Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adv. At right angles to the keel of a ship.
- prep. Alongside or at right angles to: The ship drew abeam the cove.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Nautical, in or into a direction at right angles to the keel of a ship; directly opposite the middle part of a ship's side, and in line with its main-beam: as, we had the wind abeam.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adv. (Naut.) On the beam, that is, on a line which forms a right angle with the ship's keel; opposite to the center of the ship's side.
WordNet 3.0
- adv. at right angles to the length of a ship or airplane
Etymologies
- a- (“in the direction of”) + beam (“keel”) (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Sailboats move fastest with the wind coming from "abeam" or the side.”
“In the course of half an hour she worked off till the wind was directly abeam.”
“Then, when she had paid off till the wind was abeam, by reversing the wheel hard across to the opposite hard-over I could take advantage of her momentum away from the wind and work her off squarely before it.”
“The wind being abeam, was what had saved the men crowded aft.”
“Fakarava, and we'll go in through the passage full-tilt, the wind abeam, and every sail drawing.”
“We were already under way, all sails set and drawing, and the sheets being slacked off for a wind abeam, as the last boat lifted clear of the water and swung in the tackles.”
“It was merely a stiff breeze, and the Uncle Toby, filling away under her storm canvas till the wind was abeam, sloshed along at a four-knot gait.”
“Grief watched the Willi-Waw haul up close, go out the passage, then slack its sheets as it headed south with the wind abeam.”
“It was only next day, when Wainwright Island loomed to windward, close abeam, that Wolf Larsen opened his mouth in prophecy.”
“Did they attempt to make it, we could haul after them with the wind abeam, and overtake them before they had covered an eighth of the distance.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘abeam’.
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Rare Words - A
Not just rare words, but thousands of RARE WORDS WITH DEFINITIONS.
If you want to see the definitions, too, go to
http://phrontistery.i...aba, abacinate, abactor, abaculus, abaft, abampere, abapical, abarticular, abasement, abasia, abask, abatis and 1214 more...
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A to abominator (Chambers)
aa gets over 40 hits
aardvark 49 hits
abbatoir 103 hits
abjure 138 hitsA, A-line, A-list, A-lister, A 1, A-road, A-side, from A to B, from A to Z, A-bomb, A-effect, A level and 254 more...
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phrontistery - a
from phrontistery.info
axilla, avalement, argil, argent, argand, arete, aretaics, areometer, areology, arenoid, arenaceous, arefy and 1214 more...
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Nautical Words
lubber, mizzenmast, circumnavigation, clipper, cordage, galleon, gangplank, gangway, flying bridge, following sea, schooner, amidships and 106 more...
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...a list from a notebook...
I found several pages of words in an old notebook. By the looks of it, they were words I learnt some time ago (and subsequently wrote down) from books by Patrick O'Brian and China Mieville, two aut...
trabacaloes, jocosity, ordnance, transom, douceur, purser, nostrum, gaby, sea-lawyer, bowsprit, officious, hobnailed and 124 more...
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April 5th
Words of the day
caravel, carronade, abeam, barquentine, beaconage, corposant, currach, dogger, dunnage, harborage, mackinaw
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Shipbuilding
metacenter, baseline, beam, bilge, bilge keel, bilge strake, boot-topping, bossing, breasthook, bow thruster, bulwark, buttock line and 23 more...
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A
Well, here comes all the words that begin with an A.
Wish me luckaardvark, aardwolf, aaron, aaronic, ab, aba, abaca, aback, abacterial, abacus, abaft, abalone and 65 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for abeam.
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