Emily Dickinson Lexicon
Definition for BEAM
BEAM, n.1 [Goth. bagms, a tree; Sax. beam; G. baum; D. boom, a tree; Dan. bom, a bar or rail; Ir. beim, a beam. We see by the Gothic, that the word belongs to Class Bg. It properly signifies the stock or stem of a tree; that is, the fixed, firm part.]
- The largest, or a principal piece in a building, that lies across the walls, and serves to support the principal rafters. – Encyc.
- Any large piece of timber, long in proportion to its thickness, and squared, or hewed for use.
- The part of a balance, from the ends of which the scales are suspended; sometimes used for the whole apparatus for weighing. – Encyc.
- The part on the head of a stag, which bears the antlers, royals and tops.
- The pole of a carriage, which runs between the horses. – Dryden.
- A cylinder of wood, making part of a loom, on which weavers wind the warp before weaving; and this name is given also to the cylinder on which the cloth is rolled, as it is wove.
- The straight part or shank of an anchor.
- In ships, a great main cross timber, which holds the sides of a ship from falling together. The beams support the decks and orlops. The main beam is next the mainmast. – Mar. Dict.
- The main piece of a plow, in which the plow-tails are fixed, and by which it is drawn.
- Beam compass, an instrument consisting of a square wooden or brass beam, having sliding sockets, that carry steel or pencil points; used for describing large circles, and in large projections for drawing the furniture on wall-dials. – Encyc. Johnson. On the beam, in navigation, signifies any distance from the ship, on a line with the beams, or at right angles with the keel. – Mar. Dict. Before the beam, is an arch of the horizon between a line that crosses the ship at right angles, or the line of the beam, and that point of the compass which she steers. – Mar. Dict. Beam ends. A vessel is said to be on her beam ends, when she inclines so much on one side that her beams approach a vertical position. – Mar. Dict. Beam-feathers in falconry, the long feathers of a hawk's wing. – Bailey.
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