Words of the day: Beam and Girder

Words of the day are related to construction:

Beam: When I think of the word beam, I think of a beam or ray of light, or a long, long pole of metal held horizontally. I am not sure if this is an accurate description but it has been persistent in my mind for a while. Today I wanted to know if my mental images of these words are accurate or not. So here are the definitions of these words:

Beam: According to dictionary.com, the following are possible definitions of this word, all of which do, indeed, suggest the image of a long, horizontal rectangular piece of metal or concrete.

Beam (noun): 

1. any of various relatively long pieces of metal, wood, stone, etc.,manufactured or shaped especially for use as rigid members or partsof structures or machines  

1. Building Trades. a horizontal bearing member, as a joist or lintel. 

1. Engineering. a rigid member or structure supported at each end,subject to bending stresses from a direction perpendicular to itslength.

 Usage example: "Reflect on selfies, and they seem totally different. Rather than plunging us into innocent love with an apparent stranger, they beam our conscious self-regard back at ourselves. At first glance, this makes us seem even worse than Narcissus. Selfies seem less like love at first sight and more like yet another round of masturbation."

"Her door stands ajar, halving the room with a beam of light."

 

GIrder: a large beam, as of steel, reinforced concrete, or timber, forsupporting masonry, joists, purlins, etc.

2.

a principal beam of wood, steel, etc., supporting the ends of joists.