Word Meanings - BALLAST - Book Publishers vocabulary database

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. Any heavy matter put into the car of a balloon to give it steadiness. 3. Gravel, broken stone, etc., laid in the

Additional info about word: BALLAST

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. Any heavy matter put into the car of a balloon to give it steadiness. 3. Gravel, broken stone, etc., laid in the bed of a railroad to make it firm and solid. 4. The larger solids, as broken stone or gravel, used in making concrete. 5. Fig.: That which gives, or helps to maintain, uprightness, steadiness, and security. It is the right ballast of prosperity. Barrow. Ballast engine, a steam engine used in excavating and for digging and raising stones and gravel for ballast. -- Ship in ballast, a ship carring only ballast. (more info) barlast, Sw. ballast. The first part is perh. the same word as E. bare, adj.; the second is last a burden, and hence the meaning a

Related words: (words related to BALLAST)

• WATER-BEARER
  The constellation Aquarius.
• WATERWORT
  Any plant of the natural order Elatineæ, consisting of two genera , mostly small annual herbs growing in the edges of ponds. Some have a peppery or acrid taste.
• WATER SHREW
  Any one of several species of shrews having fringed feet and capable of swimming actively. The two common European species are the best known. The most common American water shrew, or marsh shrew , is rarely seen, owing to its nocturnal habits.
• STONEBRASH
  A subsoil made up of small stones or finely-broken rock; brash.
• WATER-TIGHT
  So tight as to retain, or not to admit, water; not leaky.
• WATER RAT
  The water vole. See under Vole. The muskrat. The beaver rat. See under Beaver. 2. A thief on the water; a pirate.
• PREVENTATIVE
  That which prevents; -- incorrectly used instead of preventive.
• BROKEN WIND
  The heaves.
• WATER CRAKE
  The dipper. The spotted crake . See Illust. of Crake. The swamp hen, or crake, of Australia.
• BALLOONED
  Swelled out like a balloon.
• BROKEN BREAST
  Abscess of the mammary gland.
• WATER DOG
  A dog accustomed to the water, or trained to retrieve waterfowl. Retrievers, waters spaniels, and Newfoundland dogs are so trained.
• WATER SAIL
  A small sail sometimes set under a studding sail or under a driver boom, and reaching nearly to the water.
• WATER CLOCK
  An instrument or machine serving to measure time by the fall, or flow, of a certain quantity of water; a clepsydra.
• WATERIE
  The pied wagtail; -- so called because it frequents ponds.
• WATER BALLAST
  Water confined in specially constructed compartments in a vessel's hold, to serve as ballast.
• WATER RAM
  An hydraulic ram.
• WATER LINE
  Any one of certain lines of a vessel, model, or plan, parallel with the surface of the water at various heights from the keel. Note: In a half-breadth plan, the water lines are outward curves showing the horizontal form of the ship at their several
• BALLOONING SPIDER
  A spider which has the habit of rising into the air. Many kinds do this while young by ejecting threads of silk until the force of the wind upon them carries the spider aloft.
• WATER LOCUST
  A thorny leguminous tree which grows in the swamps of the Mississippi valley.
• PITCHSTONE
  An igneous rock of semiglassy nature, having a luster like pitch.
• CAPSTONE
  A fossil echinus of the genus Cannulus; -- so called from its supposed resemblance to a cap.
• CLINKSTONE
  An igneous rock of feldspathic composition, lamellar in structure, and clinking under the hammer. See Phonolite.
• IMPREVENTABLE
  Not preventable; invitable.
• GRINDSTONE
  A flat, circular stone, revolving on an axle, for grinding or sharpening tools, or shaping or smoothing objects. To hold, pat, or bring one's nose to the grindstone, to oppress one; to keep one in a condition of servitude. They might be ashamed,
• MOORSTONE
  A species of English granite, used as a building stone.
• RUBSTONE
  A stone for scouring or rubbing; a whetstone; a rub.
• GRINDLE STONE
  A grindstone.