ballast

• any heavy material used to stabilize a ship or airship
• coarse gravel laid to form a bed for streets and railroads
• an attribute that tends to give stability in character and morals
• a resistor inserted into a circuit to compensate for changes (as those arising from temperature fluctuations)
• an electrical device for starting and regulating fluorescent and discharge lamps
• make steady with a 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
• Any heavy matter put into the car of a balloon to give it steadiness
• Gravel, broken stone, etc., laid in the bed of a railroad to make it firm and solid
• The larger solids, as broken stone or gravel, used in making concrete
• Fig.: That which gives, or helps to maintain, uprightness, steadiness, and security
• To steady, as a vessel, by putting heavy substances in the hold
• To fill in, as the bed of a railroad, with gravel, stone, etc., in order to make it firm and solid
• To keep steady
• Residential area (city, town, village) in Germany in Niedersachsen
• Residential area (city, town, village) in Netherlands in Drenthe

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