(bal′əns) noun
1. An instrument for weighing, often a bar pivoted on a central point according to the weight placed in or hung from a matched scale or pan at either end; scales: often used in the plural, either scale being called a balance, and the two a pair of balances.
2. The imaginary scales of destiny by which deeds and principles are weighed: a symbol of justice: Thou hast been weighed in the balance and found wanting.
3. The power to decide fate, value, etc., as by a balance.
4. A state of being in equilibrium; equipoise; equality.
5. Mental or emotional stability; sanity.
6. Harmonious proportion, as in the design or arrangement of parts in a work of art.
7. Something used to produce an equilibrium; counteracting influence; counterpoise.
8. The act of balancing or weighing.
9. Equality between the credit and debit totals of an account.
10. A difference between such totals; the excess on either side.
11. U.S. Colloq. Whatever is left over; remainder; surplus.
12. A balance wheel.
13. An instrument for measuring electricity or its effects by opposing some other force, as gravity.
14. A movement in dancing. See synonyms under REMAINDER.
—in the balance Being judged; not yet settled.
—to strike a balance To find or take an intermediate position; compromise.
—v. ·anced, ·anc·ing v.t.
1. To bring into or keep in equilibrium; poise.
2. To weigh in a balance.
3. To compare or weigh in the mind, as alternative courses of action; estimate the importance or consequence of.
4. To offset or counteract.
5. To keep or be in proportion to.
6. To be equal to.
7. To compute the difference between the debit and credit sides of (an account).
8. To reconcile, as by making certain entries, the debit and credit sides of (an account).
9. To adjust (an account) by paying what is owed.
—v.i.
10. To be or come into equilibrium.
11. To be equal: The accounts balance.
12. To hesitate or waver; tilt: to balance on the edge of a chasm.
13. To move or lean back and forth as from one foot to another. [<F <L bilanx, -ancis having two plates <bis two + lanx, lancis dish, plate]
—bal′ance·a·ble adjective

(bal′əns)
The constellation Libra.
See CONSTELLATION.