Noun

(en noun)

A piece of wood or other material, usually long and slender, pointed at one end so as to be easily driven into the ground as a marker or a support or stay.

We have surveyor's stakes at all four corners of this field, to mark exactly its borders.

* (and other bibliographic particulars),

A sharpened stake strong Dryas found.

# A piece of wood driven in the ground, placed in the middle of the court, that is used as the finishing point after scoring 12 hoops in croquet.

A stick inserted upright in a lop, eye, or mortise, at the side or end of a cart, flat car, flatbed trailer, or the like, to prevent goods from falling off.

(with definite article) The piece of timber to which a martyr was affixed to be burned.

Thomas Cranmer was burnt at the stake .

A share or interest in a business or a given situation.

The owners let the managers eventually earn a stake in the business.

That which is laid down as a wager; that which is staked or hazarded; a pledge.

A small anvil usually furnished with a tang to enter a hole in a bench top, as used by tinsmiths, blacksmiths, etc., for light work, punching upon, etc.

(Mormonism) A territorial division comprising all the Mormons (typically several thousand) in a geographical area.

* (and other bibliographic particulars), Schaff-Herzog Encyc.

Every city, or stake, including a chief town and surrounding towns, has its president, with two counselors; and this president has a high council of chosen men.

Noun

(en noun)

Any large piece of timber or iron long in proportion to its thickness, and prepared for use.

One of the principal horizontal timbers of a building; one of the transverse members of a ship's frame on which the decks are laid - supported at the sides by knees in wooden ships and by stringers in steel ones.

(nautical) The maximum width of a vessel

This ship has more beam than that one.

The crossbar of a mechanical balance, from the ends of which the scales are suspended.

*(rfdate) (Alexander Pope)

The doubtful beam long nods from side to side.

The principal stem of the antler of a deer.

(literary) The pole of a carriage.(rfc-sense)

*

(textiles) A cylinder of wood, making part of a loom, on which weavers wind the warp before weaving and the cylinder on which the cloth is rolled, as it is woven.

The straight part or shank of an anchor.

The central bar of a plow, to which the handles and colter are secured, and to the end of which are attached the oxen or horses that draw it.

In steam engines, a heavy iron lever having an oscillating motion on a central axis, one end of which is connected with the piston rod from which it receives motion, and the other with the crank of the wheel shaft.

A ray or collection of approximatelyly parallel rays emitted from the sun or other luminous body

a beam of light

a beam of energy

* (rfdate) Shakespeare

How far that little candle throws his beams !

* {{quote-news, year=2011

, date=September 22 , author=Nick Collins , title=Speed of light 'broken' by scientists , work=Daily Telegraph citation , page= , passage=A total of 15,000 beams of neutrinos were fired over a period of 3 years from CERN towards Gran Sassoin Italy, 730km (500 miles) away, where they were picked up by giant detectors. }}

(figuratively) A ray; a gleam

a beam of hope, or of comfort

* (rfdate) Keble

Mercy with her genial beam .

One of the long feathers in the wing of a hawk.

(music) A horizontal bar which connects the stems of two or more notes to group them and to indicate metric value.

An elevated rectangular dirt pile used to cheaply build an elevated portion of a railway.