A mercantile word originally introduced into the ordinary language of life by the southern people, but now common throughout the United States, signifying the remainder of anything. The balance of money, or the balance of an account, are terms well authorized and proper; but we also frequently hear such expressions as the "balance of a speech;" "the balance of the day was idly spent;" "a great many people assembled at the church: a part got in, the balance remained without."
The yawl returned to the wreck, took ten or eleven persons and landed them, and then went and got the balance from the floating cabin.--Albany Journal, Jan. 7, 1846.
Most of the respectable inhabitants held commissions in the army or government offices; the balance of the people kept little shops, cultivated the ground, &c.--Williams's Florida, p.115.