Beam

Webster's Dictionary

(1): (v. t.) To send forth; to emit; - followed ordinarily by forth; as, to beam forth light.

(2): (v. i.) To emit beams of light.

(3): (n.) A ray or collection of parallel rays emitted from the sun or other luminous body; as, a beam of light, or of heat.

(4): (n.) One of the long feathers in the wing of a hawk; - called also beam feather.

(5): (n.) A cylinder of wood, making part of a loom, on which weavers wind the warp before weaving; also, the cylinder on which the cloth is rolled, as it is woven; one being called the fore beam, the other the back beam.

(6): (n.) The pole of a carriage.

(7): (n.) The straight part or shank of an anchor.

(8): (n.) Any large piece of timber or iron long in proportion to its thickness, and prepared for use.

(9): (n.) Fig.: A ray; a gleam; as, a beam of comfort.

(10): (n.) The width of a vessel; as, one vessel is said to have more beam than another.

(11): (n.) A heavy iron lever having an oscillating 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 of the wheel shaft; - called also working beam or walking beam.

(12): (n.) The main part of a plow, to which the handles and colter are secured, and to the end of which are attached the oxen or horses that draw it.

(13): (n.) The bar of a balance, from the ends of which the scales are suspended.

(14): (n.) One of the principal horizontal timbers of a building or ship.

(15): (n.) The principal stem or horn of a stag or other deer, which bears the antlers, or branches.

King James Dictionary

BEAM, n. 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.

1. The largest, or a principal piece in a building, that lies across the walls, and serves to support the principal rafters. 2. Any large piece of timber, long in proportion to its thickness, and squared, or hewed for use. 3. The part of a balance, from the ends of which the scales are suspended sometimes used for the whole apparatus for weighing. 4. The part on the head of a stag, which bears the antlers, royals and tops. 5. The pole of a carriage, which runs between the horses. 6. 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. 7. The straight part or shank of an anchor. 8. 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. 9. The main piece of a plow, in which the plow-tails are fixed, and by which it is drawn. 10. 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.

On the beam, in navigation, signified any distance from the ship, on a line with the beams, or at right angles with the keel.

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.

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.

Beam-feathers, in falconry, the long feathers of a hawk's wing.

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

1: Δοκός (Strong'S #1385 — Noun Feminine — dokos — dok-os' )

"a beam," is perhaps etymologically connected with the root dek---, seen in the word dechomai, "to receive," "beams" being received at their ends into walls or pieces of timber. The Lord used it metaphorically, in contrast to a mote, "of a great fault, or vice,"  Matthew 7:3-5;  Luke 6:41,42 .

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

BEAM . 1 . A tree roughly trimmed serving as support of the flat roof of an Eastern house (  2 Kings 6:2;   2 Kings 6:5 ,   Ezra 6:11 RV [Note: Revised Version.] ,   Matthew 7:3 ff.,   Luke 6:41 f.), or more elaborately dressed (  2 Chronicles 34:11 RV [Note: Revised Version.] ,   Song of Solomon 1:17 ) and gilded (  2 Chronicles 3:7 ). See House, Mote. 2 . The weaver’s beam (see Spinning and Weaving). 3 . See Balance.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 1 Samuel 17:7 Habakkuk 2:11 2 Kings 6:2,5 1 Kings 7:6 Ezekiel 41:25 Matthew 7:3,4,5 Luke 6:41,42

Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types

 Matthew 7:3 (a) This represents a great fault in the life of a person who is critical and faultfinding about some small error in the life of another. He does not see his own big fault, but he quickly sees the little fault in another. See also  Luke 6:41-42.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

the rendering in the Auth. Vers. of the following words: אֶרֶג , E ' Reg, A Web,  Judges 16:14; Shuttle, "  Job 2:6; מָנוֹר , Manor ' , a Yoke, hence a weaver's Frame, or its principal Beam,  1 Samuel 17:7;  2 Samuel 21:19;  1 Chronicles 11:23;  1 Chronicles 20:5; גֵּב , Geb, a Board,  1 Kings 6:9;

כָּפִיס , Kaphis ' , a cross-beam or Girder (Sept. Κάνθαρος ),  Habakkuk 2:11; צֵלָע , Tsela ' , a Rib, hence a Joint,  1 Kings 7:3; "board," 6:15,16; "plank," 6:15; קוּרָה , Kurah ' , a cross-piece or Rafter,  2 Kings 6:2;  2 Kings 6:5;  2 Chronicles 3:7;  Song of Solomon 1:17; עָב , ab, a projecting Step, or architectural ornament like a moulding, answering for a threshold,  1 Kings 7:6; "thick plank,"  Ezekiel 41:25; כְּרֻתוֹת , Keruthoth ' , hewed sticks of Timber.  1 Kings 6:36;  1 Kings 7:2;  1 Kings 7:12; קָרָה (in Piel), to Fit beams, hence to Frame,  Nehemiah 3:3;  Nehemiah 3:6;  Psalms 104:3; of no Hebrews word (being supplied in italics) in  1 Kings 6:6; Δοκός , a Stick of wood for building purposes,  Matthew 7:3-5;  Luke 6:41-42. In these last passages, Lightfoot shows that the expressions of our Lord were a common proverb among the Jews, having reference to the greater sins of one prone to censure the small faults of another. The " Mote, Κάρφος , may be understood as any very small dry particle, which, by lodging in the eye, causes distress and pain, and is here given as the emblem of lesser faults in opposition to a beam for the greater, as also in the parallel proverb, "Strain [out] a gnat and swallow a camel" ( Matthew 23:24).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

bēm  : The word is used to translate various Old Testament terms:

(1) גּב , gēbh ( 1 Kings 6:9 ), צלע , cēlā‛ , "a rib" ( 1 Kings 7:3 ), קוּרה , ḳūrāh ( 2 Chronicles 3:7;  2 Chronicles 34:11;  Song of Solomon 1:17 ), all refer to constructional beams used in buildings for roofing and upper floors, main beams being carried on pillars generally of wood. The last term is used in  2 Kings 6:2 ,  2 Kings 6:5 ("as one was felling a beam") of trees which were being cut into logs. A related form is קרה , ḳārāh (used of the Creator,  Psalm 104:3; of building,  Nehemiah 2:8;  Nehemiah 3:3 ,  Nehemiah 3:6 ). Yet another term, כּפים , kāphı̄m , is used in  Habakkuk 2:11 : "The stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it" - a protest against sin made by inanimate things. The Douay version, in translating, "the timber that is between the joints of the building," suggests the use of bond timbers in buildings, similar to that used at one time in English brickwork. It probably refers to its use in mud brick buildings, although bond timbers might also be used in badly built stone walls. The Arabs of the present day use steel joints to strengthen angles of buildings.

(2) Beam, in weaving, represents two words, ארג , 'eregh ( Judges 16:14 , the beam of a loom to which Samson's hair was fastened; used in  Job 7:6 of a weaver's shuttle), and מנור , mānōr ( 1 Samuel 17:7;  2 Samuel 21:19;  1 Chronicles 11:23;  1 Chronicles 20:5 ), of a spear-staff.

(3) In the New Testament Jesus uses the word δοκός , dokós , "a rafter," in bidding the censorious person first cast the "beam" out of his own eye before attempting to remove the "mote" from another's eye ( Matthew 7:3;  Luke 6:41 ,  Luke 6:42 ). See Architecture; House .

The Nuttall Encyclopedia

An ancient prov. of France, fell to the crown with the accession of Henry IV. in 1589; formed a great part of the dep. of Basses-Pyrénées, capital Pau.