Beam Definition
- Following a radio beam. Used of aircraft.
- On the right track; operating correctly.
- a major moral flaw in oneself which one ignores while criticizing minor faults in others
- not following the direction of a guiding beam, as an airplane
- in a direction at right angles to the keel of a ship; abeam
- following the direction of a guiding beam, as an airplane
Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Beam
- on the beam
- beam in one's own eye
- off the beam
- on the beam
Origin of Beam
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From Middle English beem, from Old English bēam (“tree, cross, gallows, column, pillar, wood, beam, splint, post, stock, rafter, piece of wood”), from Proto-Germanic *baumaz (“tree, beam, balk”), from Proto-Indo-European *bhū- (“to grow, swell”). Cognate with West Frisian beam (“tree”), Dutch boom (“tree”), German Baum (“tree”), Albanian bimë (“a plant”) and Latin pōmō (“fruit tree”).
From Wiktionary
The verb is from Middle English bemen, from Old English bēamian (“to shine, to cast forth rays or beams of light”), from the noun.
From Wiktionary
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Middle English bem from Old English bēam bheuə- in Indo-European roots
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
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