oxbow

[oks-boh] /ˈɒksˌboʊ/

noun

a U -shaped piece of wood placed under and around the neck of an ox with its upper ends in the bar of the yoke.

Physical Geography, Geology.

a bow-shaped bend in a river, or the land embraced by it.
Also called oxbow lake. a bow-shaped lake formed in a former channel of a river.

Origin

1325-75; Middle English; see ox, bow²

Examples from the web for oxbow

oxbow is such a foodie paradise, you almost expect harps to play and angels to flutter as you enter the building.
The river will become straighter and the loop will be left to one side, forming an oxbow lake.
oxbow lakes tend to be fairly small in size, as well as irregularly shaped.
oxbow repaired the flippers on the longwall supports.

British Dictionary definitions for oxbow

oxbow

/ˈɒksˌbəʊ/

noun

a U-shaped piece of wood fitted under and around the neck of a harnessed ox and attached to the yoke

Also called oxbow lake, cutoff. a small curved lake lying on the flood plain of a river and constituting the remnant of a former meander

Word Origin and History for oxbow

also ox-bow, mid-14c., "wooden collar for an ox," from ox + bow (n.1). Meaning "semicircular bend in a river" is from 1797, American English (New England); meaning "curved lake left after an oxbow meander has been cut off by a change in the river course" is from 1898. The reference is to similarity of shape.

oxbow in Science

oxbow

(ŏks'bō')
A sharp, U-shaped bend in a river. The bend is so sharp that only a narrow neck of land is left between the two parts of the river.