ballast

英 ['bæləst] 美['bæləst]

复数: ballasts;

1. from Middle English bar "bare" (see bare; in this case "mere") + last "a load, burden".
2. 谐音“白拉石头”。这些石头白拉的，不为卖钱而是为了保持车船的稳定的----（船等）压舱物。

ballast 压舱物

bal, 词源同bare, 仅仅，字母l,r 音变。last, 古词义，重担。

ballast: ballast: [16] Originally, ballast appears to have meant literally ‘bare load’ – that is, a load carried by a ship simply for the sake of its weight, and without any commercial value. English probably acquired it, via Low German, from a Scandinavian language; Old Swedish and Old Danish had not only ballast but also barlast, which appears to betray the word’s component parts: bar, related to English bare, and last ‘burden’ (Old English had hlæst ‘burden’, related to lade, which survived into the 20th century as a measure of weight for various commodities).
=> bare, lade
ballast (n.): "heavy material used to steady a ship," 1520s, from Middle English bar "bare" (see bare; in this case "mere") + last "a load, burden," or borrowed from identical terms in North Sea Germanic and Scandinavian (compare Old Danish barlast, 14c.). "Mere" because not carried for commercial purposes. Dutch balg-last "ballast," literally "belly-load," is a folk-etymology corruption.

1. We can trust that company; the partners are in ballast all right.: 我们可以信任那家公司, 其合伙人都很可靠.

3. Then the sound of rumbling thunder reached the watchers on the shore, as cargo, ballast, ammunition and 400 people went sliding and crashing down to the port side of the steeply listing ship.: 后来当船上的货物、压舱物、弹药以及400个人轰的一声滑到急剧倾斜的船体左舷一侧的时候, 岸上观看的人们听到了雷鸣般的轰隆声.

4. The ballast may be thrown out to make the balloon go higher.: 沙袋可以抛掉以使气球飞得更高.