bayou
a marshy arm, inlet, or outlet of a lake, river, etc., usually sluggish or stagnant.
any of various other often boggy and slow-moving or still bodies of water.
Origin of bayou
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use bayou in a sentence
The 'Times-Democrat' sent a relief-steamer up one of the bayous, last April.
Life On The Mississippi, Complete | Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)On its left is the land of bayous, lakes, and swamps; on its right, the beautiful short-turfed prairies of Western Louisiana.
Bonaventure | George Washington CableSpeaking of the bayous, it would be difficult to give a clear conception of their peculiarities.
Reminiscences of two years with the colored troops | Joshua M. AddemanThat looks as though Nature wanted to protect him as he lay on the bottom of the shallow bayous and flooded places.
The Outdoor Chums in the Big Woods | Quincy AllenCreeks and bayous stretch in turn far back into the land, and the reeds and rushes follow after.
Sigurd Our Golden Collie and Other Comrades of the Road | Katharine Lee Bates
British Dictionary definitions for bayou
/ (ˈbaɪjuː) /
(in the southern US) a sluggish marshy tributary of a lake or river
Origin of bayou
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for bayou
[ bī′ōō ]
A sluggish, marshy stream connected with a river, lake, or gulf. Bayous are common in the southern United States.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Cultural definitions for bayou
[ (beye-ooh, beye-oh) ]
Term used mainly in Louisiana and Mississippi to describe a swampy, slowly moving or stationary body of water that was once part of a lake, river, or gulf.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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