ballast n Cp OED ~ sb 1 'gravel, sand, stones ... placed in the hold of a ship' [for stability] for both senses 1 and 2. In sense 1, for the (accidental) ingestion of inorganic material, see the voracious feeding habits of cod in LEIM & SCOTT, pp. 197-8, and the ingestion of shell-fish in the 1766 quot; for the fisherman's weather sign developed from this, see MOORE Anglo-Manx Dialect (1924), p. 96, describing a cod-fish with gravel in its stomach as 'expecting a gale an' taking in ballas',' and cp PLINY the Elder (A.D. 23-79) Naturalis Historia ix, 100 [Loeb tr]: 'It is said that [sea-urchins] can forecast a rough sea and that they take the precaution of clutching stones and steadying their mobility by the weight [and] when sailors see them doing this they at once secure their vessel with more anchors.'
   1 Stones, pebbles, sand, etc, (reputed to be) found in the stomach of fish, esp cod; the ingestion of such material as a weather sign.
   [(1766) 1971 BANKS 123 A ship Came into harbour from which I Procurd specimens of a shell fish calld here Glams of Peculiar use in the fishery as the fishermen depend upon them for their Baitts in their first Voyage to the Banks at that time of the Year the fish feed upon them & Every fish they take has a number of them in his Stomach which the Fishermen take out & with them Bait for others.] [1794] 1968 THOMAS 173-4 A Codd has been haul'd in and when open'd a Stone has been found in him a pound in weight and sometimes more. They are frequently catched with Stones in them. Whenever this is the case it is a sure indication of an approaching storm, as the Fish swallow the Stone for Ballast to enable them the better to encounter the jarring elements. [cl874] 1904 Daily News 10 June Arrah, shure your Lordship with all your larnin' ought to know that a salmon TAKES IN BALLAST, the sensible 'craythures,' when a gale is risin'. 1937 DEVINE 69 When the codfish take in ballast—small pebbles—in the stomach, 'look out for a storm.' [Ibid When caplin eat sand they are weighting their bodies and preparing for heavy seas.] [P 127-80 Placentia Bay fishermen forecast a storm if they find small pebbles or sand in a codfish. There is bad weather ahead if star fish are found to be grasping or holding on to stones when they are pulled up on trawl hooks.] P 188-80 Yes, we often find sand and rocks in 'em. The old fellers used to say 'twas ballast—the fish'd take on ballast before a storm. How big [are the stones]? Sometimes they're as big as a greengage.
   2 Large rocks placed within the framework of a wharf and serving as a foundation for the upright posts; also attrib; see POUND, SUNKEN WHARF.
   P 102--60 Near the mouth of the river was a large ballast wharf forty feet wide and a hundred feet long on which every spring was built a large splitting shed. Q 67-104 ~ bed—foundation of rock for stage and flake. Q 71-16 It is called a ballast bed—rocks piled into the place where the piles are driven into the ground. This keeps the wharf from being washed away. 1977 Evening Telegram 24 Jan, p. 2 A ballast pound—a structure of large rocks built up to add support to the wharf—was also lost [in the storm]. 1979 TIZZARD 342 I began to take apart the old wharf before it fell down on its own. I first threw the ballast out and then began to take the old wharf sticks apart.
   3 Comb ballast locker: compartment in fishing-boat in which rocks are placed to provide stability.
   1887 Colonist Christmas No 17 John Costello has moored his boat near that of a neighbor, with whom he is chatting; Dan—now a fine lad of seventeen—being engaged, meanwhile, in getting dinner on the ballast-locker. T 50/3-64 Small rocks—[I] placed 'em all in the midshiproom, ballast locker, an' took the few fish an' spread all over the rocks.

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