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t against the side of a building or other structure; a prop placed beneath anything, as a beam, to prevent it from sinking or sagging. [Written also shoar.]

ed piece of wood for clamping a board to something, as a bench. -- Side lever, a working beam of a side-lever engine. -- Side-lever engine, a marine steam engine having a working beam of each side of the cylinder, near the bottom of the engine, communicating motion to a crank that is above them. -- Side pipe (Steam…

ifted. The sloop usually carries a centerboard, and depends for stability upon breadth of beam rather than depth of keel. The two types have rapidly approximated since 1880. One radical distinction is that a slop may carry a centerboard. See Cutter, and Illustration in Appendix. Sloop of war, formerly, a vessel of war…

olar microscope, a microscope consisting essentially, first, of a mirror for reflecting a beam of sunlight through the tube, which sometimes is fixed in a window shutter; secondly, of a condenser, or large lens, for converging the beam upon the object; and, thirdly, of a small lens, or magnifier, for throwing an enlarg…

as prescribed for the season of 1911, the aggregate of the length on water line, extreme beam, and extreme draft must be not more than 32 feet; the weight, not less than 4,035 pounds (without crew); the sail area, not more than 550 square yards; and the cost of construction (for American boats) not more than $2400. Th…

Firm; strong; safe. The brasswork here, how rich it is in beams, And how, besides, it makes the whole house sound. Chapman.

The spread or extent of an arch between its abutments, or of a beam, girder, truss, roof, bridge, or the like, between its supports.

The collar beam of a roof; the spanpiece. Gwilt.

Shining; glossy; beaming with light; lustrous; as, splendent planets; splendent metals. See the Note under 3d Luster, 4.

To bend by force, as something stiff or strong; to force or put by bending, as a beam into its sockets, and allowing it to straighten when in place; -- often with in, out, etc.; as, to spring in a slat or a bar.

A brace strengthening a post and some connected part, as a rafter or crossbeam; a strut.

Any upright post or beam used as a support, as for the deck, the quarter rails, awnings, etc.

A straight piece of timber, or an iron bar or beam, erected on the extremity of the keel to support the rudder, and receive the ends of the planks or plates of the vessel.

The diaphragm used in optical instruments to cut off the marginal portions of a beam of light passing through lenses.

To act upon, in any way, so as to cause change of form or volume, as forces on a beam to bend it.

ary punishment formerly practiced, which consisted in drawing an offender to the top of a beam and letting him fall to the length of the rope, by which means a limb was often dislocated. Shak.

A beam or ray of light. "Sun streams." Chaucer.

g or yielding; -- in this sense opposed to frangibility; as, the strength of a bone, of a beam, of a wall, a rope, and the like. "The brittle strength of bones." Milton.

penetrate. Till a dart strike through his liver. Prov. vii. 23. Now and then a glittering beam of wit or passion strikes through the obscurity of the poem. Dryden.

A streak of planking carried round the inside of a vessel on the under side of the beams.