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