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kentledge (KENT-lij) - n., (Naut.) pig iron or scrap metal used as permanent ballast.
To keep the ship balanced, that is -- in contrast, I suppose, to either stones or cargo. Unsure. So is the origin, but it's attested from 1607: only one dictionary seems willing to venture a guess, that it's perhaps from Old French quintelage, ballast, from quintal, hundredweight, ultimately from Arabic qintÄr (no meaning given for that last).
---L.
To keep the ship balanced, that is -- in contrast, I suppose, to either stones or cargo. Unsure. So is the origin, but it's attested from 1607: only one dictionary seems willing to venture a guess, that it's perhaps from Old French quintelage, ballast, from quintal, hundredweight, ultimately from Arabic qintÄr (no meaning given for that last).
---L.
