ballast

From Middle English bar (“bare”) + last (“load”).

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /ˈbæl.əst/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (AU)

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• Rhymes: -æləst

ballast (usually uncountable, plural ballasts)

1. (nautical) Heavy material that is placed in the hold of a ship (or in the gondola of a balloon), to provide stability.
2. (figuratively) Anything that steadies emotion or the mind.
3. Coarse gravel or similar material laid to form a bed for roads or railroads, or in making concrete.
4. (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.
5. (countable, electricity, electronics) device used for stabilizing current in an electric circuit (e.g. in a tube lamp supply circuit)
6. (figuratively) That which gives, or helps to maintain, uprightness, steadiness, and security.
   • 17 June 2018, Barney Ronay, The Guardian, Mexico’s Hirving Lozano stuns world champions Germany for brilliant win:

     With 73 minutes gone Rafael Márquez came on to add ballast at the back, appearing in his fifth World Cup aged 39 and with alleged links to drug trafficking, which he denies, on hold for now. And so they sat deep with a thin green line of five defenders ranged across their own penalty area as the game became a Mexican stand-off, attack versus defence.

   • Barrow

     It [piety] is the right ballast of prosperity.

• ballast wagon

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

1. To stabilize or load a ship with ballast.
2. To lay ballast on the bed of a railroad track.

• 
  Ballast provides a supporting bed for rail tracks
• 
  Several typical styles of magnetic ballasts for fluorescent lamps

From Middle Dutch ballast.

• IPA^(key): /bɑˈlɑst/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: bal‧last
• Rhymes: -ɑst

ballast m (plural ballasten)

1. (now chiefly uncountable) ballast (weights used in ships or aerostats)
2. (figuratively, uncountable) baggage (something that hampers functioning)

• ballastscheeps

• Afrikaans: ballas

• IPA^(key): /ba.last/

• Audio (Fr)

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• Audio (Paris)

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ballast m (plural ballasts)

1. (nautical) Heavy material that is placed in the hold of a ship (or in the gondola of a balloon), to provide stability.
2. Coarse gravel or similar material laid to form a bed for roads or railroads.

• “ballast” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

From Middle Low German barlast

ballast m (definite singular ballasten, indefinite plural ballaster, definite plural ballastene)

1. ballast
   • Jeg var i fin form, men hadde 4kg for mye ballast ombord!

• “ballast” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Middle Low German barlast

ballast m (definite singular ballasten, indefinite plural ballastar, definite plural ballastane)
ballast f (definite singular ballasta, indefinite plural ballaster, definite plural ballastene)

1. ballast

• “ballast” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

ballast

1. superlative predicative form of ball.