Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - panama

 noun  Usage: often capitalized  Etymology: American Spanish panama, from Panama, Central America  Date: 1848 a lightweight hat of natural-colored straw hand-plaited of narrow strips from the young leaves of the jipijapa; also a machine-made imitation of this PANAMA  geographical name see Panama PANAMA  or Spanish Panama  geographical name  1. country S Central America; a republic; before 1903 part of Colombia area (including Canal Zone) 33,659 square miles (87,177 square kilometers), population 2,563,000  2. (or ~ City) city & port, its capital, on Gulf of ~ population 411,549  3. ship canal 51 miles (82 kilometers) central ~ connecting the Atlantic (Caribbean Sea) & the Pacific (Gulf of ~)  • ~nian adjective or noun