ballast

Etymology

From Middle English bar (“bare”) + last (“load”).

noun

1. (nautical) Heavy material that is placed in the hold of a ship (or in the gondola of a balloon), to provide stability.
2. (figurative) Anything that steadies emotion or the mind.
3. Coarse gravel or similar material laid to form a bed for roads or railroads, or in making concrete; track ballast.
4. (construction) 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.
5. (countable, electricity, electronics) device used for stabilizing current in an electric circuit (e.g. in a tube lamp supply circuit)
6. (figurative) That which gives, or helps to maintain, uprightness, steadiness, and security.
   With 73 minutes gone Rafael Márquez came on to add ballast at the back, appearing in his fifth World Cup aged 39 and with alleged links to drug trafficking, which he denies, on hold for now. And so they sat deep with a thin green line of five defenders ranged across their own penalty area as the game became a Mexican stand-off, attack versus defence. 17 June 2018, Barney Ronay, “Mexico’s Hirving Lozano stuns world champions Germany for brilliant win”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2019-08-05
   It [piety] is the right ballast of prosperity. a. 1677, Isaac Barrow, The Profitableness of Godliness

verb

1. To stabilize or load a ship with ballast.
2. To lay ballast on the bed of a railroad track.
   The task of a Railway Construction Company, R.E., is to lay and ballast the track; …. 1943 September and October, “Railway Construction and Operation at War Department Depots”, in Railway Magazine, page 262
   Although the track is ballasted, it does not prevent clouds of reddish dust from the laterite soil blowing about when the train is in motion; after a journey with the windows open a bath is a necessity! 1948 September and October, W. S. Darby, “The Gold Coast Railway—1”, in Railway Magazine, page 287
3. To weigh down with a ballast.