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Glite Dictionary
beam-ends

beam-ends

9.9
Ends of the support pieces that run across a ship's deck when it leans nearly vertical
  • noun
  • Archaic
translation icon : extremos de la viga
  • Don't go on your beam-ends, Jerry.

Examples

  • The vessel struggled to right herself after being knocked on her beam-ends during the gale.

  • The ship was caught in a storm and ended up on her beam-ends.

  • When the strong winds hit, the sailboat tilted sharply and lay on her beam-ends.

Surface Forms

beam-ends singular
beam-ends plural

Morphology

beam-ends = beam + end (semi-transparent) = beam + end + s

The components 'beam' + 'end' clearly indicate 'ends of beams', but the familiar nautical idiom 'on her beam-ends' (meaning the ship is heeled over) is an extended, partially idiomatic use not fully predictable from the parts.

Etymology

The word beam-ends comes from beam, which means 'a long piece of wood that supports a ship', and ends, meaning the 'far parts' of those beams. When a ship is 'on her beam-ends' it has tilted so far that the beam ends are near the water, so the phrase now means the vessel is almost on its side and may turn over.