See Also: intestines(medicine)
Intestines(health)

ballast (iou) and intestines (medicine)


ballast (iou)



ballast noun & verb. M16.
[Prob. from Low German or Scandinavian, in Old Swedish and Old Danish ballast, barlast (taken to be from bor bare or barm hull (of a ship) + last burden).]
A. noun.
A heavy substance, such as gravel, sand, iron, or lead, placed in the bilge of a ship to ensure its stability. M16.
in ballast (of a ship) laden with ballast only.
b. A substance, usu. sand or water, carried in an airship or balloon-car to stabilize it, and jettisoned for higher flight. L18.
fig. That which gives stability in morals or Politics; experience or principles regarded as reinforcing character. E17.
I. Walton Having to his great Wit added the ballast of Learning. H. T. Cockburn Delay is often the ballast of sound legislation.
Gravel or coarse stone used to form the bed of a railway track or the substratum of a road. M19.
A passive component used in an electric circuit in order to moderate changes of current. Freq. attrib. E20.
Comb.: ballast-tank: that can be flooded with water to allow a submarine to dive.
b. verb trans.
Provide (a ship etc.) with ballast; fill or steady with ballast. M16.
Load with cargo; fig. burden or weigh down, steady. Now only arch. in fig. sense. M16.
Form (the bed of a railway line etc.) with ballast. M19.
ballasting noun (a) the action of the verb; (b) ballast: M16.

intestines (medicine)


intestines


The portion of the alimentary canal extending from the pyloric opening of the stomach to the anus.