BEA 



JBEA 



man orders, cut or carved in short em- 

 bossments, like beads in necklaces. 



Sometimes a plain bead is set on the 

 edge of each fascia of an architrave, and 

 sometimes, likewise, an astragal is thus 

 cut. A bead is often placed on the lining 

 board of a door-case, and on the upper 

 edges of skirting-boards. 



BEAK, or I$EA.K-head, of a ship, that 

 part without the ship, before the fore- 

 castle, which is fastened to the stem, and 

 is supported by the main knee. This 

 name is appropriated to ships whose fore- 

 castle is square or oblong, a circumstance 

 common to all vessels which have two or 

 more tiers of guns. In smaller ships the 

 forecastle is generally shaped like a para- 

 bola, the vertex of which lies immediate- 

 ly above the stem. The strong projecting 

 pointed beaks, used by the ancients in 

 time of battle, are entirely disused since 

 the invention of gunpowder. 



BEAKED, in heraldry, a term used to 

 express the beak and bill of a bird. When 

 the beak and legs of a fowl are of a differ- 

 ent tincture from the body, we say beak- 

 ed and membered of such a tincture. 



BEAM, in architecture, the largest 

 piece of wood in a building, which lies 

 across the walls, and serves to support 

 the principal rafters of the roof, and into 

 which the feet of these rafters are fram* 

 ed. No building has 'ess than two of 

 these beams, viz. one at each end. Into 

 these the girders of the garret roof are 

 also framed ; and if the building be of 

 timber, the teazle tenons of the posts are 

 framed into them. The proportion of 

 beams in or near London are fixed by 

 statute. 



B*:AM compass, an instrument consist- 

 ing of a square wooden or brass beam, 

 having sliding sockets that carry steel or 

 pencil points : they are used for describ- 

 ing large circles, where the common com- 

 passes are useless. 



BEAMS of a ship, are the great main 

 cross-timbers which hold the sides of the 

 ship from falling together, and which also 

 support the decks and orlops : the main 

 beam is next the main mast, and from it 

 they are reckoned, by first, second, third 

 beam, &c. : the greatest beam of all is 

 called the mid-ship beam. 



BEAM, or Holler, among weavers, a long 

 and thick wooden cylinder, placed length- 

 ways on the back part of the loom of those 

 who work with a shuttle. 



That cylinder, on which the stuff is 

 rolled as it is weaved, is also called the 

 beam, or roller, and is placed on the fore 

 part of the loom. 



BEAN. SeeViciA. 



BEAR. See URSUS. 



BEAR, in astronomy. See URSA. 



BEAR, in heraldry. He that has a 

 coat of arms, is said to bear in it the se- 

 veral charges or ordinaries that are in his 

 escutcheon. 



BEAR, in gunnery. A piece of ord- 

 nance is said to come to bear, when it lies 

 right with, or directly against, the mark. 



BEAR'S JJreech, in botany. See ACAN- 

 THUS. 



BEARD, the hair growing on the chin, 

 and adjacent parts of the face, chiefly of 

 adults and males. 



Various have been the ceremonies and 

 customs of most nations in regard of the 

 beard. The Tartars, out of a religious 

 principle, waged a long and bloody war 

 with the Persians, declaring them infi- 

 dels, merely because they would not cut 

 their whiskers, after the rite of Tartary : 

 and we find, that a considerable branch 

 of the religion of the ancients consisted 

 in the management of their beards. 



Ecclesiastics have sometimes been en- 

 joined to wear, and at other times have 

 been forbid the wearing the beard; and 

 the Greek and Romish Churches have 

 been a long time by the ears about their 

 beards. To let the beard grow, in some 

 countries, is a token of mourning, as to 

 shave it is the like in others. 



The Greeks wore their beards till the 

 time of Alexander the Great, that prince 

 having ordered the Macedonians to be 

 shaved, for fear it should give a handle 

 to their enemies : the Romans did not 

 begin to shave till the year of Rome 454. 

 Nor did the Russians cut their beards till 

 within these few years, that Peter the 

 Great, notwithstanding his injunctions 

 upon them to shave, was obliged to keep 

 on foot a number of officers, to cut oft', 

 by violence, the beards of such as would 

 not otherwise part with them. 



BEARD of a comet, the rays which the 

 comet emits towards that part of the hea- 

 ven to which its proper motion seems to 

 direct it: in this the beard of a comet 

 is distinguished from the tail, which is 

 understood of the rays emitted towards 

 that part from whence its motion seems 

 to carry it. 



BEARER of a bill of exchange, the 

 person in whose hands the bill Is, and 

 in favour of whom the last order was 

 made. 



When a bill is made payable to the 

 bearer, it is understood to be payable to 

 him in whose hands it is after it becomes 

 due. 



