billabong
noun
bil·la·bong ˈbi-lə-ˌbȯŋ 
-ˌbäŋ
1
Australia
a
: a blind channel leading out from a river
b
: a usually dry streambed that is filled seasonally
2
Australia : a backwater forming a stagnant pool
Synonyms
- mere [chiefly British]
- pool
- puddle
- stank [British dialect]
- well
See all Synonyms & Antonyms 
Example Sentences
taking a break from our trek through the outback, we bathed our tired feet in the still waters of a billabong
Recent Examples on the Web Sonia Namarnyilk layered three stencils to print complex patterns of mermaid-like water spirits, their fluid, bright orange undulations interspersed with playful turtles and rippling billabong plants. 
Los Angeles Times, 11 May 2022 Fifteen million years ago, a river carved through the jungle, leaving an oxbow lake (known as a billabong in Australia) in its wake at McGraths Flat. New York Times, 7 Jan. 2022 As iron-rich runoff from nearby basalt mountains seeped into the billabong, the pool’s low pH caused the iron to precipitate and encase the organic material. New York Times, 7 Jan. 2022 The plants and creatures were fossilized when iron-rich groundwater drained into a billabong, or water hole. Katie Hunt, CNN, 7 Jan. 2022 Recreation in the summer shrinks to barbecues, swimming in the billabong, and drinking stubbies, or bottles of beer, on Big Red under the stars. Clarissa Sebag-montefiore, New York Times, 1 Aug. 2016
Los Angeles Times, 11 May 2022 Fifteen million years ago, a river carved through the jungle, leaving an oxbow lake (known as a billabong in Australia) in its wake at McGraths Flat. New York Times, 7 Jan. 2022 As iron-rich runoff from nearby basalt mountains seeped into the billabong, the pool’s low pH caused the iron to precipitate and encase the organic material. New York Times, 7 Jan. 2022 The plants and creatures were fossilized when iron-rich groundwater drained into a billabong, or water hole. Katie Hunt, CNN, 7 Jan. 2022 Recreation in the summer shrinks to barbecues, swimming in the billabong, and drinking stubbies, or bottles of beer, on Big Red under the stars. Clarissa Sebag-montefiore, New York Times, 1 Aug. 2016 Word History
Etymology
Wiradhuri (Australian aboriginal language of central New South Wales) bilabaŋ
First Known Use
1861, in the meaning defined at sense 1a
billabongs
noun
as in puddles
a small often deep body of water taking a break from our trek through the outback, we bathed our tired feet in the still waters of a billabong Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- puddles
- pools
- lakes
- ponds
- meres
- basins
- wells
- stanks
- sinkholes
- swimming pools
- holes
- water holes
