Definition of "abeam" []

• At right angles to the keel of a ship. (adverb)
• Alongside or at right angles to: The ship drew abeam the cove. (preposition)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Sailboats move fastest with the wind coming from "abeam" or the side."
• "In the course of half an hour she worked off till the wind was directly abeam."
• "Then, when she had paid off till the wind was abeam, by reversing the wheel hard across to the opposite hard-over I could take advantage of her momentum away from the wind and work her off squarely before it."