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Glite Dictionary
abeam

abeam

1 9.9
Directly to the side of a ship or plane at a right angle to its length
  • adverb
  • /əˈbim/
  • Specialized
: a babor
  • As we sailed, the sun was dazzlingly bright abeam to our starboard side.

Examples

  • On the first day, a dozen Wankh keeps appeared ahead, passed abeam, and were left in the haze astern.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • We saw the lighthouse clearly as it stood abeam of our boat.

  • It is about 28 feet long, 8 feet abeam, and requires less than three feet of water depth (Figures 6-8).

    Academic text (2007)

  • When a video pass contained two or more distinctly different segments (e.g., it began using the point method, then switched to the scan method when the first portion of the group came abeam of the plane), the counts were corrected separately to create a group size estimate for each subgroup.

    Academic text (2000)

  • The cargo ship had another vessel abeam, making it difficult to maneuver.

Synonyms

athwart
vsabeam
  • Archaic
1 9.9

Across a place at an angle

is strictly at a right angle, meaning directly to the side

Surface Forms

abeam positive

Morphology

abeam = beam (opaque) = a + beam

The prefix 'a-' is an archaic locative and 'beam' here has a specialized nautical sense ('side' or across the width), so an average B1 learner cannot reliably derive the meaning 'at right angles to the ship' from the parts.

Etymology

The word abeam comes from the old part a- meaning 'on' and beam meaning a long wooden bar or the side of a ship. So something abeam is 'on the side' of a ship or plane, directly to the side.