1 a line of light, electric waves or PARTICLES:
narrow beams of light / sunlight * the beam of a torch / flashlight * a laser / electron beam * (BrE) The approaching car's headlights were on full beam (= shining as brightly as possible and not directed downwards). * (AmE) a car with its high beams on
2 a long piece of wood, metal, etc. used to support weight, especially as part of the roof in a building:
The cottage had an original fireplace and exposed oak beams.
3 (especially BrE) (AmE usually the balance beam) a wooden bar that is used in the sport of GYMNASTICS for people to move and balance on:
The gymnast performed a somersault on the beam.
4 a wide and happy smile:
a beam of satisfaction
IDIOMS
off beam (informal) not correct; wrong:
Your calculation is way off beam.
Part of speech: verb
1 [nopassive] ~ (sth) (at sb) to have a big happy smile on your face:
[V] He beamed at the journalists. * She was positively beaming with pleasure. * [VN] The barman beamed a warm smile at her. * His broad face beamed a hearty welcome. * [Vspeech] 'I'd love to come,' she beamed (= said with a large smile).
2 [VN+adv./prep.] to send radio or television signals over long distances using electronic equipment:
Live pictures of the ceremony were beamed around the world.
3 [V+adv./prep.] to produce a ray of light and/or heat:
The morning sun beamed down on us. * Light beamed through a hole in the curtain.
IDIOMS see EAR
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About this entry
This is a English–English dictionary entry.
Sourced from Main Dictionary in Lughet's collection.
This word also appears under other sources in Lughet's collection — see the list below.
This entry for beam is sourced from Main Dictionary, one of the dictionaries and corpora merged into Lughet.
Is beam a noun, verb, or something else?
In this entry, beam is tagged as noun.
Does beam appear elsewhere on Lughet?
Yes — beam appears under other sources or language pairs in Lughet's collection. See the list below.
What is Lughet?
Lughet is a free trilingual dictionary covering nearly five million entries across Uyghur, Chinese, and English, drawn from more than ten source dictionaries and corpora.
