Beam

Beam

1. A ray or collection of focused rays of radiated energy. See beam width, radiation pattern.
2. A beam (sense 1) of radio waves used as a navigation aid.
3. = Electron Beam.
4. A body, one of whose dimensions is large compared with the others, whose function is to carry lateral loads (perpendicular to the long dimension) and bending movements.

References

This article is based on NASA's Dictionary of Technical Terms for Aerospace Use