balsa
Americannoun
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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:
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
"My mother gave me her grandfather's hammer and some nails and I had some very soft wood called balsa wood so I'd hammer nails into it and make sculptures," he said.
From BBC ● Apr. 10, 2022
Supplies of balsa wood, a major component of wind turbine blades, became scarce this spring because about 95 percent of it comes from Ecuador, which was overwhelmed by the pandemic.
From New York Times ● Oct. 26, 2020
A glass-paned cupboard was crammed with damaged balsa airplanes.
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
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
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
Marching and conquering on the coast of Manta, and the island of Puna, and Tumbez, there arrived at Tumbez some merchants who had come by sea from the west, navigating in balsas with sails.
From History of the Incas by Markham, Clements R. (Clements Robert), Sir
One of the more highly speculative of the Bolivian writers, Señor Posnansky, of La Paz, believes that gigantic balsas were used in bringing ten-ton monoliths across the lake to Tiahuanaco.
From Inca Land Explorations in the Highlands of Peru by Bingham, Hiram
But the balsas are the most original, and, therefore, the most attractive sight.
From The Andes and the Amazon Across the Continent of South America by Orton, James
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
