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:
Mindy, who takes to a balsa Hobie as easily as Carol once did, has bigger plans.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2023
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
“You know, balsa wood would be perfect for the seesaws—it’s really easy to cut. I think my dad might even have some.”
From "When You Reach Me" by Rebecca Stead
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
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
He at once caused balsas, broad and clumsy barks, or rather rafts, of the country, to be provided, and by this means passed his men over, without opposition, to the other side of the river.
From History of the Conquest of Peru by William Hickling Prescott
The Mojaves, whose village was five miles above La Paz, came down on freshly made balsas every day, but walked home, carrying their paddles.
From Captured by the Navajos by Charles A. (Charles Albert) Curtis
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.
