distributary

distribute +‎ -ary

distributary (comparative more distributary, superlative most distributary)

1. That distributes.
   • 1816, Tapping Reeve, The law of baron and femme, of parent and child, of guardian and ward, of master and servant, and of the powers of courts of chancery‎:

     A posthumous child is as much entitled to a distributary share, under the statute of distributions, as one that is born at the time of the death of its father […]

   • 1991, Leslie E. Small, Farmer-Financed Irrigation: The Economics of Reform‎:

     […] improving the channels in a distributary unit.

   • 2014, Allard W. Martinius, editor, From Depositional Systems to Sedimentary Successions on the Norwegian Continental Margin‎, page 379:

     These deposits are commonly punctuated by metre-scale fining-upward, medium-grained, cross-bedded sandstones, interpreted as terminal distributary channels.

distributary (plural distributaries)

1. (hydrology) A stream of water (either natural or artificial) that branches off and flows away from a main stream channel.

   Antonym: tributary

   • 1894, Herbert Michael Wilson, Engineering Results of Irrigation Survey, U.S. Government Printing Office, page 270:

     The bed of the distributary is at a slight elevation above that of the main canal, and in the latter is placed an ordinary check regulator controlled by flashboards […]

   • 1998, Sediment Behavior of Sangro Distributary, Mirpurkhas Sub-division, Sindh‎, page 6:

     The physical condition of the distributary itself is in bad shape due to poor maintenance over longer periods of time, especially in the head reach.

   • 2001, James R. Penn, Rivers of the World: A Social, Geographical, and Environmental Sourcebook‎, page 115:

     […] stretches of blowing sand and frequent changes in course of its distributaries, does not have the dense population characteristic of other alluvial districts in the Indian subcontinent.