Bay"ou (?), n.; pl. Bayous (). [North Am. Indian bayuk, in F. spelling bayouc, bayouque.]
An inlet from the Gulf of Mexico, from a lake, or from a large river, sometimes sluggish, sometimes without perceptible movement except from tide and wind.
[Southern U. S.]
A dark slender thread of a bayou moves loiteringly northeastward into a swamp of huge cypresses.
G. W. Cable.
© Webster 1913.