beam-ends

noun

The ends of the transverse beams of a ship.

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Meanings

nounbeam-ends pl (plural only)
  1. pluralplural onlynauticalThe ends of the transverse beams of a ship.

    The ship is lying over half upon her beam-ends; lee scuppers under water, and forecastle all in a smother of foam.

    1840, R[ichard] H[enry] D[ana], Jr., “CHAPTER XXXV”, in Two Years before the Mast. […] (Harper’s Family Library; no. CVI), New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers […], →OCLC
    1 more example

    It began to be chill; the tide was rapidly fleeting seaward, the schooner settling more and more on her beam-ends.

    1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC
Cite this entry
APA

beam-ends. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/beam-ends

MLA

“beam-ends.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/beam-ends. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “beam-ends,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/beam-ends.

Source: beam-ends on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.