Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A branch of a river which reunites with it lower down, thus forming an island known as a branch-island. Called by the aborigines billabong.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Australia A branch of a river that reënters, or anastomoses with, the main stream; also, less properly, a branch which loses itself in sandy soil.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun hydrology, of a water channel A
diverging branch of ariver ,creek , orstream whichre-enters the main stream.
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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An arm or anabranch, at first containing much water, and coming from the north, was on our right for some miles.
Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia 2003
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We encamped on the acute north-western angle of an anabranch biting into the firm soil, and it was evident that we had reached the Balonne Major, or that part above the separation of the Culgoa from the Minor
Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia 2003
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The creek here has an anabranch that leaves it about half a mile above and joins again about half a mile below; width of island half a mile.
McKinlay's Journal of Exploration in the Interior of Australia John McKinlay
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Australian slang, but are important in Lawson's stories, and carry overtones. anabranch: A bend in a river that has been cut through by the stream.
Children of the Bush Henry Lawson 1894
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Bogan didn't seem to think the thing was so serious as it was, for he only went a few miles down the river and camped with his horses on a sort of island inside an anabranch, till the thing should blow over or the new chums leave Bourke.
Children of the Bush Henry Lawson 1894
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Sometimes used for an anabranch, but more often used for one that, in dry season or droughts especially, is cut off at either or both ends from the main stream.
Children of the Bush Henry Lawson 1894
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The main current now runs straight, the anabranch diverges and then rejoins.
Children of the Bush Henry Lawson 1894
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A man was sent ashore with blankets and tucker to mind the wool, and we crossed the river, butted into the anabranch, and started out back.
Over the Sliprails Henry Lawson 1894
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And in the afternoon we went for a row on the river, pulling easily up the anabranch and floating down with the stream under the shade of the river timber -- instead of going to sleep and waking up helpless and soaked in perspiration, to find the women with headaches, as many do on
Children of the Bush Henry Lawson 1894
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He rode round the outside track and came in on to the river just below where the anabranch joins it, at the lower end of the island and right opposite Bogan's camp.
Children of the Bush Henry Lawson 1894
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