beam

Definition: shine, as a light
Antonyms: be dark

v

Definition: smile broadly
Antonyms: frown, scowl

[from Star Trek Classic's “Beam me up, Scotty!”]

1. To transfer softcopy of a file electronically; most often in combining forms such as beam me a copy or beam that over to his site.

2. Palm Pilot users very commonly use this term for the act of exchanging bits via the infrared links on their machines (this term seems to have originated with the ill-fated Newton Message Pad). Compare blast, snarf, BLT.

A stream or approximately unidirectional emission of electromagnetic radiation or particles.

n. 1. the direction of an object visible from the port or starboard side of a ship when it is perpendicular to the center line of the vessel: there was land in sight on the port beam.

2. a ship's breadth at its widest point: a cutter with a beam of 16 feet.

3. the shank of an anchor.

4. a series of radio or radar signals emitted to serve as a navigational guide for ships or aircraft.

1. transmit (a radio signal or broadcast) in a specified direction: beaming a distress signal into space.

on her or its beam-ends (of a ship) heeled over on its side; almost capsized.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

A unidirectional emission of electromagnetic radiation. See also x-ray.

• external b. therapy — radiotherapy in which the source is at a distance from the patient, e.g. orthovoltage, cesium-137, cobalt-60 or linear accelerator.
• b. limitation — restriction of the divergent beam as it appears from the tube window by a lead plate or cone or a light beam diaphragm located at the window.
• primary b. — the radiation beam as it passes through the window of the x-ray tube and before it is modified by extra-tube devices.