sunbeam

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“
I may have been down in the depths, yet there is no place so dark that it may not be brightened by a sunbeam, and my sunbeam was my child And then Martin--baby was constantly making me think of him.

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Definitions (5)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun A ray of sunlight.
  2. Word History
    Though the period of European history from the 5th to the 11th century is often called the Dark Ages, writers and scholars of the time in fact did much to preserve and extend the light of civilization. A minor but felicitous contribution to the English language from this period is the word sunbeam, which is believed to have entered English in the 9th century through the work of Alfred the Great. A scholar as well as a king, Alfred undertook and oversaw the translation of a number of Latin works into the English of his time, now known as Old English. Among these was The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, a work composed by the Venerable Bede. The Latin phrase columna lūcis, which we would today translate as "a column of light,” occurs several times in this work. Since the Old English translator did not have the word column in his vocabulary, he used bēam, which meant "a tree” or "a building post made from a tree” (our modern word beam). Columna lūcis thus became sunnebeām, or "sun post,” which survives as our sunbeam. Though perhaps less stately than "column of light,” sunbeam has brightened our language. From it the word beam alone came to mean "a ray or rays of light”; it subsequently became a verb meaning "to radiate.” It now allows us not only to beam with pride or happiness but also to beam our broadcasts around the earth and even to the stars.

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Examples (50)

  • Yes! Helen would have been happy in a world of sunshine--but we are born for the shadow as well as the sunbeam, and they who cannot walk unfearing through the gloom, as well as the brightness, are ill-fitted for the pilgrimage of life Childhood is naturally prone to superstition and fear. —  Helen and Arthur or, Miss Thusa's Spinning Wheel
  • An arrow crossed the air like a sunbeam, and without a word the eldest prince fell from his horse. —  The Children's Hour, Volume 3 (of 10)
  • I may have been down in the depths, yet there is no place so dark that it may not be brightened by a sunbeam, and my sunbeam was my child And then Martin--baby was constantly making me think of him. —  The Woman Thou Gavest Me Being the Story of Mary O'Neill
  • The track of the sunbeam is at first perfectly plain and vivid in the air of the room. —  Fragments of science, V. 1-2
  • Hetty's fair, rosy face, and golden-brown curls, were thrown out into relief by all this dark coloring so near, as a sunbeam is when it plays on a dark cloud. —  Hetty's Strange History
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English sunnebem, from Old English sunnebēam (translation of Late Latin columna lūcis, pillar of light) : sunne, sun; see sun + bēam, tree, building post; see beam.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Early modern English also sunnebeam; from Middle English sonnebeme, from Anglo-Saxon sunnebeám, from sunne, sun, + beám, beam: see sun and beam.
 

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/ˈsənbim/
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