BOCA RATON

city, Palm Beach county, southeastern Florida, U.S. It lies just north of Fort Lauderdale on the Atlantic coast. The Boca Raton Inlet and its lakes were once mariners' refuges, and boca de ratones, a Spanish nautical term meaning mouse's mouth, appeared on early 16th-century maps and referred to hidden, sharp-pointed rocks that gnawed or fretted ships' cables. The town of Boca Raton was incorporated in 1925 after the architect Addison Mizner promoted a luxury resort centring on the Cloister Inn, a Spanish architectural extravaganza that the financier Clarence H. Geist turned into an exclusive club in 1928. Arthur Vining Davis, an aluminum magnate, purchased the property in 1956. As the Boca Raton Hotel and Club, it prospered with the convention trade, and a resort-retirement community of expensive homes entwined with waterways developed around it. Boca Raton became a city in 1957. Since 1960 there has been planned light industry. Florida Atlantic University (1961) occupies a former air base, and the conference grounds of Bibletown U.S.A. are nearby. Pop. (1990) city, 61,492; West Palm BeachBoca RatonDelray Beach MSA, 863,518.