| 释义 |
▪ I. beam, n.1|biːm|
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.
826Chart. Ecgberht in Cod. Dipl. V. 84 Súðæweardæ oð ðet scírhiltæ on ðonæ gréatan béam. c1000Riddles (Grein) lvi. 7 Ic þæs béames mæᵹ éaðe for eorlum æðelu secᵹan.
†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.
c1000Crist (Grein) 1094 He on ðone hálᵹan béam ahongen wæs. c1305in Leg. Rood (1871) 146 Cristened we weore in Red rem, Whon his bodi bledde on þe Beem. 1461–83Ord. 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. 1529Bk. 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. 1720Stow's Surv. (Strype, 1754) I. i. xv. 74/2 The Cross and the Beam beyond the Altar.
3. a. 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.
978O.E. Chron., At Calne..se halᵹa Dunstan ana ætstod uppon anum beame. c1000Ags. Gosp. Matt. vii. 3 Þú ne ᵹesyhst þone beam on þinum aᵹenum eaᵹan. c1250Gen. & Ex. 1606 And slep and saȝ, and soðe drem, Fro ðe erðe up til heuene bem A leddre stonden. 1297R. Glouc. 288 Þe flor to brac vnder hem..Seyn Dunston by cas..hente hym by a bem, and ysaued was. c1340Cursor M. (Trin.) 8781 Þe beem [Cotton, balk] þat most þe werk shulde bynde. 1413Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle iv. iii. (1483) 59 A grete tre was hewen doune for to be made a beme. 1595Shakes. John iv. iii. 129 A rush will be a beame To hang thee on. 1611Bible 2 Kings vi. 2 Let vs..take thence euery man a beame, and let vs make vs a place there where we may dwell. 1807Crabbe 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 which connects the bottom of a pair of principal rafters, and prevents them from thrusting out the walls.
1734Builder's Dict., Dragon Beams are two strong Braces or Struts..meeting in an Angle upon the Shoulder of the Kingpiece. 1823P. 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. 1845Gloss. 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.c1000in 3.] 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. x. 264 Sithen a beem in þine owne ablyndeth þi-selue. a1555Latimer Serm. & Rem. (1845) 314 Learn from your own beams to make allowance for your neighbour's motes. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. iv. iii. 162 You found his Moth, the King your Moth did see: But I a Beame doe finde in each of three. 1649Drummond of Hawthornden 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 beam. The similar roller on which the cloth is wound as it is woven; also called back-beam, breast-beam, cloth-beam.
c1000Supp. ælfric's Gloss. in Wülcker Voc. /187 Liciatorium, webbeam. 1382Wyclif 1 Sam. xvii. 7 The shaft of his speer was as the beem [Coverdale, lome] of websters. c1440Promp. Parv. 30/2 Beeme of webstarrys lome, liciatorium. 1552Huloet, Beame of timber wherupon embroderers..do rolle their worke, iugum. 1598Shakes. Merry W. v. i. 23, I feare not Goliah with a Weauers beame. 1675Hobbes Odyss. (1677) 230 So I A beam set up, and then began to weave. 1831G. Porter Silk Manuf. 215 The beam, or yarn-roll, on which the threads are wound.
5. The great timber of the plough, to which all the other parts of the plough-tail are fixed.
c1000ælfric Gloss. in Wülcker Voc. /104 Buris, sulh-beam. c1450in Ibid. /569 Burris, the plowebeme. 1483Cath. Angl. 27/1 A beym of ye plwgh, buris. 1592Warner Alb. Eng. viii. xlii. (1597) 205 But to the Headland shall our Plough, vnles we breake our Beame. 1787T. Jefferson Corr. (1830) 135 The plough here is made with..a beam twelve feet long. 1832C. 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. a. 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.
1420E.E. Wills (1882) 46 A beme þat y weye þer-with. 1503Act 19 Hen. VII, vi, Deceivable and untrue Beams and Scales. 1581Lambarde Eiren. iv. xix. (1588) 605 Let us holde the beame, and put in balaunce their reasons on either side. 1711Pope Rape Lock v. 73 The doubtful beam long nods from side to side. 1802Rees Cycl. s.v. Balance, The beam, the principal part of the balance, is a lever of the first kind. 1875Encycl. 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.
[1386Records Grocers' Co. Lond. (facsimile 67), Item paie a Johan Reche pour defendre le pursute dell Bem.] 1448MS. Records do. 147 Weying the same marchaundise at ther owne beeme, and not at the commorn beeme. 1494Fabyan vii. 341 Than was layde vnto theyr charge, that..they hadde alteryd the kynges beame. Ibid. 391 The kynges bealme. 1607Hieron Wks. I. 79 To make the written word (as it were) the standard or the kings beame, by which to try all doctrine. 1647Ward 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. 1712Addison Spect. No. 463 ⁋3 The latter, to shew its comparative Lightness, immediately flew up and kickt the Beam. 1860G. 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.
1600Chapman Iliad v. 736 The chariot's..beam that look'd before Was massy silver. 1697Dryden Virg. æneid xii. (J.) Juturna..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.
1875Ure 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.
c885K. ælfred Oros. ii. viii. §5 Hiora ærenan beamas..ne mehton from Galliscum fyre forbærnede weorþan. 1387Trevisa Higden Rolls Ser. V. 315 Hormisda lefte in Seynt Peter his chirche a beme [trabem] of silver. 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. (1841) iv. lxxix. §5 A certain beam of gold about seven hundred and a half in weight. 1613Purchas 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-beam and walking-beam.
1758Fitzgerald 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. 1851Carlyle Sterling iii. ii. (1872) 175, I saw half the beam of a great steam-engine..cast in about five minutes. 1884Harper's Mag. July 270/1 The walking-beam which drives the side-wheels.
12. The main trunk of a stag's horn which bears the branches or ‘antlers.’
1575Turberv. Venerie 53 When the beame is great, burnished..and not made crooked by the antlyers. 1630J. Taylor (Water P.) Wks. i. 93/1 A Buckes hornes are composed of Burre, Beame, etc. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. I. ii. v. (1862) 325 The fourth year that part [of the horn] which bears the antlers is called the beam. 1862C. Collyns Red Deer ii, The ‘beam,’ or main horn, increases in size..as the stag grows older.
†13. The part of a cock's leg below the thigh and above the spur. Obs.
1614Markham Cheap Husb. (1623) 135 His legs straight, and of a strong beame. [So1727in 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.
c1000Riddles (Grein) xi. 7 Ic of fæðmum cwóm brimes and béames. 1509Barclay 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).
1627Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ii. 5 The maine beame is euer next the maine mast, where is the ships greatest breadth. 1784Cook Voy. (1790) III. 809 Before we could raise the main tack, the Dolphin was laid upon her beams. 1795Nelson in Nicolas Disp. II. 5 The ships built at Toulon have their sides, beams, decks..from this Island. 1873Act 36 & 37 Vict. lxxxv. §3 The number denoting her registered tonnage shall be cut in on her main beam.
16. a. Hence, The greatest breadth of a ship.
1627Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. iii. 15 Suppose a Ship of 300. Tunnes be 29 foot at the Beame. 1781Nelson 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.
b. transf. The (width of the) hips or buttocks; esp. in colloq. phr. broad in the beam.
1929H. Walpole Hans Frost ii. vi. 177 He stood watching disgustedly Bigges' broad beam. 1944S. E. Hicks Beach Annabel & M. Verena xxiv. 92 A cast-off of Jim's. He's grown too broad in the beam for it. 1960I. Cross Backward Sex i. 24 ‘I'm too broad around the beam.’ ‘What do you mean?..’ ‘My hips, silly..I've got wide hips.’
17. Hence designating the side of a vessel or sideward direction, esp. in technical phrases. lee beam 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 centre of the ship. beam sea: one rolling against the ship's side.
1628Digby Jrnl. 83 You gett your chace vpon your beame. 1791Smeaton Edystone L. §159 The wind..was but one point before our beam. 1833Marryat P. Simple (1863) 101 Land on the lee beam! 1836― Midsh. Easy xxx, The other frigate had passed half her length clear of the beam of the Aurora. 1883Froude 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.
1773Gentl. Mag. XLIII. 321 The gust laid her upon her beam-ends. 1796Morse Amer. Geog. I. 517 A number of large river craft..on their beam-ends for want of water. 1830Marryat King's Own xxvi, Our first-lieutenant was..on his beam-ends, with the rheumatiz. 1844Dickens Mart. Chuz. xl. (D.) Tom was thrown upon his beam-ends again for some other solution.
III. An immaterial beam, of light, colour, etc.
19. a. A ray, or ‘bundle’ of parallel rays, of light emitted from the sun or other luminous body; out-streaming 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 sunne-béam. Also, in the poetical version of Exodus, the pillars or columns of fire and cloud, are béamas twéᵹen; 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.]
c885in O.E. Chron. an. 678 Her ateowede cometa..and scan iii monðas ælce morᵹen swilce sunne beam [Bæda, excelsam radiantis flammæ quasi columnam.] c1000Ags. Ps. cv. 34 Het him neode, nihta ᵹehwylce, fyrenne beam beforan wisian. 1205Lay. 17887 Þe leome þa strehte west riht a seouen bæmen [1250 bemes] wes idiht. c1325E.E. Allit. P. B. 603 Bryȝt blykked þe bem of þe brode heuen. 1375Barbour Bruce xi. 190 Armys..blenknyt with the sonnys beyme. c1430Hymns Virg. 208 Þe briȝt beemys blent my siȝt. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. v. i. 90 How farre that little candell throwes his beames. 1664Power Exp. Philos. i. 77 So were the Luminous Beams variously transmitted, refracted, or reflected. 1869Tyndall 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.
1846Ruskin 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 colour.
1705Petiver in Phil. Trans. XXV. 1953 The other [shells] have red beams, which shoot from the hinge, and are broader at the edges.
d. A directed flow of radiation or particles; freq. attrib.
1906Rutherford in Phil. Mag. XI. 168 Radium served as a source of α rays. A narrow beam of rays, after passing through a parallel slit, fell on a photographic plate. 1908H. Geiger in Proc. R. Soc. A. LXXXI. 174 Scattering is well known in the case of β-particles. A narrow pencil of β-rays emerges after passing through a metal plate as an ill-defined beam. 1933Discovery Aug. 236/2 The new research will be termed ‘beam’ therapy and will be carried on at the London Radium Institute in Portland Place. 1937Ibid. Nov. 329/2 The mechanical difficulties are obviated by using a beam of electrons for scanning. 1938R. W. Lawson tr. Hevesy & Paneth's Man. Radioactivity (ed. 2) xxvi. 288 Cockcroft and Walton succeeded in 1932 in the transmutation of light elements, by bombarding them with a beam of fast protons. Ibid. 291 The focusing action results in the generation of beams of ions. 1959Times 19 Jan. 8/2 A brain operation in which for the first time a beam of protons was used instead of surgical instruments has been performed at the Werner Institute for Nuclear Chemistry at Uppsala.
20. transf. A similar ray of heat.
1860Tyndall Glac. ii. §3. 244 Two beams of heat, from two distinct sources. 1882Longm. 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.
1579Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 33 Basiliskes..poyson as well with the beame of their sighte as with the breath of their mouth. 1587Marlowe Dido iii. i. 708 Lest their gross eye-beams taint my lovers cheeks. 1674Owen Holy Spirit (1693) 235 A Beam of Truth from the Light of Nature. 1742Collins Epist. 56 Bring No beam of comfort to the guilty king. 1818Byron 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.
1570Dee Math. Præf. 19 Beames, or naturall lines. 1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie ii. (1811) 81 The beame is a line stretching directly from the circle to the center. 1624Wotton Archit. in Reliq. Wotton. (1672) 52 The Axel-tree, or middle Beam of the Eye.
†23. Arch. (See quot.) Obs.
1664Evelyn tr. Freart's Archit. 130 Raies or Beames, which..are those plain spaces between the Flutings.
24. a. Radio Communication. In full radio beam, wireless beam: radio waves transmitted as a beam, i.e. undispersed, from a special aerial system, part of which acts as a reflector; usu. attrib.
[1899Marconi in Jrnl. Inst. Electrical Engin. XXVIII. 274 Should it be necessary to direct a beam of rays in one given direction I prefer to use an arrangement similar to a Righi oscillator placed in the focal line of a suitable cylindrical parabolic reflector.] 1924Marconi 2 July in Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts 25 July 607/2 The transmission and reception of intelligible signals over a distance of 13/4 miles of a beam system employing short waves and reflectors. 1924Westm. Gaz. 24 July, Arrangements had been made for the erection of a beam station in Canada. 1924Daily News 14 Nov. 7/4 Beam wireless. 1925Telegr. & Teleph. Jrnl. Mar. 107/1 Australian papers give the following..information regarding the ‘Beam’ Radio Stations. 1927Daily Mail 2 Dec. 11/1 Cable Companies and The Beam. 1928Morning Post 23 Mar. 14 Beam-cable fusion [of the Eastern Exchange Cable Company and Marconi Company]... The beam system of telegraphy. 1934Nature 24 Feb. 297/2 One advantage of short-wave transmission in radio communication is that it is possible to concentrate the radiation..in one direction, thus forming a beam of waves... A series of vertical aerials..(called a beam array) will act like Hertz's reflector. 1946Proc. Inst. Radio Engineers XXXIV. 335 (title) A Current Distribution for Broadside Arrays which Optimizes the Relationship between Beam Width and Side-Lobe Level. 1958Engineering 31 Jan. 157/3 The aerial has been designed to give a sharp beamwidth at high signal strength. At 20 db the horizontal beamwidth extends about 0·65 deg.
b. Aeronaut. A directional radio transmission used to guide aircraft or missiles; freq. attrib., as beam approach.
1927Sci. Amer. Jan. 32 Radio along the Airways. Invisible beams guide birdmen in flights between European cities. 1929Aviation 28 Dec. 1277/1 A landing beam transmitter buried flush with the ground in the center of the field. Ibid., After finding the beam the pilot glides down it toward the field. 1933K. Henney Radio Engin. Handbk. 537 The diminution of intensity as the airplane drops below the inclined axis is compensated by the increase of intensity due to approaching the beam transmitter. 1941Tee Emm Oct. 8/1 The policy is that Beam Approach training shall be introduced..as equipment becomes available. 1949A. R. Weyl Guided Missiles i. 26 The ‘beam-rider’ system in which the missile flies along a radar beam. 1958Times 9 Oct. 10/2 It carries a warhead with proximity fuse and a beam guidance system. 1963Oxf. Mag. 9 May 280/2 The Germans with their beam flying provided us with targets that would have been peculiarly favourable to aerial mine defence.
c. to be on the beam, to be on the course indicated by a radio beam; hence fig. (colloq.) to be on the right track, right, sane. So to be off the beam.
1941Amer. Speech XVI. 238/2 Expressions disparaging a person's mental state..off his beam (airplane). 1941Daring Detective Nov. 7/2 ‘Now we know we're on the beam,’ said Brubach. ‘Sex maniacs and drinking companions are definitely eliminated.’ 1943Hunt & Pringle Service Slang 49 On the beam, I follow what you are saying. (R.A.F.). 1948Observer 18 Jan. 2/3 Hugh Burden, as Barnaby, was right on the beam from the start. 1949Jrnl. Brit. Interplanet. Soc. VIII. 143 Thus rocket aeroplanes might seem ‘off the beam’ of true astronautics. 1954‘N. Blake’ Whisper in Gloom i. iv. 58 Never heard of him. You're off the beam.
IV. Comb., as beam-house, beam-knife, beam-man (sense 8); beam-engine, beam-gudgeon (sense 11); beam-antler (12); beam-knee, beam-plate (15); also beam-action, the action of a beam-engine; beam aerial, antenna, a directional aerial for transmitting a radio beam; 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-blind a., uncritical of oneself (cf. sense 3 c); so beam-blindness; beam-board, the platform of a steelyard 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-engine, a steam engine having a vibrating beam through which the piston effort is transmitted to the crank; 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 which shows the junction of the upper sides of the successive beams with the ship's sides; beam-splitter Photogr., a device consisting of a prismatic arrangement of mirrors (see quots.); so beam-splitting adj.; beam-trawl v., to fish with a trawl-net of which the mouth is kept open by a beam.
1896Daily News 7 Jan. 6/5 The..*beam-action locomotives of that extremely primitive line.
1926Gloss. Terms Electr. Engin. (B.S.I.) *Beam Aerial System, a combination of aerials with their earthing, tuning and reflecting arrangements so disposed as to concentrate the available radiated energy into a beam. 1945Electronic Engin. XVII. 719 Indicating the target by means of a rotating beam aerial.
1935K. Henney Radio Engin. Handbk. (ed. 2) 774 The elements of the Walmsley *beam antenna.
1623Cockeram s.v. Pollard, *Beame antler is the next start growing above the Brow antler.
c1850Rudim. 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.
1766Pennant 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.
1879G. M. Hopkins Poems (1918) 47 What hinders? Are you *beam-blind, yet to a fault In a neighbour deft-handed. 1932S. C. Carpenter Supernat. Relig. iv. 94 The difference between his [sc. our Lord's] moteless eye and the beam-blindness of the Pharisees.
1785Roy in Phil. Trans. LXXV. 402 A *beam-compass, sufficient to take in twenty feet.
1844H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 312 The *beam-engine of 6-horse power. a1877Knight Dict. Mech. 257/1 Beam-engine.., an engine with an oscillating beam, to whose respective ends the connecting-rod from the piston and the pitman from the crank are attached.
1486Bk. 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.
1721Bailey, *Beam-feathers [among falconers], the long feathers of a Hawk's Wing [in mod. dicts.].
1742Bailey, *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.
1885Harper's Mag. Jan. 274/2 The..tip-cart..makes its appearance..ready to take a load to the *beam-house.
1869E. J. Reed Shipbuild. viii. 145 And the *Beam-knee ends are welded on to the central piece.
1620Quarles Jonah (1638) 27 The great Leviathan set ope His *beame-like Jawes. 1820Shelley Sens. Plant 11, The bee and the beamlike ephemeris.
1884West. Morn. News 3 Sept. 2/1 To Tanners.—Wanted, young man as *Beamman.
1614Chapman Odyss. i. 675 And hung them on a *beam-pin near the bed.
1935Discovery July 189/1 Iceland spar..*beam splitter..entirely free from parallax. This system may be employed..to obtain three-colour negatives. 1940Chambers's Techn. Dict. 83/1 Beam-splitter or beam-splitting camera, a camera for colour photography, in which the beam of light from the object is separated into three components by means of a complicated prism. 1956A. L. M. Sowerby Dict. Photogr. (ed. 18) 52 Beamsplitter, a combination of four mirrors..used either for taking a stereoscopic pair of pictures with an ordinary single-lens camera, or for projecting or viewing a stereo pair so made. 1958M. L. Hall et al. Newnes Complete Amat. Photogr. xxvi. 235 Stereos taken on the same frame by a beam-splitting device.
1658Ussher Ann. vi. 360 The planet of Mercurie..was seen, near to the *beam star in the signe of Libre.
1883Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 3 The rapid growth of *beam-trawling.
▪ II. † beam, n.2
Only in phr. bote of beam: remedy, improvement, restoration. Obs.[Referred by Mätzner to beam n.1 2, taking the cross as typical of misfortune and distress. But may not bote of beam be = ‘repair of timbers,’ used proverbially to signify repair or amendment of any kind?] 1330R. Brunne Chron. 90 Þer he wist bote of beam, he went þat viage To William þe rede kyng. Ibid. 103 For seke is þe kyng, of him is no bote of beem.
▪ III. beam, v.|biːm|
Forms: 5 beem, beme, 8– beam.
[?:—OE. béamian (given by Bosworth on Somner's authority), f. beam n.1]
I. From the ‘beam’ of light.
†1. trans. To shed light upon, irradiate, illumine.
c1430Life St. Kath. 86 (1884) 46 For aungels come from heuene and counforted hir, beeming þat place of derkenesse wyth vnspekable cleernesse.
2. trans. To throw out or radiate (beams or rays of light); to emit in rays. Often extended by forth, out, in. Also fig.
c1440Promp. Parv. 30/1 Beme lygthte, radio. c1690South Serm. (1843) II. xii. 207 That God beams this light into man's understanding. a1716South Serm. IV. 9 (R.) God beams in peculiar evidences and discoveries of the truth to such as embrace it in their affections. c1750Shenstone Love & Hon. 187 The genial sun..Beams forth ungentle influences. 1785Burke Nab. Arcot's Debts Wks. 1842 I. 321 What are the sciences they beamed out to enlighten it? 1871Macduff Mem. Patmos xviii. 241 That eye which once beamed affection now rayless.
3. a. intr. To shine radiantly. lit. and fig.
1640S. Marshall Serm. (1641) 9 No excellencie..like to that which beames out from God in the Covenant of grace. 1820W. Irving Sketch Bk. I. 52 Her whole countenance beamed with smiles. 1839Bailey Festus i, Yon sun beams hotliest on The earth when distant most.
b. Of a person: to smile radiantly, broadly, or good-naturedly. Freq. const. adv.
1893Illustr. Sporting & Dram. News 11 Mar. 28/2, I..tried to beam on a friend—albeit, a poor beamer at the best. 1900E. Glyn Visits Eliz. (1906) 14 He..jumped off his horse and beamed—just as if we had parted the best of friends. 1922H. Crane Let. 7 Aug. (1965) 95, I realize that he insulted me while he was here..but I shall beam on until all hope of his getting Bill an audience has vanished. 1936R. A. Freeman Penrose Myst. i. i. 15 Mr. Polton took the coffee-pot in his..hands, beamed on it approvingly. 1937A. J. Cronin Citadel ii. ii. 123 He beamed at the watch, for he could contemplate even inanimate objects..with that bland cordiality which was especially his own.
II. From the ‘beam’ of timber.
4. To stretch (cloth) over a beam; to use a beam in Tanning (see beaming vbl. n. 2).
[1558Act. 1 Eliz. xii. §1 Deceitfull persons..doe vse to cast the pieces of Cloth ouer a beame.. and doe by sundry deuices racke, stretch, and draw the same.] 1605in N. Riding Qr. Sessions Rec. (1884) I. 9 Did beame ten webbes of lynnen cloth of the length of 20 virgates the piece. 1885[see beaming vbl. n. 2].
5. To roll (yarn or warp) on the beam of a loom.
1864R. Arnold Cotton Fam. 34 The yarn, which has now become ‘warp,’ is then ‘beamed.’
6. To shore up or support by a beam.
1538[see beaming vbl. n. 2].
III. trans.
7. To direct (a radio transmission) to a specific area. (Cf. beam n.1 24.)
1927Daily Express 5 July 3/3 The King's message..was almost instantaneously ‘beamed’ to the receiving station at Milnerton, seven miles from Capetown. 1955Times 29 July 3/1 A message announcing the inauguration of 28 new high-power radio transmitters..was ‘beamed’ to New York.. and other regions. 1964Ibid. 2 Apr. 20/7 Microwave equipment which will beam large numbers of telephone calls between Bloemfontein..and East London.
8. fig. To direct at, towards.
1956L. Ashton in A. Pryce-Jones New Outline Mod. Knowl. iii. 300 Modern invention is often only a realignment, but for the great artists it is a realignment ‘beamed’, to use a modern word, on the future. 1959Listener 24 Sept. 469/2 Mr. Khrushchev's tour is beamed—so to speak—at Radio Peking.
Add:[7.] b. Science Fiction. [Orig. from the U.S. television series Star Trek: see trekkie n. 2.] (a) intr. To travel through space as if along a beam of light or energy (esp. up to a spacecraft); (b) trans., to transport (someone or something) in this manner; freq. transf., esp. in catch-phr. beam me up (Scotty), i.e. out of an undesirable or dangerous situation.
The catch-phrase does not appear in this form in the original scripts (Mrs. M. B. Roddenberry).
1966Roddenberry & Johnson Man Trap in Star Trek (television script) 8 Sept., He beamed up to the ship with us—or something did. Ibid., Kirk speaking, three to beam up. Ibid., Captain, you can't just beam down here and bully us, and interfere with our work. 1967Pop. Sci. Monthly Dec. 74/2 The ‘Transporter’..can convert matter into energy and ‘beam’ it to a fixed point, then reconvert it back into its original form. It is used for both crew and cargo. 1967–8M. Armen Gamesters of Triskelion in Star Trek (television script), Kirk: Beam us up, Mr. Scott. 1984Amer. Banker 31 July 52/1 ‘Beam me up Scotty, there's no prospect of finance down here.’ Undoubtedly, that's what Star Trek's Captain Kirk, commander of the science-fiction Starship Enterprise, would say if he came here in search of bank loans to fund extraterrestrial activities. 1985Melody Maker 22 June 6 Beam me up! Extra-terrestrial-being Grace Jones gets eyeball to eyeball with a passing stranger in order to practise her famed Vulcan neckgrip. 1987Washington Post 21 Mar. f17 ‘Do you ever find yourself fantasizing about being ‘free’?’ ‘Beam me up, Scotty!’ |