ballasting

Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Financial, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

Related to ballasting: Ship in ballast

bal·last

(băl′əst)

1. Heavy material that is carried to improve stability or maintain proper trim, as on a ship, or to limit buoyancy, as on a balloon.

a. Coarse gravel or crushed rock laid to form a bed for roads or railroads.

b. The gravel ingredient of concrete.

3. Something that gives stability, especially in character.

tr.v. bal·last·ed, bal·last·ing, bal·lasts

1. To stabilize or provide with ballast.

2. To fill (a railroad bed) with or as if with ballast.

[Perhaps from Old Swedish or Old Danish barlast : bar, mere, bare; see bhoso- in Indo-European roots + last, load.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

References in periodicals archive ?

However, since ballasting is necessary for safe operation of ships,

Halting the hitchhikers: challenges and opportunities for controlling ballast water discharges and aquatic invasive species

Under the best circumstances, screen filtration would require large ships to install expensive equipment to keep up with their ballasting rates of several thousand tons per hour.