balalaika (balalika)

[F. balaleïka = G. balalaika, repr. Ru . balalaika.] A musical instrument of very ancient Slavic origin, common among the Ru ians and Tatars, and, according to Niebuhr, also in Egypt and Arabia. It is of the guitar kind, and has two, three, or four strings, giving a minor chord. ( Mendel.) It is now most used by the gipsies of eastern Europe. The dances of the gipsies, accompanied by the music of the balalaika , and clapping of hands. A. J. C. Hare , Studies in Ru ia, vi. Bala limestone. See limestone. balance (bal'ans), n. [ IMG:content-1572.png:[graphic] IMG:content-1573.png:[blocks in formation] Beam and neighboring parts of a Balance of Precision. A A, beam; B, knife-edge on which it turns; C, C, knife-edges fixed to the beam on which the pans are hung; D, D, the bearing-pieces of the pans; E, tongue, the lower extremity of which moves over a scale; F, screw with a nut for raising and lowering the center of gravity: this has no connection with the horizontal rod 11; G, screw with a nut for carrying the center of gravity toward one or the other pan; H, a rider, or little weight, whose value depends on its position on the beam, which it straddles; 11, rod sliding horizontally, with a hook to take up and set down the rider; KK, piece which raises and lowers the levers, L, L, L; L, L, levers to take the beam and pans simultaneously off their bearings when the weights are to be changed; M, M, knobs supporting the beam when the levers, L, L, are raised; N, N, Y's supporting the pans when the levers, L, L, are raised. Many balances have arrangements for adjusting the relative positions of the three knives, but these are discarded in the larger balances. IMG:content-1574.png:[graphic] finbacks, or razor-backs, so called from their long, sharp, falcate dorsal fin. They are found in all seas. Some are very large, as B. sibbaldi, which attains a length of 80 feet. The flippers have 4 digits; the baleen is short and coarse; the skin of the throat is folded; the head is small, flat, and pointed; the body is long and slender; and the cervical vertebræ are free. Common Atlantic species are B. musculus and B. borealis. The whalebone is of comparatively little value. balænopterid (bal-e-nop'te-rid), n. A cetacean of the family Ba Balænopterida . (bale-nop-ter'i-dē), n. pl . Balenopteride (bal-neer The rowed (bal"ē-nop -ide.] whalebone whales; a family of mysticete cet a ceans, typified pified by the genus Bal Balænoptera , having the throat plicated, the dorsal fin develo developed, eloped, the cervical vertebræ free or incompletely ankylosed, the flippers with only 4 digits, and the baleen short and coarse. It contains the humpbacked and the finner whales, sometimes respectively made types of the subfamilies Mega pterinæ and Balæno pterinæ. the arms and the smaller the distance of the center of sensibility of the balance or the angular amount of the deviation produced with a given slight addition to either scale. The degree of sensibility to be desired depends upon the use to which the instrument is to be put. Such a balance as is employed in accurate chemical analy. sis will indicate a difference of weight of a tenth or hun. dredth of a milligram. I have in equal balance justly weigh'd What wrongs our arms may do, what wrongs we suffer. Shak., 2 Hen. IV., iv. 1. 2. Any apparatus for weighing, as a steel3. One of the scales IMG:content-1575.png:[blocks in formation] 4. The act of weighing mentally; the act of comparing or estimating two things as in a bal balance ance. Upon a fair balance of the advantages on either side. Bp. Atterbury. 5. An equivalent or equalizing weight; that which is put into one scale to offset the weight in the other; the weight nece ary to make up the difference between two unequal weights; a counterpoise, literally or figuratively. Specifically-6. In mining, a counterpoise or counterweight used in such a way as to a ist the engine in lifting the load.-7. The part of a clock or watch which regulates the beats: formerly, a pin oscillating on its center, and thus resembling the beam of a balance; now, a wheel. See balance - wheel.-8. The arithmetical difference between the two sides of an account: as, to strike a balance.-9. The sum or amount nece ary to balance the two sides of an account, usually spoken of as a debit or a credit balance: as, I have still a balance at my banker's; a balance still due. - 10. A surplus; a remainder; the rest; the residue; what remains or is left over: as, he bequeathed the balance of his estate to A. B.; the balance of a meal. [A colloquial use, of commercial origin.] -11. A balanced condition; a state of equilibrium or equipoise: as, to lose one's balance. His credit now in doubt full ball a unce hong. Spenser, F. Q., II. 1. 3. 12. Harmonious arrangement or adjustment; just proportion, especially in the arts of design. -13. [ cap.] In astron., a sign of the zodiac, called in Latin Libra, which the sun enters at the equinox in September. - Aerostatic balance. See aerostatic.- Automaton balance. See automaton . - Balance of power, in international law , a distribution and an opposition of forces among nations forming part of one system, such that no state shall be in a position, either alone or united with others, to impose its own will on any other state or interfere with its independence. (Ortolan.) The leading rule by which it has been sought to effect this in Europe has been to oppose every new arrangement which threatens either materially to augment the strength of one of the greater powers or to diminish that of another. The meaning of the balance of power is this: that any European state may be restrained from pursuing plans of acquisition, or making preparations looking towards future acquisitions, which are judged to be hazardous to the independence and national existence of its neighbors. Woolsey, Introd. to Inter. Law, § 43. Balance of probabilities, the exce of reasons for believing one of two alternatives over the reasons for believing the other. It is measured by the logarithm of the ratio of the chances in favor of a proposition to the chances against it.-Balance of trade, the difference between the amount or value of the commodities exported from and imported into country. balance said to be favorable for or in favor of a country when the value of its exports exceeds that of its imports, and unfavorable when the value of its imports exceeds that of its exports.Bent-lever balance. See tangent - balance . - Compensation balance. See compensation . - Danish balance, a weighing apparatus somewhat resembling the steelyard, but differing from it in hav ing the fulcrum movable, the weight being at one end and the load at the other; the loop by which it is suspended is shifted along the beam until equilibrium is established. The weight of the substance in the scale-pan is Danish Balance. indicated by the point at which the fulcrum is placed when the instrument is in equilibrium. - Electric balance. See absolute electrometer , under electrometer ; differential galva no meter, under galvanometer ; induction - balance; Wheat stone's bridge, under resistance . Expansive balance, a compensation-balance in watches, consisting of a compound rim whose outer and inner portions are made of metals having different rates of expansion by heat. This arrangement serves to counteract the effects of variations of temperature upon the speed of the watch. - False balance, a balance having arms of unequal length, or of equal length and unequal weight, so that its positions when empty and when carrying equal weights in the two pans are different. - Hydraulic balance. See hydraulic . Hydrostatic balance. See hydrostatic.- Hygrometric balance. See hygrometric . - Roberval's balance, a balance having two horizontal beams one over the other, connected at their extremities by joints to vertical pieces, so that the whole forms a linked parallelogram. The scales are at the top. The advantage of the contrivance is, that it makes it a matter of indifference at what point on the pan the object to be weighed, or the counterpoise, is placed. An improved form of this balance is commonly used to weigh articles sold by druggists. - Roman balance, a steelyard (which see). - Spring-balance, a contrivance for determining the weight of any article by observing the amount of deflection or compre ion which it produces upon a helical steel spring properly adjusted and fitted with an index working against a graduated scale. Another form of spring-balance is made in the shape of the letter C, the upper end being suspended by a ring, and the lower end affording attachment for the hook whereby the object is suspended. As the bow opens a finger traverses a graduated arc and registers the weight.Thermic or actinic balance. Same as bolometer.- To cast the balance, to turn the scale; cause one scale to preponderate: often used figuratively. South ; Dryden.To hold in balance, to keep in a state of uncertainty or suspense. She wolde not fonde To holde no wight in balaunce By halfe worde ne by countenaunce. Chaucer, Death of Blanche, 1. 1020. 425 To lay in balance, to put up as a pledge or security. Ye wolde nat forgon his aqueyntance For mochel good, I dar leye in balaunce Al that I have in my po e ioun. Chaucer, Prol. to Canon's Yeoman's Tale, 1. 58. To pay a balance, to pay the difference and make two accounts equal. Torsion-balance, an instrument for measuring certain electrical forces and the intensity of magnets. It consists of a magnetic needle suspended by a silk thread or a very fine wire in a gla cylinder, of which the circumference is graduated. The force or net to be measured is applied to one side of the cylinder, Oh! who would cast and balance at a desk, Perch'd like a crow upon a three-legg'd stool, Till all his juice is dried? Tennyson , Audley Court. balance-bar (bal'ans-bär), n. Same as balance- beam , 2. balance-barometer (bal'ans-ba-rom"e-ter), n. A barometer consisting of a beam balanced on a pivot, and formed, on opposite sides of the pivot, of materials differing greatly in specific gravity. The bulks of the parts on either side of the fulcrum, and consequently the volumes of air displaced by them, thus differ greatly. If the air increases in density, its effective buoyancy on the more bulky arm con either inside or outside, and its intensity is indicated by the amount of deflection of the suspended needle, which is caused to exert a force of torsion on the thread or wire which supports it. (See also alloy -balance, a ay-bal sider ably exceeds its effect upon the smaller; the former ance, coin - balance, micrometer - balance, millstone - balance.) =Syn. 10. See remainder. balance (bal'ans), v.; pret. and pp. balanced, ppr. balancing. [= F. balancer = Pr. balansar = Sp. balanzar (obs.), balancear = Pg. bal ançar = It. bilanciare, balance; from the noun.] I. trans. 1. To weigh; especially, to weigh or consider in the mind; ponder over. In the mean while I will go for the said Instrument, and 'till my Return you may ballance this Matter in your own Discretion. Congreve, Way of the World, v. 6. She balanced this a little, And told me she would answer us to-day. Tennyson, Prince , iii. 149. 2. To estimate the relative weight or imp or- tance of, as two or more things; make a com- parison between as to relative importance, parison force, value, etc. Balance the good and evil of things. Sir R. L'Estrange . 3. To bring into a state of equipoise or equi- librium; arrange or adjust (the several parts of a thing) symmetrically: as, to balance the sev- eral parts of a machine or a painting.-4. To keep in equilibrium or equipoise; poise; steady: as, to balance a pole on one's chin. I cannot give due action to my words, Except a sword or sceptre balance it. Shak., 2 Hen. VI., v. 1. The maids of Nazareth, as they trooped to fill Their balanced urns beside the mountain rill. O. W. Holmes, The Mother's Secret. 5. To serve as a counterpoise to; counterbalance; offset: as, the ups and downs of life balance each other. One expre ion in the letter must check and balance the other. Kent . In the case of a precision steel-yard, it is best so to distribute the ma of the beam that the right arm balances the left one. Encyc. Brit ., III. 262. therefore rises. If the air becomes lighter, the reverse happens. The vibrations are noted upon a scale.