Definition of "sunbeam" [sun•beam]

• A ray of sunlight. (noun)

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.

• "Survey-ships and detectors were out; the scientists of the Patrol had been for months hard at work on the "sunbeam" -a device to concentrate the energy of the sun into one frightful beam."
• "She was a very grave "sunbeam" when she set out to walk to church -- and as clear!"
• "It had moved out away from me on the current and was glittering like a sunbeam on the water."