balance beams

pl. Beams constituting part of the machinery for lowering a drawbridge, and which, moving upwards, cause it to descend. "Full harshly up its groove of stone, The balance - beams obeyed the blast, And down the trembiing drawbridge cast." Scott : The Bridal of Trier main , L. 15. balance-electrometer, s . An instrument invented by Cuthbertson for regulating the amount of the charge of electricity designed to be sent through any substance. E entially, it consists of a beam with both its arms terminating in balls. One of these is in contact with a ball beneath it, supported by a bent metallic tube, proceeding from the same stand as that on which the beam rests. When electricity is sent through the instrument, the two balls repel each other, and the beam is knocked up. Its other extremity consequently descends, the ball there coming in contact with another one at the top of an insulated column, and a discharge will there take place. The weight, overcome by the repulsive force, will measure the intensity of the latter. It has been superseded by instruments on other principles. IMG:content-1004.png:[blocks in formation] (a) So to adjust powers or forces of any kind as to make them constitute an equilibrium; to cause to be in equipoise; to render equal. (Used whether this is done by man or by nature.) "Now by some jutting stone, that seems to dwell Half in mid-air, as balanced by a spell" Hemans: The Abencerrage , c. a. "The forces were so evenly balanced that a very slight accident might have turned the scale. -Macau lay: Hist. Eng . , ch. xix. "In the country, parties were more nearly balanced than in the capital. " -Ibid . , ch. xxv. (b) To make the two sides of an account agree with each other, or to do anything analogous. [II. 1.] his gain is balanced by their lo ."-J. S. Mal Polit. Econ ., bk. i., ch. iil., § 4. "Judging is balancing an account, and determining on which side the odds lie."-Locke. "Give him leave To balance the account of Blenheim's day." Prior. (c) Mentally to compare two forces, magnitudes, ., with the view of estimating their relative potency or importance. "A fair result can be obtained only by fully stating and balancing the facts and arguments on both sides of each question." Darwin : Origin of Species (ed. 1859), Introd., p. 2. (d) To adjust one thing to another exactly. "While chief baron Ear sat to balance the laws, So famed for his talent in nicely discerning." Cowper: Report of an Adjudged Case. IL Technically : 1. Account and Book Keeping : To ascertain and note down or pay the sum which is nece ary to make the debtor and creditor side of an account equal. 2. Dancing: Reciprocally to move forward to and backward from. B. Intransitive: I. Ordinary Language: 1. Lit. To be in equilibrio; to be exactly poised. (Used of scales.) 2. Figuratively : (a) To be equal on the one side and the other, as "the account balances ." † (6) To hesitate between conflicting evidence or motives. "Were the satisfaction of lust, and the joys of heaven, offered to any one's present po e ion, he would not balance , or err in the determination of his choice. "-Locke. "Since there is nothing that can offend, I see not why you should balance a moment about printing it." -Atterbury to Pope. II. Dancing: To move forward to, or backward from, a partner. băl-ançed, pa. par. & a. [BALANCE, V.] For England also the same sobering proce of balanced lo and gain will have the same salutary effect."- Times , Nov. 16, 1877.