Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A horizontal or transverse beam, especially a structural beam resting on two supports.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A large beam going from wall to wall, or a girder that holds the sides of a building together; any beam that crosses another, or is laid or secured across supports, as in machinery or a ship.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Arch.) A girder.
  • noun (Naut.) A beam laid across the bitts, to which the cable is fastened when riding at anchor.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A horizontal structural beam that runs perpendicular to the primary support beams; a girder.
  • noun nautical A beam laid across the bitts, to which the cable is fastened when riding at anchor.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a horizontal beam that extends across something

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

cross +‎ beam

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Examples

  • Dangling by a wire from a crossbeam was a large white cardboard sign.

    Tom Swift Jr And His Giant Robot Sklar, Richard 1954

  • Not that the teenage idiot I was who is, by the way, still swinging freely from a crossbeam and turning a lovely shade of blue would have believed that dopey, feel-good phrase anyway.

    Late, Late at Night Rick Springfield 2010

  • With his arms outstretched like one nailed to the crossbeam of a crucifix, Father Bartholomew lifted off the ground.

    The Shroud Codex Ph.D Jerome R. Corsi 2010

  • Depending on how deep the notch was cut, the crossbeam might have been flush with the vertical beam, like the cross-stroke on the letter T, or maybe it fit into a deeper slot, forming the traditional four-point cross we see in most religious paintings from the Renaissance period until today.

    The Shroud Codex Ph.D Jerome R. Corsi 2010

  • The rough centurions with the stale breath who had nailed his wrists to the crossbeam were standing below him, waiting as a group of soldiers using a pulley mechanism lifted the crossbeam up from the ground in several strong yanks, to a height where it could be slotted down into the vertical pole of the crucifix that was permanently implanted at this fearsome site of execution.

    The Shroud Codex Ph.D Jerome R. Corsi 2010

  • Facing Tristan again, she found him sitting casually on the edge of the footbridge railing, one foot propped on a crossbeam, as if waiting on someone to hand him a beer.

    Blood Trinity Sherrilyn Kenyon 2010

  • Not that the teenage idiot I was who is, by the way, still swinging freely from a crossbeam and turning a lovely shade of blue would have believed that dopey, feel-good phrase anyway.

    Late, Late at Night Rick Springfield 2010

  • Finally, the guard stopped in front of a small, crudely constructed dwelling built of logs and meant, Isolde guessed, for housing prisoners, because it had a wooden plank door and a heavy crossbeam that when dropped into place would bar the door from the outside.

    Dark Moon of Avalon Anna Elliott 2010

  • Facing Tristan again, she found him sitting casually on the edge of the footbridge railing, one foot propped on a crossbeam, as if waiting on someone to hand him a beer.

    Blood Trinity Sherrilyn Kenyon 2010

  • Was the makeshift, wonky-looking, floor fan crossbeam still standing atop precarious stacks of pocketbooks at Arcadian?

    New Orleans: Eight Used Bookstores within Walking Distance 2010

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