noun

• (structural) Any large piece of timber or iron long in proportion to its thickness, and prepared for use.
  "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."
• (structural) One of the principal horizontal structural members, usually of steel, timber, or concrete, of a building.
  "The brasswork here, how rich it is in beams, / And how, besides, it makes the whole house sound."
• (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.
  "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."
• (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).
  "This ship has more beam than that one."

verb

• (ambitransitive) To emit beams of light; to shine; to radiate.
  "to beam forth light"
• (intransitive, figuratively) To smile broadly or especially cheerfully.
  "to beam with pride"
• (transitive) To furnish or supply with beams.
• (transitive) To give the appearance of beams to.

name

• (programming, Erlang) Acronym of Bogdan's Erlang Abstract Machine.
  "Elixir is a functional, dynamic language built on top of Erlang and the Erlang VM (BEAM)."