the.com/oxbow lake

means A curved, U-shaped lake formed when a looping river bend gets cut off from the main channel and left to sit on its own.

from Named for its shape, which mirrors the oxbow — the U-shaped wooden collar fitted under an ox's neck to hold it to the yoke. Rivers that meander across flat land loop back on themselves; when a loop's neck erodes through, the river takes the shortcut and abandons the curve, which silts up at both ends into a standalone lake still bent like that old piece of farm harness.