bayou
[bahy-oo, bahy-oh]
- 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.
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Origin of bayou
1710–20, Americanism; < Louisiana French, said to be < Choctaw bayuk river forming part of a delta
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for bayou
Contemporary Examples
But Hillstomp is the real deal, as legit as anything you will find nowadays down on the bayou.
At a rally for longshot Senate candidate on the bayou, Sarah Palin got choked up on Thursday.
All the moves, that is, except managing his state properly—at least according to Bayou voters.
Instead, Bayou, Israel's hedge-fund group, continued to flounder and the deception only grew.
The darling of the festival circuit just arrived in theaters—and the Bayou drama seems destined for Academy Award glory.
Historical Examples
He was asleep; had gone to sleep calling her "Maman" and babbling of wild-fowl on the bayou.
The Long RollMary Johnston
The house had floated out of a bayou, I found, which was the reason we did not see it sooner.
Up the RiverOliver Optic
On the 13th they came to the banks of a wide creek or bayou, which they had no means of crossing.
The enemy was strongly posted in a wood at a bend in the Bayou.
History of the 159th Regiment, N.Y.S.V.Edward Duffy
“Now you will come with me,” said Bayou to Papalier, impatiently.
The Hour and the ManHarriet Martineau
bayou
- (in the southern US) a sluggish marshy tributary of a lake or river
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Word Origin
C18: from Louisiana French, from Choctaw bayuk
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for bayou
n.
1766, via Louisiana French, from Choctaw bayuk "small stream."
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
bayou
[bī′ōō]
- A sluggish, marshy stream connected with a river, lake, or gulf. Bayous are common in the southern United States.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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.
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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.