Top
(bēm) 
n.
v., beamed, beam·ing, beams. v.intr.
n.
- A squared-off log or a large, oblong piece of timber, metal, or stone used especially as a horizontal support in construction.
- Nautical.
- A transverse structural member of a ship's frame, used to support a deck and to brace the sides against stress.
- The breadth of a ship at the widest point.
- The side of a ship: sighted land off the starboard beam.
- Informal. The widest part of a person's hips: broad in the beam.
- A steel tube or wooden roller on which the warp is wound in a loom.
- An oscillating lever connected to an engine piston rod and used to transmit power to the crankshaft.
- The bar of a balance from which weighing pans are suspended.
- Sports. A balance beam.
- The main horizontal bar on a plow to which the share, colter, and handles are attached.
- One of the main stems of a deer's antlers.
- A ray or shaft of light.
- A concentrated stream of particles or a similar propagation of waves: a beam of protons; a beam of light.
- A radio beam.
v., beamed, beam·ing, beams. v.intr.
- To radiate light; shine.
- To smile expansively.
- To emit or transmit: beam a message via satellite.
- To express by means of a radiant smile: He beamed his approval of the new idea.
on the beam
- Following a radio beam. Used of aircraft.
- On the right track; operating correctly.
[Middle English bem, from Old English bēam.]
beam
Answers.com
ReferenceAnswers
- Home
- Search
- Settings
- Top Contributors
- Help Center
- Browse:
- Unanswered questions
- |
- New questions
- |
- New answers
- |
- Reference library
- Browse:
- Answers.com
- |
- Wiki.Answers.com
- |
- Coupons.Answers.com
Top
In building construction, a horizontal member spanning an opening and carrying a load. The load may be a wall above the opening ( post-and-beam system) or it may be a floor or roof. Beams may be of wood, steel or other metals, reinforced or prestressed concrete, plastic, or even brick with steel reinforcement. For weight reduction, metal beams are I-shaped, having a thin vertical web and thicker horizontal flanges where greater stress occurs. A joist is any of a series of small parallel beams supporting a floor or roof. girder, spandrel.
For more information on beam, visit Britannica.com.
A structural member that is fabricated from metal, reinforced or prestressed concrete, wood, fiber-reinforced plastic, or other construction materials and that resists loads perpendicular to its longitudinal axis. Its length is usually much larger than its depth or width. Usually beams are of symmetric cross section; they are designed to bend in this plane of symmetry, which is also the plane of their greatest strength and stiffness. This plane coincides with the plane of the applied loads. Beams are used as primary load-carrying members in bridges and buildings.
Roget's Thesaurus:
Top
beam
noun
- A large, oblong piece of wood or other material, used especially for construction: balk, rafter, timber. See matter.
- A series of particles or waves traveling close together in parallel paths: ray, shaft. See light/darkness.
verb
- To emit a bright light: blaze, burn, gleam, glow, incandesce, radiate, shine. See light/darkness.
- To curve the lips upward in expressing amusement, pleasure, or happiness: grin, smile. Idioms: break into a smile, crack a smile. See express.
1. A structural member whose prime function is to carry transverse loads, as a joist, girder, rafter, or purlin. The term beam may be modified by an adjective indicating its location; as, for example, an end beam or side beam. See anchor beam, binding beam, breastsummer beam, camber beam, ceiling beam, collar beam, cross beam, dragon beam, floor beam, ground beam, hammer beam, I-beam, laced beam, perimeter beam, summerbeam, tie beam, top beam, wind beam
2. A group of nearly parallel rays of light.
Top
i. A processed and directed pulse of energy.
ii. An invisible path produced by radio signals. An aircraft can follow the beam when approaching or going away from a navigational fix. A radar detects an aircraft when it is illuminated by its beam.
A localizer with both front beam and back beam.
iii. A long, heavy, metallic or wooden member in any structure to withstand any bending and shearing loads.
iv. The direction extending from the side of an airplane at right angles to the plane of symmetry.
v. The breadth at its maximum width of an airplane fuselage, hull, or vessel.
ii. An invisible path produced by radio signals. An aircraft can follow the beam when approaching or going away from a navigational fix. A radar detects an aircraft when it is illuminated by its beam.
iii. A long, heavy, metallic or wooden member in any structure to withstand any bending and shearing loads.
iv. The direction extending from the side of an airplane at right angles to the plane of symmetry.
v. The breadth at its maximum width of an airplane fuselage, hull, or vessel.
Top
noun
noun
1: The (width of the) hips or buttocks; esp. in phr. broad in the beam. (1929 —) .
Mrs. Hicks-Beach A cast-off of Jim's. He's grown too broad in the beam for it (1944).
2: to be on the beam to be on the right track, right, sane. So to be off (the) beam. (1941 —) .
Observer Hugh Burden, as Barnaby, was right on the beam from the start (1948).
[In sense 2, from an earlier sense, to be on the course indicated by a radio beam.]
noun
1: The (width of the) hips or buttocks; esp. in phr. broad in the beam. (1929 —) .
Mrs. Hicks-Beach A cast-off of Jim's. He's grown too broad in the beam for it (1944).
2: to be on the beam to be on the right track, right, sane. So to be off (the) beam. (1941 —) .
Observer Hugh Burden, as Barnaby, was right on the beam from the start (1948).
[In sense 2, from an earlier sense, to be on the course indicated by a radio beam.]
| beak, beach bum, bazooms | |
| bean, bean-eater, beaner |
Random House Word Menu:
Top
categories related to 'beaming'
See crossword solutions for the clue Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:
Copyrights:
American Heritage Dictionary
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 1994-2012 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more
McGraw-Hill Science & Technology Encyclopedia
McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Read more
Roget's Thesaurus
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 byHoughton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Read more
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture & Construction
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Read more
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Aviation
An Illustrated Dictionary of Aviation.. Copyright © 2005 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Read more
Oxford Dictionary of Modern Slang
Oxford University Press. © 1997, 2008, 2010
All rights reserved.
Read more
Random House Word Menu
© 2010 Write Brothers Inc. Word Menu is a registered trademark of the Estate of Stephen Glazier.
Write Brothers Inc.
All rights reserved.
Read more
