ballast

  1. Noun.  (nautical) Heavy material that is placed in the hold of a ship (or in the gondola of a balloon), to provide stability.
  2. Noun.  (figuratively) Anything that steadies emotion or the mind.
  3. Noun.  Coarse gravel or similar material laid to form a bed for roads or railroads.
  4. Noun.  (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. Noun.  (electronics) device used for stabilizing current in an electric circuit (e.g.in a tube lamp supply circuit).
  6. Verb.  To stabilize or load a ship with ballast.
  7. Verb.  To lay ballast on the bed of a railroad track.

This is an unmodified, but possibly outdated, definition from Wiktionary and used here under the Creative Commons license. Wiktionary is a great resource. If you like it too, please donate to Wikimedia.

This entry was last updated on RefTopia from its source on 3/20/2012.