Echar lastre

[poli]

can someone help me translate this. I think it means devalue but I am not sure. Thanks.

[Rusty]

lastre = ballast
lastre = burden

Without context I can't be sure, but it might be 'to add ballast' or 'to heap a burden upon'. It can also mean 'to affirm'. What I'm finding on the Internet could also have other translations. What is the context?

[poli]

Rusty,
I think I figured it out. It means to unburden. For context, please have a look at this very interesting and astute article. Echar lastre is in the last sentence. http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/I/like/your/mono/elpepucul/20081006elpepicul_2/Tes

[Rusty]

De acuerdo. Echar can mean both to throw on as well as off. Context is certainly needed. If we throw off, or throw away burden (ballast), that is the same as to unburden.

[Tomisimo]

I agree with you both. Echar lastre is probably related to the maritime use of throwing things overboard to lighten a ship so that it can survive a storm. So in addition to unburden, good translations could be to lighten ship, get rid of dead weight etc.

[sosia]

you're all right :D
"echar lastre" is to unburden. is "to throw something unuseful wich is very heavy"
Real uses: gainig height/speed leaving heavy things: ships, balloons, airplanes with damaged motors...
Ironic uses: when a entreprise it's going bad, the directors can fire some older people, and so unburden ("echar lastre")

"el inmigrante va a lo suyo, y lo suyo es echar lastre y abandonar todo aquello que le impida prosperar y ser uno más" In this sentence the "lastre" is the idiom.
The inmigrant must unburden himself leaving his idiom.

saludos :D