MEANDER

Meander

A meander, in general, is a bend in a sinuous watercourse or river. A meander is formed when the moving water in a stream erodes the outer banks and widens its valley and the inner part of the river has less energy and deposits what it is carrying. A stream of any volume may assume a meandering course, alternately eroding sediments from the outside of a bend and depositing them on the inside. The result is a snaking pattern as the stream meanders back and forth across its down-valley axis. When a meander gets cut off from the main stream, an oxbow lake is formed. Over time meanders migrate downstream, sometimes in such a short time as to create ...

The above text is a snippet from Wikipedia: Meander
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

meander

Noun

  1. A winding, crooked, or involved course.
    the meanders of an old river, or of the veins and arteries in the body
  2. A tortuous or intricate movement.
  3. Fretwork.
  4. A self-avoiding closed curve which intersects a line a number of times.

Verb

  1. To wind or turn in a course or passage; to be intricate.
    The stream meandered through the valley.
  2. To wind, turn, or twist; to make flexuous.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: meander
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

Need help with a clue?
Try your search in the crossword dictionary!