BALLAST • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Ballast

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/bˈæləst/ Listen

noun

Ballast n.

1.

(Naut.) Any heavy substance, as stone, iron, etc., put into the hold to sink a vessel in the water to such a depth as to prevent capsizing.

2.

Any heavy matter put into the car of a balloon to give it steadiness.

3.

Gravel, broken stone, etc., laid in the bed of a railroad to make it firm and solid.

4.

The larger solids, as broken stone or gravel, used in making concrete.

5.

Fig.: That which gives, or helps to maintain, uprightness, steadiness, and security. "It (piety) is the right ballast of prosperity."

Ballast engine, a steam engine used in excavating and for digging and raising stones and gravel for ballast.

Ship in ballast, a ship carrying only ballast.

verb

Ballast v. t. (past & past part. ballasted; pres. part. ballasting)

1.

To steady, as a vessel, by putting heavy substances in the hold.

2.

To fill in, as the bed of a railroad, with gravel, stone, etc., in order to make it firm and solid.

3.

To keep steady; to steady, morally. "'T is charity must ballast the heart."

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Etymology of 'Ballast'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Ballast" Quotes from Famous Books

... God! she'll never give up the road to Mesopotamia till you have her by the throat and make her drop it. Sir Walter is a pretty bright-eyed citizen, and he sees it right enough. If the worst happens, Kaiser will fling overboard a lot of ballast in Europe, and it will look like a big victory for the Allies, but he won't be beaten if he has the road to the East safe. Germany's like a scorpion: her sting's in her tail, and that tail stretches ...

— Greenmantle • John Buchan

... vividly by the progress of aerial navigation. Balloons are objects too familiar even to our children to cause them any surprise, and every one knows how instantly a balloon, when in the air, rises up higher if a few pounds of ballast are thrown out, or sinks if a little of the gas is allowed to escape. We know of no balancing more delicate than this, of a body floating in ...

— The Astronomy of the Bible - An Elementary Commentary on the Astronomical References - of Holy Scripture • E. Walter Maunder

... are always bobbing up and down close under the fall or circling round and round in the eddies. The trouble is, such sticks float too lightly on the surface of things; if they carried more heart-ballast, and would sink deeper, the current would bear them on.—Another variety of the Conservative is the man who is really progressive and right-minded, but extremely slow. Give him time, and he is certain to form a just judgment, and range himself on the right side at last. He goes with the ...

— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 86, December, 1864 • Various

... had been delayed in discharging freight by a series of storms which prevailed at the bay, and was now down at Haparanda Fjord taking in ballast. The probability was that she would not leave for several days. Meantime I was extremely anxious to see a little more of domestic life in Iceland, and made several foot-expeditions to the farm-houses in the neighborhood ...

— The Land of Thor • J. Ross Browne

... an I'm very glad he wos. Notwithstandin', I'm bound for to say it is raither okard as it stands, for we're pretty nigh cleaned out, an' have got to make for the coast in the rainy season, w'ich, it appears to me, is very like settin' sail in a heavy gale without ballast." ...

— Digging for Gold - Adventures in California • R.M. Ballantyne

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