towhead

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   US: a sandbar or low alluvial island in a river, often with trees or other vegetation growing on it

   The raft was hidden behind a wooded towhead in the river bend.

2. 2
   noun

   a person with very pale blond hair, or such hair itself

   The towhead stood out among the dark-haired children in the photograph.

A compound of tow + head. Tow is the pale, coarse fiber of flax or hemp, which prompted the blond-hair sense. In American river language, the image was transferred to a sandbar or low island whose pale sand or vegetation forms a visible head above the water.

Topics