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Definition of Ballast
1. Noun. Any heavy material used to stabilize a ship or airship.
2. Verb. Make steady with a ballast.
3. Noun. Coarse gravel laid to form a bed for streets and railroads.
4. Noun. An attribute that tends to give stability in character and morals; something that steadies the mind or feelings.
5. Noun. A resistor inserted into a circuit to compensate for changes (as those arising from temperature fluctuations).
6. Noun. An electrical device for starting and regulating fluorescent and discharge lamps.
Definition of Ballast
1. n. 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. v. t. To steady, as a vessel, by putting heavy substances in the hold.
Definition of Ballast
1. Noun. (nautical) Heavy material that is placed in the hold of a ship (or in the gondola of a balloon), to provide stability. ¹
2. Noun. (figuratively) Anything that steadies emotion or the mind. ¹
3. Noun. Coarse gravel or similar material laid to form a bed for roads or railroads. ¹
4. Noun. (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. ¹
5. Noun. (electronics) device used for stabilizing current in an electric circuit (e.g.in a tube lamp supply circuit) ¹
6. Verb. To stabilize or load a ship with ballast. ¹
7. Verb. To lay ballast on the bed of a railroad track. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Ballast
1. to stabilize [v -ED, -ING, -S] - See also: stabilize
Medical Definition of Ballast
1. 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) Origin: Ballasted; Ballasting. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)
Lexicographical Neighbors of Ballast
Literary usage of Ballast
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. The Code of Virginia: With the Declaration of Independence and Constitution by Virginia (1849)
"If any person appointed ballast master shall fail to act, ... Any such ballast
master may continue to act until his successor is appointed and qualified. ..."
2. United States Supreme Court Reports by Lawyers Co-operative Publishing Company, United States Supreme Court (1912)
"In that case a full cargo of tea (which was all that the charterer stipulated
for) still needed ballast, which it was the duty of the ship-master to supply. ..."
3. Railroad Construction: Theory and Practice : a Textbook for the Use of by Walter Loring Webb (1903)
"ballast. 196. Purpose and requirements. "The object of the ballast is to transfer
the applied load over a large surface; to hold the timber work in place ..."
4. Preventive medicine and hygiene by Milton Joseph Rosenau (1917)
"Solid ballast consists of the greatest variety of substances. ... Such ballast
should not be unloaded on the city front, especially if it comes from an ..."
5. The Elements of Railroad Engineering by William Galt Raymond (1917)
"ballast is the material in which the ties are embedded. ... Where no ballast is
used, the tie is bedded in earth which is improperly called mud, dirt, ..."
6. The Contract of Affreightment as Expressed in Charter-parties and Bills of by Sir Thomas Edward Scrutton (1893)
"In consequence the ship had to keep in her ballast an,i so lost freight. ...
(o) The charterer sometimes contracts to ship ballast at ship's expense; and, ..."
7. Manual of the American Railway Engineering Association by American Railway Engineering Association (1921)
"ballast.—Selected material placed on the roadbed for the purpose of holding ...
Any material of a superior character spread over a sub- ballast to support ..."
8. The Progress of America, from the Discovery by Columbus to the Year 1846 by John Macgregor (1847)
"Jamaica, in ballast 5. St. Thomas, in ballast 1. Bermuda, in ballast 4.
Harbour Island, with salt and fruit 1, value of cargo 40/. Oran, in ballast I. ..."
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