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Starter vs Ballast - What's the difference?

starter | ballast |

As nouns the difference between starter and ballast

is that starter is someone who starts something while ballast is heavy material that is placed in the hold of a ship (or in the gondola of a balloon), to provide stability.

As a verb ballast is

to stabilize or load a ship with ballast.

starter

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • Someone who starts something.
    • a starter on a journey
  • # The person who starts a race by firing a gun or waving a flag
  • # (baseball) A starting pitcher.
  • Something that starts something.
    • It's small, but it's a good starter house.
  • # An electric motor that starts an internal combustion engine
  • # A device that initiates the flow of high voltage electricity in a fluorescent lamp
  • # A yeast culture used to start a fermentation process
  • The first course of a meal, consisting of a small, usually savoury, dish.
  • (team sports) A player in the lineup of players that a team fields at the beginning of a game.
  • A dog that rouses game.

    • Synonyms

    * (first course of a meal) hors d’oeuvre

    Anagrams

    * * ----

    ballast

    English

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • (nautical) Heavy material that is placed in the hold of a ship (or in the gondola of a balloon), to provide stability.
  • (figuratively) Anything that steadies emotion or the mind.
  • Coarse gravel or similar material laid to form a bed for roads or railroads, or in making concrete.
  • (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.
  • (countable, electronics) device used for stabilizing current in an electric circuit (e.g.in a tube lamp supply circuit)
  • (figurative) That which gives, or helps to maintain, uprightness, steadiness, and security.
  • * Barrow
    • It [piety] is the right ballast of prosperity.
    File:Hsin-chu-1.jpg, Ballast provides a supporting bed for rail tracks File:Magnetic Ballasts 1.jpg, Several typical styles of magnetic ballasts for fluorescent lamps

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To stabilize or load a ship with ballast.
  • To lay ballast on the bed of a railroad track.