• n. 壓艙物，[建] 壓載物；道渣，碎石
• vt. 給…裝壓艙物；給…鋪道渣

bal, 詞源同bare, 僅僅，字母l,r 音變。last, 古詞義，重擔。

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 hl?st ‘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.

我們可以信任那家公司, 其合伙人都很可靠.

來自《簡明英漢詞典》

2. He has got no ballast whatever.

他這個人一點也不沉著.

來自《簡明英漢詞典》

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.

后來當船上的貨物 、 壓艙物 、 彈藥以及400個人轟的一聲滑到急劇傾斜的船體左舷一側的時候, 岸上觀看的人們聽到了雷鳴般的轟隆聲.

來自《用法詞典》

4. The ballast may be thrown out to make the balloon go higher.

沙袋可以拋掉以使氣球飛得更高.

來自辭典例句

5. The rail beds well on the ballast.

鐵軌在道碴上擱得很穩.

來自辭典例句