beamish

American  

[bee-mish] / ˈbi mɪʃ /

adjective

1. bright, cheerful, and optimistic.

---

Etymology

Origin of beamish

First recorded in 1520–30; beam (in the sense “ray of light”) + -ish ¹

Explanation

Use the adjective beamish when you describe someone who is smiling and cheerful. A beamish child tends to laugh and play happily with his friends all afternoon. Though it's unusual, beamish is a descriptive way to talk about a smiley, optimistic person. Your kindergarten teacher may have been beamish, cheering students up with her positive attitude and sweet smile. Most kids are beamish when they visit amusement parks and playgrounds. Beamish dates from the 1500s, from the verb beam, "to smile radiantly." Lewis Carroll may have thought he invented the word in his poem "Jabberwocky," which is full of made-up words, but beamish is real, if uncommon.

Example Sentences

That’s not the fault of the beamish, resourceful Ross, who, as a recent Evan Hansen, has experience portraying liars.

From New York Times • Feb. 6, 2024

At least the songs are sung well: Jones is as beamish as his music sounds; you can see and hear how his Ivan might be the star the show says he is.

From New York Times • Mar. 15, 2023

A little dollop of Here Comes Mr. Jordan or Stairway to Heaven never hurt anyone--except that these seraphs have a mean streak unknown to their more beamish movie predecessors.

From Time Magazine Archive

Children enjoy most the passages which eloquently describe the "beamish boy's" conquest of the Jabberwock: And as in uffish thought he stood.

From Time Magazine Archive

How gallantly the "beamish boy" must have dealt the death-stroke to the queer brute as the orchestra sounded the Siegfried and the Dragon motives, and the air all the while redolent with heliotrope.

From Unicorns by Huneker, James