ballast

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See also: Ballast

English

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WOTD – 4 October 2007

Etymology

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

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

Pronunciation

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Noun

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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; track ballast.
  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. (figurative) That which gives, or helps to maintain, uprightness, steadiness, and security.
    • 2018 June 17, Barney Ronay, “Mexico’s Hirving Lozano stuns world champions Germany for brilliant win”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎[1], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 5 August 2019:
      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.
    • a. 1677, Isaac Barrow, The Profitableness of Godliness:
      It [piety] is the right ballast of prosperity.

Derived terms

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Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

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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.
    • 1943 September and October, “Railway Construction and Operation at War Department Depots”, in Railway Magazine, page 262:
      The task of a Railway Construction Company, R.E., is to lay and ballast the track; [...].
    • 1948 September and October, W. S. Darby, “The Gold Coast Railway—1”, in Railway Magazine, page 287:
      Although the track is ballasted, it does not prevent clouds of reddish dust from the laterite soil blowing about when the train is in motion; after a journey with the windows open a bath is a necessity!
  3. To weigh down with a ballast.
    • 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 35:
      The noosance was […] that to make the umbrella effective he would have to carry abroad such weight to ballast it as would put the whole contraption out of action for carrying abroad at all.

Derived terms

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Translations

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

Dutch

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Etymology

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From Middle Dutch ballast.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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ballast m (plural ballasten)

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

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Afrikaans: ballas
  • → Indonesian: balas
  • → Papiamentu: balaster, balastu

French

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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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

Descendants

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Further reading

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Norwegian Bokmål

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Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia no

Etymology

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From Middle Low German barlast.

Noun

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

  1. ballast

References

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Norwegian Nynorsk

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Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nn

Etymology

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From Middle Low German barlast.

Noun

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

  1. ballast

References

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Swedish

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Noun

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ballast c

  1. Alternative form of barlast (“ballast”)

Declension

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Declension of ballast
nominative genitive
singular indefinite ballast ballasts
definite ballasten ballastens
plural indefinite ballaster ballasters
definite ballasterna ballasternas

Adjective

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ballast

  1. predicative superlative degree of ball

References

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