(nautical) Heavy material that is placed in the hold of a ship (or in the gondola of a balloon), to provide stability. / (figuratively) Anything that steadies emotion or the mind.

To stabilize or load a ship with ballast. / To lay ballast on the bed of a railroad track. / To weigh down with a ballast.

Third-person singular simple present indicative form of ballast

simple past tense and past participle of ballast

present participle of ballast

That which is used for steadying anything; ballast / The application of ballast to a railway line / The addition of ballast to a ship

(nautical, of a ship) Having only ballast and no cargo as load.

plural of ballasting

One of several external or internal tanks fitted in submarines; when filled with seawater they allow the boat to submerge; when emptied using compressed air buoyancy is restored and the vessel rises towards the surface. Auxiliary ballast tanks within the pressure hull allow the submarine to be trimmed.

An electrical resistor whose resistance varies with the current passing through it, and thus tends to maintain a constant current