1. A balance consisting of a scaled arm suspended off center, a hook at the shorter end on which to hang the object being weighed, and a counterbalance at the longer end that can be moved to find the weight.

1. A transportable balance with unequal arm lengths.
2. A place where steel (and possibly other metals as well) is stored and sold.

1. A form of balance in which the body to be weighed is suspended from the shorter arm of a lever, which turns on a fulcrum, and a counterpoise is caused to slide upon the longer arm to produce equilibrium, its place upon this arm (which is notched or graduated) indicating the weight; a roman balance; -- very commonly used also in the plural form, steelyards.

1. A place in london, comprising great warehouses called before the reign of Edward iv. Gildhalla Teutonicorum, ‘Gildhall of the germans,’ where, until expelled in 1597, the merchants of the hanseatic league had their english headquarters; also, the company of merchants themselves.
2. A kind of balance with two unequal arms, consisting of a lever in the form of a slender iron bar with one arm very short, the other divided by equidistant notches, having a small crosspiece as fulcrum, to which a bearing for suspension is attached, usually a hook at the short end, and a weight moving upon the long arm.

1. a portable balance consisting of a pivoted bar with arms of unequal length