Word Finder - ballast

definition

Heavy material that is placed in the hold of a ship (or in the gondola of a balloon), to provide stability.

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Anything that steadies emotion or the mind.

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Coarse gravel or similar material laid to form a bed for roads or railroads, or in making concrete.

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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.

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Device used for stabilizing current in an electric circuit (e.g. in a tube lamp supply circuit)

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That which gives, or helps to maintain, uprightness, steadiness, and security.

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To stabilize or load a ship with ballast.

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To lay ballast on the bed of a railroad track.

The weight of each leaf including ballast is about 1070 tons.

Use water ballast and stakes to properly secure the slide.

Fresh " icing sugar " from the ballast wagon starts to give this panel a more finished look.

Most compact fluorescent lamps have an integral ballast built into the bulb, eliminating the need for an additional ballast, which is required by standard fluorescent lamps.

A balloon may leave the earth with a charge, or become charged through discharge of ballast.

The ballast consists of such materials as broken stone, furnace slag, gravel, cinders or earth, the lower layers commonly consisting of coarser materials than the top ones, and its purpose is to provide a firm, well-drained foundation in which the sleepers or crossties may be embedded and held in place, and by which the weight of the track and the trains may be distributed over the road-bed.

The first step is to deposit a layer of ballast on the road-bed or " formation," which often slopes away slightly on each side from the central line to facilitate drainage.

The weight of ballast in the short arms of the bascules is 365 tons.

The discovery that Borneo produced antimony was made in 1825 by John Crawfurd, the orientalist, who learned in that year that a quantity had been brought to Singapore by a native trader as ballast.

Flint (valuable for railway ballast) occurs in immense quantities about Wymore and Blue Springs.

I had better take up shoveling ballast for the New track!

And, as I won't be carrying any ballast in my car, I hope to be right there.

Other jobs carried out during the day included fitting two wicket posts and removing contaminated ballast.

The lamps with an integral ballast are usually the best option for most domestic applications.

Additionally, the quarry siding despatched two or three trains of railroad ballast daily.

Survey has revealed the remains of the lower hull covered with concreted blocks of iron ballast bars.

Lighting - High frequency ballast lighting is used throughout.

Unfortunately with all the success ballast I couldn't repeat this performance in the second race.

We were obviously a bit enthusiastic about filling the engine compartment bilges with water for tunnel ballast!

Bits of rope being threaded, fittings screwed on, ballast heaved aboard, vacuum cleaner going, flags hoisted.

The digger cometh... Pressed straight into service, loading the ballast hopper.

The arrival of ballast hopper wagons from Romania allowed additional relaying to take place this year.

The resonant charging properties depend on the chosen tank capacitor value and the leakage or ballast inductance of the supply.

The graph below shows the AC current passed by the ballast inductor at different supply voltages.

Together with cast iron ballast these tanks allowed ship stowage to be shifted more easily, with a marked impact on sailing qualities.

When water ballast is employed the water is filled into a tank in the bottom of the wagon or car, its quantity, if passengers are carried, being regulated by the number ascending or descending.

The intervals between the sleepers are filled in level with ballast, 12'2' FIG.

There are limestone quarries in nearly two-thirds of the counties and great quantities of the stone are used for flux in the iron furnaces, for making quicklime, for railway ballast and for road making.

It is usually made of glass, the lower bulb being loaded with mercury or small shot which serves as ballast, causing the instrument to float with the stem vertical.

These are unfitted for garden purposes until improved by draining, liming, trenching and the addition of porous materials, such as ashes, burnt ballast or sand, but when thoroughly improved they are very fertile and less liable to become exhausted than most other soils.

All through his life he navigated the Transcendental sea, piloted by a clear moral sense, warned off the rocks by the saving grace of humour, and kept from capsizing by a good ballast of New England prudence.

Thus it may fairly be said that the railway system of the United States was reconstructed between 1896 and 1905, so far as concerns rails, sleepers, ballast and the general capacity of a given group of lines to perform work.

These allies were said to be the dynastic and monarchical ballast, and in some sort the dynastic guarantees of liberalism in the eyes of the court.

The weight required to cause the downward motion is obtained either by means of the material which has to be transported to the bottom of the hill or by water ballast, while to aid and regulate the motion generally steam or electric motors are arranged to act on the main drums, round which the cable is passed with a sufficient number of turns to prevent slipping.