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ballast noun hair 20. etymology: possibly a development from Romany bal ‘hair’ which itself is possibly derived ultimately from Hindi bāl with the same meaning; also attested in Shelta; collected by McCormick note:

Grellmann (1787) cites the forms Bàl, Pàl with the same meaning from Contintental gipsies. Smart & Crofton (1875) collected bal ‘hair’ and also the form bullas ‘grey hairs’ from English Gypsies.