headwater

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the source and uppermost part of a stream or river, often used in the plural headwaters

   The expedition followed the tributary toward the headwaters of the Amazon.

A compound of head, in the sense "origin or upper end," + water. English has used headwater and the more common plural headwaters for the small streams, springs, and upper reaches from which a larger river begins.

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