beam

1. (structural) Any large piece of timber or iron long in proportion to its thickness, and prepared for use.Examples: "And a letter vnto Asaph the keeper of the kings forrest, that he may giue me timber to make beames for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the Citie, and for the house that I shall enter into: And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God vpon me."

2. (structural) One of the principal horizontal structural members, usually of steel, timber, or concrete, of a building.Examples: "The brasswork here, how rich it is in beams, / And how, besides, it makes the whole house sound."; "Lucie opened the door: and what do you think there was inside the hill?—a nice clean kitchen with a flagged floor and wooden beams—just like any other farm kitchen."

3. (nautical) One of the transverse members of a ship's frame on which the decks are laid, and acting as part of the support for keeping the sides of the vessel in shape — supported at the sides by knees in wooden ships and by stringers in steel ones; cf. abeam, beam-ends.Examples: "Capt. King, from Demarara, was invaded by the gale on the evening of the 6th, in lat. 21° 51', and his vessel was thrown on her beam ends. He was forced to cut away her main-mast. Lost a man, who was washed overboard. . . . Capt. Mood, on a voyage from Alexandria (Virginia), to St. Mary's (Georgia), was, on the night of the 7th, in the Gulf Stream, to the eastward of Charlston: the wind there was east-north-east, and so hard as to throw his vessel on her beam ends. She lay several hours in this situation. Several of his crew were washed overboard."; "1808 Richard Hall Gower. On the Theory and Practice of Seamanship. It often happens that by a sudden squall of wind a vessel is thrown over upon her beam ends, without a prospect of recovering her erect while she remains upon the same tack, therefore attempts are made to veer her; but as the rudder lies along the surface of the water it becomes useless, and as the sails are either blown from the yards, or become unmanageable, recourse is had to cutting away the main-mast and mizen-mast, that the ship may veer under the fore-mast:-a most desperate expedient, particularly if the ship is far distant from port!"

4. (nautical) The maximum width of a vessel (note that a vessel with a beam of 15 foot can also be said to be 15 foot abeam).Examples: "This ship has more beam than that one."; "Being only 280 ft. long, with a beam of 66 ft, their speed is moderate, and for a long time difficulty was experienced in steering them."Synonyms: breadth

5. (nautical) The direction across a vessel, perpendicular to fore-and-aft.Examples: "As the vessel passes a landmark, the landmark is said to be abeam. Once the vessel has passed the landmark, it falls abaft the beam, then it gradually falls astern."

6. (nautical) The straight part or shank of an anchor.