pencil beam

noun

1. a cone-shaped radar beam.

Word History and Origins

Origin of pencil beam¹

First recorded in 1945–50

Example Sentences

“And this light,” he said, adjusting the angle of the pencil beam, “and that’s it.”

From Literature

Dr Kavanagh explained: "We will have digital beam-forming and steering, which means in practice that we can generate multiple beams looking in multiple directions, so that we can cover a volume of the sky rather just look at what we like to call a pencil beam."

From BBC

A jimmy, a lockpick, glass cutters, screwdrivers, pencil- beam flashlights, false keys . . . and my small arsenal of guns.

From Literature

Astronomers need hundreds and thousands of such pencil beam observations towards different stars before such maps begin to make sense.

From Forbes

They formed a slender pencil beam that hardly spread out at all.

From Time Magazine Archive