balsa
Americannoun
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balsas
plural
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a tropical American tree, Ochroma pyramidale (lagopus ), of the bombax family, yielding an exceedingly light wood used for life preservers, rafts, toy airplanes, etc.
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a raft made of balsa wood.
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any life raft.
noun
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a bombacaceous tree, Ochroma lagopus , of tropical America
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Also called: balsawood. the very light wood of this tree, used for making rafts, etc
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a light raft
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of balsa
1770–80; < Spanish: boat
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"All you can see of Chewie's feet are his toes. My dad carved them out of balsa wood as he is an engineer too," he said.
From BBC ● Feb. 16, 2024
“Going through my brain were suitable expletives. I hit the brakes, by which time it was too late, it was like balsa wood flying absolutely everywhere.”
From New York Times ● Dec. 25, 2022
The roomy interior was cooled by dry ice, with a single headlamp and a crush zone of balsa wood installed in front.
From Slate ● Aug. 2, 2022
He laid out the physics hurdles of such an epic voyage and even crafted a prototype spacecraft from poster board, balsa wood, and Elmer’s glue.
From Science Magazine ● Jul. 27, 2022
Weary had a block of balsa wood which was supposed to be a foxhole pillow.
From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut
They were taking many of the same chances as their theoretical primitives: the raft was modeled after the balsas of the ancient Peruvians.
From Time Magazine Archive
According to Peruvian tradition, the Inca Tupac Yupanqui sailed a large fleet of balsas into the Pacific, about 1470 A.D.
From Time Magazine Archive
To give greater security two balsas are sometimes fastened together in the fashion of a double canoe.
From Inca Land Explorations in the Highlands of Peru by Hiram Bingham
They alone employed a plank-built canoe instead of the balsas or canoe-shaped bundles of rushes of the greater part of California.
From Man, Past and Present by Alfred Court Haddon
In 1632 a minor revolution of Indians occurred, which resulted in a quaint species of naval engagement on Lake Titicaca, with the native balsas, or rafts, posing as diminutive battleships.
From South America by W. H. (William Henry) Koebel
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