| 释义 |
broad in the beam broad in the beam1. Of a ship, particularly wide in the middle. Since that ship is broad in the beam, I doubt it will fit through the narrow channel.2. Of a person, having an ample buttocks. Because I'm broad in the beam, I doubt those pants will fit me.See also: beam, broadbroad in the beam 1. Lit. [of a ship] wide at amidships. This old tub is broad in the beam and sits like a ball in the water, but I love her. 2. Fig. Inf. with wide hips or large buttocks. l am getting a little broad in the beam. It's time to go on a diet. John is just naturally broad in the beam.See also: beam, broadbroad in the beamHaving broad hips or large buttocks. For example, I've grown too broad in the beam for these slacks. This expression originated in the 17th century and described the wideness of a ship. It began to be used for the human body only in the 1920s. See also: beam, broadbroad in the beam wide in the hips. informal A beam was one of the horizontal transverse timbers in a wooden ship, and so the word came to refer to a ship's breadth at its widest point. It is from this sense that the current meaning of broad in the beam developed.See also: beam, broadbroad in the ˈbeam (informal) having wide hips: Her waist is quite small, but she’s rather broad in the beam.See also: beam, broadbroad in the beamHaving wide hips. This unflattering description, nearly always of a woman’s build, transfers the nautical description of a ship. Lexicographer J. E. Lightner quotes an 1836 issue of Spirit of Times, “Ned Curtis had a wife, a strapping craft, broad in the beam, with a high stern. . . .” It may be dying out.See also: beam, broad |