beacon

From Middle English beken, from Old English bēacen (“sign, signal”), 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”)), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂u-, *bʰeh₂- (“to shine”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbiːkən/
• Rhymes: -iːkən

beacon (plural beacons)

1. A signal fire to notify of the approach of an enemy, or to give any notice, commonly of warning.
   • Gay

     No flaming beacons cast their blaze afar.

2. (nautical) A signal or conspicuous mark erected on an eminence near the shore, or moored in shoal water, as a guide to mariners.
   1. A post or buoy placed over a shoal or bank to warn vessels of danger; also a signal mark on land. (FM 55-501)
3. A high hill or other easily distinguishable object near the shore which can serve as guidance for seafarers.
4. (figuratively) That which gives notice of danger.
   • Shakespeare

     Modest doubt is called / The beacon of the wise.

5. An electronic device that broadcasts a signal to nearby portable devices, enabling smartphones etc. to perform actions when in physical proximity to the beacon.

• cairn
• leading mark
• navigation aid
• navigation mark
• radar reflector
• sea mark, seamark

beacon (third-person singular simple present beacons, present participle beaconing, simple past and past participle beaconed)

1. (intransitive) To act as a beacon.
2. (transitive) To give light to, as a beacon; to light up; to illumine.
   • Campbell

     That beacons the darkness of heaven.

3. (transitive) To furnish with a beacon or beacons.

• beckon