1. a low, swampy ground or overflow channel where water flows sluggishly for considerable distances 2. a channel of sluggish water, such as a side channel of a stream, in which water flows slowly through low, swampy ground, or through a section of an abandoned stream channel containing water most or all of the year, but with flow only at high water, and occurring in a floodplain or delta 3. a marshy tract lying in a shallow, undrained depression on a piece of dry ground 4. a creek or body of sluggish water in a bottomland This definition last updated 10/07/2008