ANABRANCH

Etymology

Noun

anabranch (plural anabranches)

(hydrology, of a water channel) A diverging branch of a river, creek, or stream which re-enters the main stream.

Source: Wiktionary

An"a*branch, n. [Anastomosing + branch.]

Definition: A branch of a river that reënters, or anastomoses with, the main stream; also, less properly, a branch which loses itself in sandy soil. [Australia]

Such branches of a river as after separation reunite, I would term anastomosing branches; or, if a word might be coined, anabranches, and the islands they form branch islands. Col. Jackson.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition