Waybeam

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A longitudinal timber supporting railway track, especially on a bridge.

    "Oak waybeams, 28 ft. long × 14 in. wide × 9½ in. deep, resting in the troughs, support the track, which is laid with flat-bottom bridge rails, 56 ft. long, and weighing 126 lb. per yd."

Example

More examples

"Oak waybeams, 28 ft. long × 14 in. wide × 9½ in. deep, resting in the troughs, support the track, which is laid with flat-bottom bridge rails, 56 ft. long, and weighing 126 lb. per yd."

Etymology

From way + beam.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.