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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

2 entries under this word

Counterbalance

Coun'ter-bāl'ance, v. t.

verbtransitive

[imp. & p. p. COUNTERBALANCED; p. pr. & vb. n. COUNTERBALANCING.] To oppose with an equal weight; to act against with equal power or effect; to countervail; to equiponderate.

There was so much air drawn out of the vessel, that the remaining air was not able to counterbalance the mercurial cylinder. Boyle.

The study of mind is necessary to counterbalance and correct the influence of the study of nature. Sir W. Hamilton.

Coun'ter-bāl'ançe, n.

noun

n. Equal opposing weight; power or agency acting in opposition to any thing; equivalent; as the mass of iron cast on the side of a locomotive engine wheel, opposite the crank-pin, to counterbalance the weight of the latter and its connected parts.

Money is the counter-balance to all other things purchasable by it. Locke.

A spoked wheel fitted with a counterbalance mechanism and a horizontal rod.
Counter-balance.