BALLAST

ballast

(noun) any heavy material used to stabilize a ship or airship

ballast, light ballast

(noun) an electrical device for starting and regulating fluorescent and discharge lamps

ballast

(noun) an attribute that tends to give stability in character and morals; something that steadies the mind or feelings

ballast

(noun) coarse gravel laid to form a bed for streets and railroads

ballast

(verb) make steady with a ballast

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

ballast (usually uncountable, plural ballasts)

(nautical) Heavy material that is placed in the hold of a ship (or in the gondola of a balloon), to provide stability.

(figuratively) Anything that steadies emotion or the mind.

Coarse gravel or similar material laid to form a bed for roads or railroads, or in making concrete.

(construction) A material, such as aggregate or precast concrete pavers, which employs its mass and the force of gravity to hold single-ply roof membranes in place.

(countable, electricity, electronics) device used for stabilizing current in an electric circuit (e.g. in a tube lamp supply circuit)

(figurative) That which gives, or helps to maintain, uprightness, steadiness, and security.

Verb

ballast (third-person singular simple present ballasts, present participle ballasting, simple past and past participle ballasted)

To stabilize or load a ship with ballast.

To lay ballast on the bed of a railroad track.

Source: Wiktionary

Bal"last, n. Etym: [D. ballast; akin to Dan. baglast, ballast, OSw. barlast, Sw. ballast. The first part is perh. the same word as E. bare, adj.; the second is last a burden, and hence the meaning a bare, or mere, load. See Bare, a., and Last load.]

1. (Naut.)

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

– Ship in ballast, a ship carring only ballast.

Bal"last, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Ballasted; p. pr. & vb. n. 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. Hammond.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition