beam (redirected from beams)

be broad in the beam (old-fashioned)

to have a large bottom. Tess has always been rather broad in the beam, despite all those diets.

See also: broad

be off beam (British & Australian)

to be wrong. Overall the article was well-written although one or two points that she made were a little off beam. I'm afraid your calculations are way off beam.

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beam someone/something down

to send someone or something to earth as waves of energy. A few people liked my idea, but most just looked at me as though I'd beamed down from outer space.

See also: down

beam someone/something up

to send someone or something into space as waves of energy. Mission Control beamed up pictures of the spaceship taken from the space station. The ads show aliens beaming up a cow.

Etymology: based on the literal meaning of beam (= a line of light) and made popular by the TV show "Star Trek," in which people would ask to be transported by saying beam me up