beak 
beak' 2 (bek), n. [Same as beckOj of obscure 
origin.] A magistrate; a judge; a policeman. 
[Slang.] 
beaked (bekt), a. [< beak 1 + -erf 2 .] Having a 
beak, or something resembling a beak; beak- 
(u) Having a long beak-like mouth, as some in- 
sects. (It) In /(/., rostrate : ending in a beak-like point, 
(c) In her., applied to birds, and used only when the beak Is 
of a different tincture from the rest of the bird ; thus, an 
eagle salde, beaked or, means a black eagle having a gold 
beak. When beaks and claws are of the same tincture, the 
term (inned (which Bee) is used. (</) Ending in a point, 
like a beak. 
I'.ach licukfd promontory. 1/.7/../1, Lycidas, 1. 94. 
Beaked helmet, a helmet of which the vizor was worked 
to a sharp projecting point in front, in use about 1340-70. 
The breathlng-holM were in the beaked part, or only on 
the right side of it. The extremely pointed form gave to 
the lance of the assailant no hold and no opportunity of 
entering the openings. 
beaker (be'ker), . [= Re. bicker, < ME. biki-r. 
lujki'i; < Icel. bikarr, a cup, = Sw. bfiijnre = 
Dan. badger = OS. bikcri = D. belter = ollti. 
bchliar, belthiiri, MHG. G. 6c.rA.-r, < ML. bird- 
riiini (also prob. *biccdrium, > It. bicchirn, 
pecchcro = OF. piclirr, picliier, > .MK. />i<-ln i-. 
E. pitcher, which is thus a doublet of beaker), 
a wine-cup, < Gr. as if 'ftucdpiov, dim. of ftinoc. 
an earthen wine-vessel; of Eastern origin.] 
1. A largo drinking-vessol with a wide mouth. 
<) for a tn'ali-1'i- full of the warm south, 
full of the true, the blushful Hippoerene ! 
Ki'<t/x, Ode to a Nightingale. 
2. A glass vessel used by chemists, usually for 
making solutions. It is made of thin glass to with- 
stand heating, and has a flat bottom and perpendicular 
sides, with a lip for pouring, and varies in capacity from 
1 to 30 fluidounces. 
He used a modification of Thomson's electrometer, and 
connected it, with suitable precautions, with twelve large 
beakers which were covered with tinfoil and were filled 
with ice. Science, III. 260. 
beak-head (bek'hed), n. 1. An ornament re- 
sembling the head and beak of a bird, or, often, 
a grotesque human head terminating in a beak, 
487 
fester; suppurate. [Obsolete except in Scot- 
laud.] 
beal- (bel), n. [Sc., also spelled birl, < dad. 
and Ir. /in//, earlier br.nl, mouth, > dad. and Ir. 
lii'iilnrli, a defile, a mountain-pass.] A mouth; 
an opening, as between hills; a narrow pass. 
[Scoteh.] 
Angus M'. \ulay mumbled over a number of hard (Jaelic 
names descriptive of the different passes, precipice.-, c..r 
ries, and beitlx, through which In- said the road lay t" ln- 
\ri;ii\. .sV"/f, Legend of -Montrose, viii. 
Beale light. See ... . 
Beale's ganglion-cells. See cell. 
bealingt (be'ling), M. [Verbal n. of bean.] A 
boil or gathering ; a suppuration or suppurat- 
ing part. 
be-all (be'al), n. All that is to be ; the whole 
being. 
That but this blow 
M i-iht be the be-all and the end-all here. 
Shak., Macbeth, i. 7. 
beam (bem), n. [< ME. beem, beme, etc., < AS. 
bfiim, a tree, apiece of timber, a ray of light, 
= OS. bom = OFries. bdm = D. boom ( > E. boom 2 ) 
= MLG. 6dm, LG. boom = OHG. MHG. bourn, 
G. bantu, and prob. = Icel. badhmr = Goth. 
batjms (the Icel. and Goth, presenting unex- 
plained variations of form), a tree; perhaps 
akin to Gr. $i>/'a, a growth, and Skt. ohuman. 
earth, < \f bliu, grow, become: see be 1 , bower 1 , 
boor, 6jc/s bigamy etc., and cf. the doublet 
boorn^. The sense of 'ray of light' is peculiar 
to AS. and E., appar. tr. L. colnmtia (litris), a 
column or pillar of light : cf . L. radius, a spoke 
of a wheel, a rod, a ray; G. strahl, an arrow, 
a spoke, a ray or beam.] 1. In arch., a long 
piece of stone, 
wood, or metal, or 
a construction of 
wood or metal, or 
combining wood 
and metal, used in 
a horizontal posi- 
tion, usually in 
combination with 
others like it, all 
being generally 
laid parallel to 
one another, and 
a. tool with lonfT beak used for rounding* 
sections of stove-pipe, etc. ; *, tool with 
shorter and cylindrical beak ; c, tool with 
two beaks which act as stakes or anvils in 
the interior of ware ; t, a conical beak in- 
tended to be grasped in a vise. 
Beak-heads From St. Ebbe's, Oxford, England. 
used as an enrichment of moldings in Roman- 
esque architecture. 2. That part of a ship 
before the forecastle which is fastened to the 
stem and supported by the main knee. 
beaking-joint (be'king-joiiit), n. [< booking, 
verbal n. of beakl, + joint.'] A joint formed 
by the junction of several heading-joints in a 
continuous line, 
as sometimes in 
folding doors, 
floors, etc. 
beak-iron (bek'- 
I'ern), n. [A 
further corrup- 
tion, simulating 
beak 1 + iron, of 
bickiron, a cor- 
ruption of bick- 
ern, q. v.] An 
anvil with a 
long beak or 
horn adapted to 
reach the interior surfaces of sheet-metal ware ; 
a bickern. Used in various forms by blacksmiths, cop- 
persmiths, and workers in sheet metal. Also called beak 
and bitkinni. 
beakmentt, n. [E. dial, also erroneously beat- 
ment; appar. < F. becquer, peck, + -ment: see 
peck, a measure.] A measure of about a quar- 
ter of a peck. Hallitn/l. 
beak-rush (bek'rush), n. A common name for 
species of Rhynchospora, a genus of cyperaceous 
plants with conspicuously beaked achenes or 
seed-vessels. Also called beak-sedge. 
beak-sheath (bek'sheth), n. In entom., the 
rostral sheath or jointed extension of the la- 
bium, inclosing the mouth-organs of a hemip- 
terous insect. 
beaky (be'ki), . [< beak + -i/ 1 .] Furnished 
with or distinguished by a beak. 
beal 1 (bel), n. [< ME. beel, bele, a variant of 
Ink; bitlc, > E. bile 1 , now corrupted into boil 1 : 
see bilcl and boil 1 .'] A small inflammatory tu- 
mor; a pustule. [Obsolete or dialectal.] 
beal 1 (bel), r. i. [< beal 1 , n.] To gather mat- 
ter ; swell and come to a head, as a pimple ; 
Medieval Floor-beams. 
( From Viollet-le-Duc's " Diet, de 
I'Architecture.") 
at regular inter- 
vals, to support 
weight, or, as a tie-beam or a collar-beam, to 
resist two opposite forces either pulling or com- 
pressing it in the direction of its length. 2. 
A long piece fixed or movable in a structure, 
machine, or tool : often equivalent to girder. 
The word beam is used in a number of more or less specific 
senses ; as : (a) Any large piece of timber long in propor- 
tion to its thickness, prepared for use. (b) One of the prin- 
cipal horizontal timbers in a building, especially one con- 
necting two opposite rafters; atimberservingtostrengthen 
any piece of wooden frame-work, (c) The part of a balance 
from the ends of which the scales are suspended. 
The doubtful beam long nods from side to side. 
Pope, R. of the L, v. 73. 
(dt) The pole of a carriage which runs between the horses. 
(c) A cylindrical piece 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. 
The staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam. 
1 Sam. xvii. 7. 
(/) The straight part or shank of an anchor, (g) One of 
the strong transverse pieces of timber or iron stretching 
across a ship from one side to the other, to support the 
decks and re- 
tain the sides at IP. 
their proper dis- 
tance. (A) The 
main piece of a 
plow, in which DP r 
the plow-tails Jt 
are fixed, and 
by which it is 
drawn, (i) The 
oscillating lever of a steam-engine recip- 
rocating upon a center, and forming the 
medium of communication between the 
piston-rod and the crank-shaft. Also 
called working-beam or walking-beam. 
See cut under atmospheric. 
3. The widest part of a ship's 
hull; the extreme breadth of a 
ship: from the beams extending shi f!f st ^" ,/""' 
quite across the vessel where it fi 'frame; of. 
is broadest : as, a steamer of fifty outside planking 
. > J IP, inside plank 
feet beam. in B ;fi,deck-lieam 
Broad in the beam, but sloping aft, '. J^Jiwif "? 
With graceful curve and slow degrees, which the beam- 
Lonyfettow, Building of Ship, end is coaked ; if 
. . ., thick waterway 
4. The mam stem of a deers , thin waterway 
horns bearing the snags or ant- >bl SSSKin! 
lers. One of the snags themselves strake: A-. f^ked 
is sometimes called the beam- !C!es show the bolts. 
beamed 
antler. See antler. 5. A ray of light, or more 
strictly a collection of parallel rays of light, 
( in it ted from the sun or other luminous body. 
The MI id' IN ray is the axis. In hrniMi v, IH-HIDS of the sun 
an- r'.miii'.uly i <'(uvsriit*-d as radiating from home other 
charge, which is thru -aid h> !>< radiant or layuiinalit. 
Thi-iAi.iti-nc-i'of an Uohiti-druyuf light is ini-nnci-ivublr. 
. . . However small a portion of the wave Mirfart- may IM: 
ivpr.>,-nti'd. it contains innumerable rays, which collec- 
tively form a Ixaiu or fasciculus of rays. 
/.inn m>Y, Light, p. i. 
Yon silver />";/',-. 
Sleep they less sweetly on the cottage thatch 
Than on the dome of kings? Shelley. 
Hence 6. Figuratively, a ray or emanation 
of splendor: as, "beam* of majesty," TiUotsnn, 
Works, I. iii. 7. Same as rood-Want.- Abaft 
the beam, see aitaft. Arched beam. St-e nn-hrd. 
Axis of a beam of light. See xii. -Beam and 
scales, a balance. Beam-center, the fulcrum or pin on 
which a workinu'-beam vitnaU-s. Also callc.l hAM 
r/cH. Beam Of a car-truck, a cross-beam carrying the 
weight of the supported car. Before the beam. s < 
I'/'hi/-' 1 . Built beam, a beam formed of smaller beams 
notched, scarfed, and bolted to-, tlirr Cellular beam, 
a beam formed of wrought-iron plates riveted with an^lc- 
irons in the form of longitudinal cells, with occasional 
cross strata. Composite beam, a beam composed of 
wood and metal, or of two different metals. Curriers' 
beam, an inclined post over which a hide is stretched 
to be shaved. Fished beam. See fah, . Kerfed 
beam, a beam \\ it It slits sawed in one side to facilitate 
bending in that diructinn.- On the beam, iiaul., on a 
line with the beams, or at right angles with the keel. 
On the beam-ends, in the position of a ship which in- 
clines so much to one side that her beams approach a 
vertical position ; hence, figuratively, to be on one's beam- 
entls, to be thrown or lying on the ground ; be in bad cir- 
cumstances; be at one's last shift. On the weather- 
beam, on the weather side of the ship. To kick or 
strike the beam, to rise, as the lighter scale of a bal- 
ance, so as to strike against the beam; hence, to be of 
comparatively light weight or little consequence. 
In these he put two weights, 
The sequel each of parting and of nght : 
The latter quick tipflew and kitk'd the beam. 
Milton, P. L., iv. 1004. 
beam (bem). . [< ME. beemen, bemen, < AS. 
'bedmian (Somner), radiate; from the noun.] 
I. trans. If. To shed rays of light upon; ir- 
radiate. 2. To shoot forth or emit, as or like 
beams or rays: as, to beam love upon a person. 
Qod i"ift/i< this light into men's understandings. 
South, Sermons, I. 8. 
3. To furnish or supply with beams ; give the 
appearance of beams to. 
The bell-towers, again, are ribbed and beamed with black 
lava. J. A. Symondi, Italy and Greece, p. 197. 
4. In currying, to stretch on the beam, as a 
hide. 5. In wearing, to put on the beam, as a 
chain or web. 
II. intrans. To emit beams or rays of light ; 
shed or give out radiance, literally or figura- 
tively; shine. 
A mighty light flew beaming every way. 
Chapman, Iliad, xv. 
More bounteous aspects on me beam, 
Me mightier transports move and thrill. 
Tennyson, Sir Galahad. 
beam-bird (bem'berd), n. 1. A name some- 
times given to the spotted flycatcher, Musci- 
capa grinola, because it often builds its nest 
on the projecting end of a beam or rafter in a 
building. 2. A provincial name for the petty- 
chaps or garden-warbler, Sylvia hortensis. 
beam-board (bem'bord), n. The platform of a 
steelyard or balance. Also called beam-plat- 
form. E. H. Knight. 
beam-caliper (bem'kal"i-per), n. An instru- 
ment similar in construction to a beam-com- 
pass, but with the points turned in so as to be 
used as calipers. 
beam-center (bem'sen'tfer), . The pin upon 
which the working-beam of a marine engine 
reciprocates. 
beam-compass (bem'kum ;l 'pa8), n. An instru- 
ment consisting of a wooden or brass beam, 
Beam-compass. 
haying sliding sockets that carry steel or pencil 
points, used for describing large circles and 
for laying off distances. 
beamed (bemd), a. Having beams or horns; 
having all its antlers put forth, as the head of 
a stag. 
There were many great beamed deer in it. 
J. F. Campbell, Pop. Tales of West Highlands. 
