Etymology tree
Proto-Germanic *bagmaz?
Proto-West Germanic *baum
Old English bēam
Middle English bem
English beam
Proto-Indo-European *-yósder.
Proto-Italic *-āzios
Latin -āriusnom.
Latin -āriusbor.
Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz
Proto-West Germanic *-ārī
Old English -ere
Middle English -ere
English -er
English beamer
From beam (“balance beam”) + -er.
Meanings
(slang) A gymnast proficient with or specializing in the balance beam.
From beam (“project, transmit”) + -er (agent noun suffix), or, for the ball, + -er (patient suffix).
Meanings
A ball, presumed to have been bowled accidentally, that does not bounce, but reaches the batsman above the waist.
(qualifier:chiefly non-native speakers' English) A projector.
The plan can be projected on to a white board, […] or by using a beamer (data projector). 2004, John Rodney Turner, Managing Web Projects, →ISBN, page 210:
A device that projects or transmits matter, information, or energy.
For several days he went about his charge with disgust, trying everything he could to avoid the stench of rotting vegetation and of human feces, which was overpowering even as it all burned under the plasma from his beamer. 2013, Paul Alcorn, The Rhoedraegon Chronicles: Book Two:
(informal) A big smile.
Get your pre-smile working, move toward him, shake hands, glue eyes […] and then launch your beamer, a big, toothy (uppers and lowers showing) grin. 2005, Judsen Culbreth, The Boomer's Guide to Online Dating, page 162: