Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Anabranch \An"a*branch\, n. [Anastomosing + branch.]
   A branch of a river that re["e]nters, or anastomoses with,
   the main stream; also, less properly, a branch which loses
   itself in sandy soil. [Australia]

         Such branches of a river as after separation reunite, I
         would term anastomosing branches; or, if a word might
         be coined, anabranches, and the islands they form
         branch islands.                          --Col.
                                                  Jackson.