Forms: 6–8 balast, 6–7 ballace, 6 ballass, -esse, balest, -ist, 7 balasse, -ase, ballasse, -ais, 7 ballast. [Now found in most of the European langs.; Sw. Da., Fris., Du., LG. (whence Ger., Russ., Fr.) ballast. Origin doubtful: the oldest form is possibly OSw. and ODa. barlast (before 1400, and regularly in 15th c.), f. bar bare + last load, with the sense of ‘bare, naked, or mere load or weight,’ i.e., ‘lading which is mere load, lading for the sake of weight merely.’ Thence ballast, with ll for rl by assimilation, already in 15th c. Sw. and Da., whence in Eng. soon after 1500. The later Da. bag-last ‘back-load,’ Du. (17th c.) balg-last ‘belly-load,’ were corrupted by ‘popular etymology.’ The final t was lost in Flem. ballas, and the 16–17th c. Eng. ballace, -as (first in the vb., where ballast was plausibly analysed as ballass-ed.) Contact of sense further often confused ballace and BALLANCE.
(The form ballast also occurs before 1400 in LG., and is taken as the original by Schiller and Lübben, who explain it from bal bad (= BALE a.) as bad lading ‘schlechte Schiffsfracht, die man nur ladet um dem Schiffe den nöthigen Tiefgang zu geben.’ If this is well founded, barlast would rank with bag-, balg-last, as a popular perversion.)]
1. Gravel, sand, stones, iron, lead, or any heavy material, placed in the hold of a ship, in order to sink her to such a depth as to prevent her from capsizing when under sail or in motion.
1530. Palsgr., 196/2. Balast of a shyppe, lestage.
1536. Act 27 Hen. VIII., xviii. Balest for shippes.
1568. C. Watson, Polyb., 49 b. And cast their ballesse over borde.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., I. 712. Coblestones for ballais.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 285. With sandy Ballast Sailors trim the Boat.
1718. Steele, Fish-pool, 180. Balast must be used to sink her down to the center of motion.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., III. 727. The gravel which was the ballast of their smack.
2. In ballast: a. (also on the ballast) in the hold. b. Of ships: Laden with ballast only. c. Of materials: In the capacity of ballast.
1592. Nashe, P. Penilesse (ed. 2), 9. Hee will to the sea … and lyes in brine in Balist, and is lamentable sicke.
c. 1630. Risdon, Surv. Devon, § 272. Ninety were sick on the ballast.
1691. Lond. Gaz., No. 2637/3. Merchant-men bound in Ballast from Havre de Grace.
1815. Scott, Guy M., v. Smuggler, when his guns are in ballast … pirate, when he gets them mounted.
1866. Rogers, Agric. & Prices, I. xviii. 423. Sea-coal was taken in ballast.
1878. in Daily News, 26 Sept., 2/3. When in ballast the Bywell Castle draws 12 feet aft and 9 feet forward.
3. fig. That which tends to give stability in morals or politics, to steady the mind or feelings, etc.
1612. Bacon, Vain-glory, Ess. (Arb.), 464. Solid and sober natures, have more of the ballast, then of the saile.
1670. Walton, Lives, II. 100. Having to his great Wit added the ballast of Learning.
1720. Swift, Fates Clergym., Wks. 1755, II. II. 25. It wants the ballast of those, whom the world calls moderate men.
1852. Ld. Cockburn, Jeffrey, I. 342. Delay is often the ballast of sound legislation.
† 4. transf. Load, burden, freight. Obs.
1620. Quarles, Jonah, Poems (1717), 54. Go to Niniveh … behold the Ballace And burthen of her bulk, is nought but sin.
1631. Massinger, Beleeve as You List, IV. iii. What woulde you have, sir? Ber. My ballace [i.e., some food] about me; I shall nere sayle well els.
1646. J. Hall, Poems, I. 15. Shall not I congeal to see Doris the Ballast of thine arms?
5. Gravel, broken stone, slag, or other material, similar to that employed as ballast in ships, used to form the bed of a railroad, in which the sleepers are fixed. Also recently applied to burnt clay used for the same purpose, or as a substratum for new roads, etc.
1837. [see BALLASTING vbl. sb.]
1847. in Craig.
1860. Engineer, 30 March, 207/2. A joint sleeper … laid in the ballast beneath the rail joints.
1876. Routledge, Discov., 63. The permanent way is formed first of ballast.
1881. Young, Every Man his own Mechanic, § 1098. When the soil is clayey it may be converted into ‘ballast,’ as it is called, which affords a useful material for making roads and mixing concrete.
Mod. A path made with ‘burnt ballast.’
6. Comb. a. objective with vbl. sb. or agent-noun, as ballast-getter, -heaver; b. attrib., as ballast-bag, -boat, -engine, -lighter, -train, -wagon. Also ballast-man, one employed in supplying ballast to ships; ballast-office, one controlling the supply of ballast to ships; ballast-ports, square holes cut in the sides of merchantmen for taking in ballast; ballast-shovel, ‘a round-mouthed shovel’ (Raymond, Mining Gloss., 1881).
1755. Gentl. Mag., XXV. 445. *Ballast-boats and lighters.
1865. Times, 13 Jan., 6/6. A load was attached to the *ballast engine heavier than it could … take.
1839. Dickens, O. Twist (1850), 267/1. Labourers of the lowest class, *ballast-heavers, coal-whippers.
1803. Ann. Reg., 399/1. A *ballast-lighter … struck the side of the ship.
1715. Lond. Gaz., No. 5347/3. Abuses committed by the *Ballastmen upon the … Thames.
1598. Stow, Survey (1754), II. V. xviii. 389/2. Deptford strand … where their *Ballast office is also kept.
1835. Penny Cycl., III. 330/2. *Ballast-office Corporation, Dublin, or, more correctly, the Corporation for Preserving and Improving the Port of Dublin.
1864. Times, 24 Dec., 9/6. He was in the hinder portion of the *ballast train.
1848. Athenæum, 5 Aug., 773. A train of huge iron shovels or *ballast-waggons, as they are called.
