the signe of Libre.
1883. Fisheries Exhib. Catal., 3. The rapid growth of *beam-trawling.
