beacon
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See also: Beacon
English
Etymology
From Middle English beken, from Old English bēacn (“sign, signal”), from Proto-West Germanic *baukn, from Proto-Germanic *baukną (compare West Frisian beaken (“buoy”), Dutch baken (“beacon”), Middle Low German bāke (“beacon, sign”), German Bake (“traffic sign”), Middle High German bouchen (“sign”)), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂u-, *bʰeh₂- (“to shine”).
Pronunciation
Noun
beacon (plural beacons)
- A signal fire to notify of the approach of an enemy, or to give any notice, commonly of warning.
- 1713, John Gay, The Rural Sports:
- No flaming beacons cast their blaze afar.
- (nautical) A signal, buoy, post, or other conspicuous mark erected on an eminence near the shore, or moored in shoal water, as a guide to mariners, particularly to warn vessels of danger.
- 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, , →OCLC, Canto XVII, page 28:
- Henceforth, wherever thou may’st roam,
My blessing, like a line of light,
Is on the waters day and night,
And like a beacon guards thee home.
- A high hill or other easily distinguishable object near the shore which can serve as guidance for seafarers.
- (figurative) That which gives notice of danger, hope, etc., or keeps people on the correct path.
- a beacon of hope
- c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
- Modest doubt is called / The beacon of the wise.
- An electronic device that broadcasts a signal to nearby portable devices, enabling smartphones etc. to perform actions when in physical proximity to the beacon.
- (Internet) Short for web beacon.
Derived terms
Translations
signal fire
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signaling or guiding mark erected as guide to mariners
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high hill or similar
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that which warns
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See also
Verb
beacon (third-person singular simple present beacons, present participle beaconing, simple past and past participle beaconed)
- (intransitive) To act as a beacon.
- (transitive) To give light to, as a beacon; to light up; to illumine.
- 1801, Thomas Campbell, Lochiel's Warning:
- That beacons the darkness of heaven.
- (transitive) To furnish with a beacon or beacons.