adv. or pred. a., prop. phrase. Naut. [f. A prep.1 of general direction + BEAM sb. The ‘beams’ of a ship lie at right angles to the keel.] In a line at right angles to the ship’s length, opposite to the center of her side; abreast of her actual position, as dist. from afore or ahead, abaft or astern. Const. of.
c. 1836. M. Scott, Cruise of the Midge (1863), 23. ‘What is that abeam of us?’ said Mr. Sprawl, who had now come on deck.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exped. (1856), XII. 29. Cape Farewell was on our starboard quarter, and the Land of Desolation nearly abeam.
1875. ‘Stonehenge,’ Brit. Sports, II. VIII. i. § 5. 619. When he has brought N. to bear exactly a-beam eight points from the direction of the vessel’s head.
