Balboa

American  

[bal-boh-uh, bahl-baw-ah] / bælˈboʊ ə, bɑlˈbɔ ɑ /

noun

1. Vasco Núñez de 1475?–1517, Spanish adventurer and explorer who discovered the Pacific Ocean in 1513.

2. a seaport in Panama at the Pacific terminus of the Panama Canal.

3. balboa, a silver coin and monetary unit of Panama, equal to 100 centesimos.

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Balboa ¹ British  

/ balˈβoa, bælˈbəʊə /

noun

1. Vasco Núñez de (ˈbasko ˈnuɲeθ de). ?1475–1519, Spanish explorer, who discovered the Pacific Ocean in 1513

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Balboa ² British  

/ bælˈbəʊə, balˈβoa /

noun

1. a port in Panama at the Pacific end of the Panama Canal: the administrative centre of the former Canal Zone. Pop: 2750 (1990)

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balboa ³ British  

/ bælˈbəʊə /

noun

1. the standard currency unit of Panama, divided into 100 centesimos

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Etymology

Origin of balboa

named after Vasco Núñez de _Balboa

Example Sentences

Nevertheless, in January, the country's supreme court had declared as "unconstitutional" the contract which had allowed Hutchison to manage the ports of Balboa on the Pacific and Cristobal on the Atlantic since 1997.

From Barron's • Feb. 23, 2026

Since 1997, Hutchison had managed the ports of Cristobal on the interoceanic canal's Atlantic side and Balboa on the Pacific side.

From Barron's • Feb. 4, 2026

The high court said the terms under which CK Hutchison runs the ports of Balboa on the Pacific Coast and Cristobal on the Atlantic side were unconstitutional.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 4, 2026

Q Market, which opened in Lake Balboa in 1993, has been a grocery store, community center and one of the Valley’s only links back home for many Iranian immigrants.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 27, 2025

According to the unsympathetic account of Cabello Balboa, Washkar’s mother, who was apparently willing to marry her dead brother, objected to her son’s plan to marry her daughter.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann