Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Broad in the beam, as a ship.
  • adjective Emitting beams, as of light; radiant.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Resembling a beam in size and weight; massy: as, “his … beamy spear,”
  • Having horns or antlers: as, “beamy stags,”
  • Nautical, having much beam or breadth; broad in the beam: said of a ship whose beam is more than one tenth of its length.
  • Emitting rays of light; radiant; shining.
  • Figuratively, radiant; joyous; gladsome.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Emitting beams of light; radiant; shining.
  • adjective Resembling a beam in size and weight; massy.
  • adjective Having horns, or antlers.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Resembling a beam in size and weight; massy.
  • adjective archaic Having horns or antlers.
  • adjective nautical Having much beam or breadth; wide.
  • adjective Showing or emitting rays of light; beaming; radiant; shining.
  • adjective figuratively Radiant; beamsome; joyous; gladsome.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective broad in the beam
  • adjective radiating or as if radiating light

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English beami, bemi, equivalent to beam +‎ -y.

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Examples

  • She was somewhat shallow of hull and flat in the floor, to give her a light draught of water, but to compensate for this she was extraordinarily "beamy," which had the twofold effect of imparting great stiffness under canvas, and affording fine roomy decks.

    A Middy of the King A Romance of the Old British Navy Harry Collingwood 1886

  • At a certain point in woman's life, she has to decide whether to play the Angel in the House (beamy mother of his children, more often than not dressed in black) or the tart (boob jobs, botox and too much slap).

    Frederic Whyte: The Long-Overdue Demise of Silvio Berlusconi Frederic Whyte 2011

  • By saving money, by earning more, and by each of us foregoing a bicycle on his birthday, we had collected the purchase price of the Mist, a beamy twenty-eight-footer, sloop-rigged, with baby topsail and centerboard.

    To Repel Boarders 2010

  • He made to leave the bar, beamy smile on his chumpish face, and was puzzled when, repeatedly, he could not open the door more than a few inches.

    Parliament's Drinking Problem 2010

  • He made to leave the bar, beamy smile on his chumpish face, and was puzzled when, repeatedly, he could not open the door more than a few inches.

    Parliament's Drinking Problem 2010

  • The 18-year-old actor's face is instantly recognisable - yes, it has changed somewhat since he made his name with critically acclaimed performances in Finding Neverland, The Spiderwick Chronicles and, most notably, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but the twinkly sea-blue eyes and beamy, toothy smile are the same.

    Nigel Slater on the film of his life Nigel Slater 2010

  • Odd though she is still doing all sorts of things so I wonder why she does it, she is a strong performer actually and gave me a big beamy smile when we left.

    Archive 2008-01-06 Newmania 2008

  • Odd though she is still doing all sorts of things so I wonder why she does it, she is a strong performer actually and gave me a big beamy smile when we left.

    Local News Newmania 2008

  • They hardly look like yachts any more, to my eye - so much hi-tech stuff and those very odd ultra-beamy shapes.

    [outrigger canoe] best all round performer 2009

  • It's great singing to a baby as the big beamy smile on her face as she recognises a song is like having an audience of 5000 applaud you!

    tequilamonky Diary Entry tequilamonky 2009

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