What does BALLAST mean?

Definitions for BALLAST
ˈbæl əstbal·last

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word BALLAST.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. ballastnoun

    any heavy material used to stabilize a ship or airship

  2. ballastnoun

    coarse gravel laid to form a bed for streets and railroads

  3. ballastnoun

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

  4. ballast resistor, ballast, barretternoun

    a resistor inserted into a circuit to compensate for changes (as those arising from temperature fluctuations)

  5. ballast, light ballastverb

    an electrical device for starting and regulating fluorescent and discharge lamps

  6. ballastverb

    make steady with a ballast

Wiktionary

  1. ballastnoun

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

  2. ballastnoun

    Anything that steadies emotion or the mind.

  3. ballastnoun

    Coarse gravel or similar material laid to form a bed for roads or railroads.

  4. ballastnoun

    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.

  5. ballastnoun

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

  6. ballastverb

    To stabilize or load a ship with ballast.

  7. ballastverb

    To lay ballast on the bed of a railroad track.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Ballastnoun

    Etymology: ballaste, Dutch.

    There must be some middle counsellors to keep things steady; for, without that ballast, the ship will roul too much. Francis Bacon, Essays.

    As for the ascent of it, this may be easily contrived, if there be some great weight at the bottom of the ship, being part of its ballast; which, by some cord within, may be loosened from it. John Wilkins, Mathematical Magick.

    As when empty barks or billows float,
    With sandy ballast sailors trim the boat;
    So bees bear gravel stones, whose poising weight
    Steers through the whistling winds their steddy flight. Dryd.

    Why should he sink where nothing seem’d to press?
    His lading little, and his ballast less. Jonathan Swift.

  2. To Ballastverb

    Etymology: from the noun.

    If this ark be so ballasted, as to be of equal weight with the like magnitude of water, it will be moveable. John Wilkins, Mathematical Magick.

    Whilst thus to ballast love, I thought,
    And so more steddily t’ have gone,
    I saw, I had love’s pinnace overfraught. John Donne.

    Now you have given me virtue for my guide,
    And with true honour ballasted my pride. John Dryden, Aureng.

Wikipedia

  1. Ballast

    Ballast is material that is used to provide stability to a vehicle or structure. Ballast, other than cargo, may be placed in a vehicle, often a ship or the gondola of a balloon or airship, to provide stability. A compartment within a boat, ship, submarine, or other floating structure that holds water is called a ballast tank. Water should move in and out from the ballast tank to balance the ship. In a vessel that travels on the water, the ballast will remain below the water level, to counteract the effects of weight above the water level. The ballast may be redistributed in the vessel or disposed of altogether to change its effects on the movement of the vessel.

ChatGPT

  1. ballast

    Ballast is a substance or material used to improve stability by adding weight to the base of a structure or in a vehicle or vessel. It's commonly used in ships and hot air balloons to balance and stabilize the vessel. Additionally, in railroad construction, ballast refers to the crushed stone placed under the tracks to support and stabilize them. In electrical engineering, it refers to a device that regulates the electrical current in fluorescent and neon lamps.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Ballastadjective

    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. Ballastadjective

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

  3. Ballastadjective

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

  4. Ballastadjective

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

  5. Ballastadjective

    fig.: That which gives, or helps to maintain, uprightness, steadiness, and security

  6. Ballastverb

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

  7. Ballastverb

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

  8. Ballastverb

    to keep steady; to steady, morally

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Ballast

    bal′last, n. heavy matter employed to give a ship sufficient immersion in the water, to insure her safe sailing with spread canvas, when her cargo and equipment are too light: that which renders anything steady.—v.t. to load with ballast: to make or keep steady: (Shak.) load.—n. Bal′last-heav′er. [Probably the Old Sw. barlastbar, bare, and last, load, the mere load.]

Dictionary of Nautical Terms

  1. ballast

    A certain portion of stone, pig-iron, gravel, water, or such like materials, deposited in a ship's hold when she either has no cargo or too little to bring her sufficiently low in the water. It is used to counter-balance the effect of the wind upon the masts, and give the ship a proper stability, that she may be enabled to carry sail without danger of overturning. The art of ballasting consists in placing the centre of gravity, so as neither to be too high nor too low, too far forward nor too far aft, and that the surface of the water may nearly rise to the extreme breadth amidships, and thus the ship will be enabled to carry a good sail, incline but little, and ply well to windward. A want of true knowledge in this department has led to putting too great a weight in ships' bottoms, which impedes their sailing and endangers their masts by excessive rolling, the consequence of bringing the centre of gravity too low. It should be trimmed with due regard to the capacity, gravity, and flooring, and to the nature of whatever is to be deposited thereon. (See TRIM.)

  2. ballast

    As a verb, signifies to steady;--as a substantive, a comprehensive mind. A man is said to "lose his ballast" when his judgment fails him, or he becomes top-heavy from conceit.

Surnames Frequency by Census Records

  1. BALLAST

    According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Ballast is ranked #108199 in terms of the most common surnames in America.

    The Ballast surname appeared 164 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 would have the surname Ballast.

    84.7% or 139 total occurrences were White.
    13.4% or 22 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.

How to pronounce BALLAST?

How to say BALLAST in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of BALLAST in Chaldean Numerology is: 8

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of BALLAST in Pythagorean Numerology is: 4

Examples of BALLAST in a Sentence

  1. Eddy Vataru:

    It's common for folks to look at bonds as a ballast at times when stocks aren't doing as well, for the average investor, fixed income can serve an important function.

  2. William Penn:

    Less judgment than wit is more sail than ballast.

  3. Mona Charen:

    Just hearing the words you know are true can serve as ballast, steadying your mind when so much seems unreal.

  4. Professor Richard Sanders:

    If we can get the density of this instrument just right, it will sit neither sinking nor floating. Now that's easy to say but it's actually a considerable challenge to do... They weigh about 100 kilograms and we need to ballast them to approximately better than one gram. So that's a considerable challenge. The way that we do that is by putting them in tanks of water... and adding weights until they're just sinking; at which point we know they have the same density as the water that they're sitting in.

  5. Minna Antrim:

    Enthusiasms, like stimulants, are often affected by people with small mental ballast.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

BALLAST#10000#22793#100000

Translations for BALLAST

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"BALLAST." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/BALLAST>.

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