balance
/ˈbæləns/ verb B2- To bring (items) to an equipoise, as the scales of a balance by adjusting the weights.
- To move while remaining balanced on a narrow or precarious support (e.g., a wire, ledge or rope). · She balanced along the wire while the crowd watched in rapt attention.· They must balance themselves down the fence until they reach the end.
- To make (concepts) agree.
- To hold (an object or objects) precariously; to support on a narrow base, so as to keep from falling. · I balanced my mug of coffee on my knee.· The circus performer balances a plate on the end of a baton.
- To compare in relative force, importance, value, etc.; to estimate.
- To move toward, and then back from, reciprocally. · to balance partners
- To contract, as a sail, into a narrower compass. · to balance the boom mainsail
- To make the credits and debits of (an account) correspond. · to balance a set of books· This final payment, or credit, balances the account.
Plural balance · He/she/it balances · Past balanced · Past participle balanced · -ing form balancing
Verb forms
- Base form
- balance
- He/she/it
- balances
- Past
- balanced
- Past participle
- balanced
- -ing form
- balancing
Phrasal verbs and expressions
From the library
The conclusions of every department are passed to him, and he is the central exchange, the clearinghouse, which makes out the balance.
Before our prisoner had recovered his balance the door was shut and Holmes standing with his back against it.
It looks very funny, but it is so perfectly balanced a gait that you can fly off from it at any angle you please, and in dealing with snakes this is an advantage.
It was useless to look down, for he could only see the topsides of the branches, so he stared upward and saw, far away in the blue, Rann the Kite balancing and wheeling as he kept watch over the jungle waiting for things to die.
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