The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Beam \Beam\ (b[=e]m), n. [AS. be['a]m beam, post, tree, ray of
   light; akin to OFries. b[=a]m tree, OS. b[=o]m, D. boom, OHG.
   boum, poum, G. baum, Icel. ba[eth]mr, Goth. bagms and Gr.
   fy^ma a growth, fy^nai to become, to be. Cf. L. radius staff,
   rod, spoke of a wheel, beam or ray, and G. strahl arrow,
   spoke of a wheel, ray or beam, flash of lightning. [root]97.
   See Be; cf. Boom a spar.]
   1. Any large piece of timber or iron long in proportion to
      its thickness, and prepared for use.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. One of the principal horizontal timbers of a building or
      ship.
      [1913 Webster]

            The beams of a vessel are strong pieces of timber
            stretching across from side to side to support the
            decks.                                --Totten.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. The width of a vessel; as, one vessel is said to have more
      beam than another.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. The bar of a balance, from the ends of which the scales
      are suspended.
      [1913 Webster]

            The doubtful beam long nods from side to side.
                                                  --Pope.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. The principal stem or horn of a stag or other deer, which
      bears the antlers, or branches.
      [1913 Webster]

   6. The pole of a carriage. [Poetic] --Dryden.
      [1913 Webster]

   7. 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.
      [1913 Webster]

   8. The straight part or shank of an anchor.
      [1913 Webster]

   9. 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.
      [1913 Webster]

   10. (Steam Engine) 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.
       [1913 Webster]

   11. A ray or collection of parallel rays emitted from the sun
       or other luminous body; as, a beam of light, or of heat.
       [1913 Webster]

             How far that little candle throws his beams!
                                                  --Shak.
       [1913 Webster]

   12. (Fig.): A ray; a gleam; as, a beam of comfort.
       [1913 Webster]

             Mercy with her genial beam.          --Keble.
       [1913 Webster]

   13. One of the long feathers in the wing of a hawk; -- called
       also beam feather.
       [1913 Webster]

   Abaft the beam (Naut.), in an arc of the horizon between a
      line that crosses the ship at right angles, or in the
      direction of her beams, and that point of the compass
      toward which her stern is directed.

   Beam center (Mach.), the fulcrum or pin on which the
      working beam of an engine vibrates.

   Beam compass, an instrument consisting of a rod or beam,
      having sliding sockets that carry steel or pencil points;
      -- used for drawing or describing large circles.

   Beam engine, a steam engine having a working beam to
      transmit power, in distinction from one which has its
      piston rod attached directly to the crank of the wheel
      shaft.

   Before the beam (Naut.), in an arc of the horizon included
      between a line that crosses the ship at right angles and
      that point of the compass toward which the ship steers.

   On the beam, in a line with the beams, or at right angles
      with the keel.

   On the weather beam, on the side of a ship which faces the
      wind.

   To be on her beam ends, to incline, as a vessel, so much on
      one side that her beams approach a vertical position.
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Beam \Beam\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Beamed (b[=e]md); p. pr. &
   vb. n. Beaming.]
   To send forth; to emit; -- followed ordinarily by forth; as,
   to beam forth light.
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Beam \Beam\, v. i.
   To emit beams of light.
   [1913 Webster]

         He beamed, the daystar of the rising age. --Trumbull.
   [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

beam
    n 1: a signal transmitted along a narrow path; guides airplane
         pilots in darkness or bad weather [syn: radio beam,
         beam]
    2: long thick piece of wood or metal or concrete, etc., used in
       construction
    3: a group of nearly parallel lines of electromagnetic radiation
       [syn: beam, ray, electron beam]
    4: a column of light (as from a beacon) [syn: beam, beam of
       light, light beam, ray, ray of light, shaft, shaft
       of light, irradiation]
    5: (nautical) breadth amidships
    6: the broad side of a ship; "they sighted land on the port
       beam"
    7: a gymnastic apparatus used by women gymnasts [syn: balance
       beam, beam]
    v 1: smile radiantly; express joy through one's facial
         expression
    2: emit light; be bright, as of the sun or a light; "The sun
       shone bright that day"; "The fire beamed on their faces"
       [syn: shine, beam]
    3: express with a beaming face or smile; "he beamed his
       approval"
    4: broadcast over the airwaves, as in radio or television; "We
       cannot air this X-rated song" [syn: air, send,
       broadcast, beam, transmit]
    5: have a complexion with a strong bright color, such as red or
       pink; "Her face glowed when she came out of the sauna" [syn:
       glow, beam, radiate, shine]
    6: experience a feeling of well-being or happiness, as from good
       health or an intense emotion; "She was beaming with joy";
       "Her face radiated with happiness" [syn: glow, beam,
       radiate, shine]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

350 Moby Thesaurus words for "beam":
   AM signal, CRT spot, DM display, Doppler signal, FM signal, H beam,
   I beam, IF signal, IF video signal, IM display, RF amplifier,
   RF echoes, RF signal, RF stage, TV band, X ray, abutment,
   actinic ray, actinism, amplitude, angle rafter, arc-boutant,
   atomic beam, atomic ray, audio signal, backside, balk, bank, bar,
   batten, be bright, be in heaven, be pleased, beacon, beam,
   beam of light, beat signal, bedazzle, beggar description, behind,
   billet, blaze, blind, blips, bloom, board, boarding, boom, border,
   bottom, bounce, bounces, box girder, brace, breadth, breakwater,
   breastsummer, bright smile, broad grin, broadcast, broadness,
   broadside, bulwark, burn, buttress, buttress pier, buttressing,
   can, cant hook, caper, caracole, cheek, chirp, chirrup, chop,
   clapboard, claw bar, coast, corbel, cord, cordwood, crack a smile,
   crank, crossbeam, crosstie, crow, crowbar, dance, daze, dazzle,
   deal, delight, derriere, die with delight, diffuse light,
   direct signal, display, distance across, double-dot display,
   driftwood, ear-to-ear grin, echo, echo signal, embankment,
   equalizing pulse, expanse, extent, fan marker, fanny, feel happy,
   firewood, flame, flank, flare, flare path, flash, flying buttress,
   footing beam, frolic, fulgurate, fullness, gambol, gamma ray,
   girder, give light, glance, glare, gleam, gleaming smile, glint,
   glow, glowing smile, go into raptures, grin, grinning, groin,
   hammer beam, hand, handedness, handspike, hanging buttress,
   hardwood, haunch, hip, hip rafter, idiotic grin, incandesce,
   infrared ray, invisible radiation, iron crow, jam, jetty, jimmy,
   joist, jowl, joy, jutty, knock dead, laterality, lath, lathing,
   lathwork, latitude, lattice girder, laugh, leam, lever, lilt, limb,
   lintel, local oscillator signal, log, lumber, luster,
   many-sidedness, marker, marlinespike, mole, multilaterality,
   newscast, output pulse, output signal, outrigger, panelboard,
   paneling, panelwork, patch, peavey, pedal, pencil, photoemission,
   photon, picture, picture carrier, pier, pier buttress, pinch bar,
   pips, plank, planking, plate girder, plyboard, plywood, pole, post,
   posterior, prize, profile, pry, puncheon, purr, pylon, quarter,
   racon, radar beacon, radar signal, radiate, radiate cheer,
   radiation, radio, radio beacon, radio-frequency amplifier,
   radio-frequency signal, radio-frequency stage, radiobroadcast,
   radiorays, rafter, rampart, ray, ray of light, reading, rear,
   reflected signal, reflection, retaining wall, return, return beam,
   return signal, ribbon, ribbon of light, ridge strut, ridgepole,
   ripping bar, romp, sardonic grin, scanning beam, seat, seawall,
   send, send out rays, shaft, shake, sheathing, sheathing board,
   sheeting, shine, shine brightly, shingle, shoot, shoot out rays,
   shore, shortwave, shortwave signal, shoulder, side, sideboard,
   siding, sign off, sign on, signal, signal display, sill, simper,
   sing, skip, slab, slat, sleeper, smile, smile brightly, smiling,
   smirk, softwood, solar rays, sound carrier, span, spar, sparkle,
   splat, sportscast, spot, spread, sprit, stave, stick,
   stick of wood, stovewood, streak, stream, stream of light,
   streamer, stringpiece, strut, stud, studding, stupid grin, summer,
   summertree, synchronizing signal, take great satisfaction,
   target image, television channel, temple, three-by-four, tie,
   tie beam, timber, timbering, timberwork, toothful grin, trace,
   transmit, transmitter signal, transom, transverse, trave, traverse,
   tread on air, treadle, trestle, truss, truss beam, two-by-four,
   ultraviolet ray, unidirectional signal, unilaterality,
   vertical synchronizing pulse, video signal, violet ray,
   voltage pulse, weatherboard, whistle, wideness, width, wind cone,
   wind indicator, wind sock, wireless, wood, wrecking bar



The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003):

beam
 vt.

    [from Star Trek Classic's ?Beam me up, Scotty!?]

    1. To transfer softcopy of a file electronically; most often in combining
    forms such as beam me a copy or beam that over to his site.

    2. Palm Pilot users very commonly use this term for the act of exchanging
    bits via the infrared links on their machines (this term seems to have
    originated with the ill-fated Newton Message Pad). Compare blast, snarf
    , BLT.


The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):

beam

    (From Star Trek Classic's "Beam me up, Scotty!") To
   transfer softcopy of a file electronically; most often in
   combining forms such as "beam me a copy" or "beam that over to
   his site".  Compare blast, snarf, BLT.

   [Jargon File]

   (2009-06-09)


Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary:

Beam
   occurs in the Authorized Version as the rendering of various
   Hebrew words. In 1 Sam. 17:7, it means a weaver's frame or
   principal beam; in Hab. 2:11, a crossbeam or girder; 2 Kings
   6:2, 5, a cross-piece or rafter of a house; 1 Kings 7:6, an
   architectural ornament as a projecting step or moulding; Ezek.
   41:25, a thick plank. In the New Testament the word occurs only
   in Matt. 7:3, 4, 5, and Luke 6:41, 42, where it means (Gr.
   dokos) a large piece of wood used for building purposes, as
   contrasted with "mote" (Gr. karphos), a small piece or mere
   splinter. "Mote" and "beam" became proverbial for little and
   great faults.