(click/touch triangles for details)
Definition
something that helps to stabilize — especially heavy material in the bottom of an empty shipLess common senses of ballast include: coarse gravel laid to form a bed for streets and railroads
or:
a resistor inserted into a circuit to compensate for changes (such as is used to start and regulate fluorescent bulbs)
- Without ballast, the ship will roll too much.
- ...she looked at the marked passages [of the manuscript] and was surprised to find that all the moral reflections—which she had carefully put in as ballast for much romance—had been stricken out.Louisa May Alcott -- Little Women
- Sea water used as ballast.
- So are the motions of a little vessel without ballast tossed about on a stormy sea.George Eliot -- Adam Bede
- Overnight we'd topped up our gas cells with hydrium and pumped water into our ballast and drinking tanks.Kenneth Oppel -- Airborn
- There was no ballast within — they were pillows upon pillows.Dave Eggers -- A Hologram for the King
- The cigars are ballast, sweetheart.J.D. Salinger -- Franny and Zooey
- It's made of broken amphorae that were used as ballast on ships that docked in the Tiber.Mark Helprin -- A Soldier of the Great War
- He says he feels as if he 'could make a prosperous voyage now with me aboard as mate, and lots of love for ballast'.Louisa May Alcott -- Little Women
- They'd been little more than ballast since Storm's End, and were eager to get at the foe, confident of victory.George R.R. Martin -- A Clash of Kings
- Then was the launching full of difficulty; there was shifting of ballast above and below till two thirds was submerged.Unknown -- The Epic of Gilgamesh
- Woolf threw himself forward as ballast, thrusting his feet straight back.Laura Hillenbrand -- Seabiscuit
- The ballast had been shifted too.Daphne du Maurier -- Rebecca
- I'm using them as ballast.Andy Weir -- The Martian
- 'The Gaffer's delight, and rare good ballast for an empty belly.J.R.R. Tolkien -- The Two Towers
- Thus I saw the seventh ballast[1] change and rechange, and here let the novelty be my excuse, if my pen straggle[2] a little.Dante Alighieri -- Dante's Inferno
- So are the motions of a little vessel without ballast tossed about on a stormy sea.George Eliot -- Adam Bede
- We thought with an age limit— a reasonable one— the older heads could act as ballast while they grow up.Robert A. Heinlein -- Tunnel In the Sky
- Maybe they brought the stones as ballast.Terry Pratchett -- Nation
- There was a stability, a ballast, in Phillotson's pronouncement which restrained his friend's comment.Thomas Hardy -- Jude the Obscure
ballast = something that helps to stabilize — especially heavy material in the bottom of an empty ship
Dictionary / pronunciation — Google®Dictionary list — Onelook.com®Wikipedia ArticlePictures — Google Images®
Search for other examples by interest
Interest — Source
General — Google News®General — Time® Magazine
General — Wikipedia®
Architecture — Google® books - Architecture
Business — Bloomberg®
Business — The Economist®
Classic Literature — Google® books - Classical Literature
Engineering — Google® books - Engineering
Engineering — Popular Mechanics®
Engineering — Discover Magazine®
Fine Arts & Music — Google® books - Art
History — Google® books - History
Human Behavior — Google® books - Psychology
Human Behavior — Psychology Today®
Law — FindLaw®
Law — Google® books - Law
Logic & Reasoning — Google® books - Reasoning
Medicine — Web MD®
Medicine — Google® books - Medicine
Nature & Ecology — National Geographic®
Nature & Ecology — Google® books - Nature
Personal Finance — Kiplinger® (Personal Finance)
Philosophy — Google® books - Philosophy
Public Policy & Politics — Newsweek®
Public Policy & Politics — Real Clear Politics®
Public Policy & Politics — Google® books - Politics
Religion & Spirtuality — Google® books - Religion
Religion - Christianity — Bible Gateway®
Religion - Christianity — Google® books - Christianity
Science — Popular Science®
Science — Scientific American®
Science — Google® books - Science
Sports — Sports Illustrated®