Ballast

ahd-5
  • noun. Heavy material that is placed in the hold of a ship or the gondola of a balloon to enhance stability.
  • noun. undefined
  • noun. Coarse gravel or crushed rock laid to form a bed for roads or railroads.
  • noun. The gravel ingredient of concrete.
  • noun. Something that gives stability, especially in character.
  • transitive verb. To stabilize or provide with ballast.
  • transitive verb. To fill (a railroad bed) with or as if with ballast.
  • The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
  • Ballasted.
  • noun. The rough masonry of the interior of a wall, or that laid upon the vault; masonry used where weight and solidity are needed. Compare filling, 7, and back-filling.
  • To place ballast in or on; furnish with ballast: as, to ballast a ship; to ballast a balloon; to ballast the bed of a railroad. See the noun.
  • Figuratively: To give steadiness to; keep steady.
  • To serve as a counterpoise to; keep down by counteraction.
  • To load; freight.
  • To load or weigh down.
  • noun. Weight carried by a ship or boat for the purpose of insuring the proper stability, both to avoid risk of capsizing and to secure the greatest effectiveness of the propelling power.
  • noun. Bags of sand placed in the car of a balloon to steady it and to enable the aĆ«ronaut to lighten the balloon, when necessary to effect a rise, by throwing part of the sand out.
  • noun. Gravel, broken stones, slag, or similar material (usually called road-metal), placed between the sleepers or ties of a railroad, to prevent them from shifting, and generally to give solidity to the road.
  • noun. Figuratively, that which gives stability or steadiness, mental, moral, or political.
  • the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
  • noun. 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.
  • noun. Any heavy matter put into the car of a balloon to give it steadiness.
  • noun. Gravel, broken stone, etc., laid in the bed of a railroad to make it firm and solid.
  • noun. The larger solids, as broken stone or gravel, used in making concrete.
  • noun. Fig.: That which gives, or helps to maintain, uprightness, steadiness, and security.
  • noun. a steam engine used in excavating and for digging and raising stones and gravel for ballast.
  • noun. a ship carrying only ballast.
  • transitive verb. To steady, as a vessel, by putting heavy substances in the hold.
  • transitive verb. To fill in, as the bed of a railroad, with gravel, stone, etc., in order to make it firm and solid.
  • transitive verb. To keep steady; to steady, morally.
  • Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
  • noun. Heavy material that is placed in the hold of a ship (or in the gondola of a balloon), to provide stability.
  • noun. Anything that steadies emotion or the mind.
  • noun. Coarse gravel or similar material laid to form a bed for roads or railroads.
  • noun. 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.
  • noun. device used for stabilizing current in an electric circuit (e.g.in a tube lamp supply circuit)
  • verb. To stabilize or load a ship with ballast.
  • verb. To lay ballast on the bed of a railroad track.
  • WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
  • noun. any heavy material used to stabilize a ship or airship
  • noun. an attribute that tends to give stability in character and morals; something that steadies the mind or feelings
  • noun. a resistor inserted into a circuit to compensate for changes (as those arising from temperature fluctuations)
  • noun. an electrical device for starting and regulating fluorescent and discharge lamps
  • verb. make steady with a ballast
  • noun. coarse gravel laid to form a bed for streets and railroads
  • Form
    Hypernym
    Words that are more generic or abstract
    Rhyme
    Words with the same terminal sound
    calloused  
    Same Context
    Words that are found in similar contexts
    baggage  slag  sub-ballast  sump  
    Synonym
    Words with the same meaning
    verb-form