Definition of "cutwater" []

• The forward part of a ship's prow. (noun)
• The wedge-shaped end of a bridge pier, designed to divide the current and break up ice floes. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "It was deep water, and a slight ripple under what might be termed the cutwater of the tree indicated a movement."
• "a makeshift devised when proper caulking is impossible; cutwater, which is not only a bird but the bow of a ship, or a rope or cable in front of it, or a construction on the upstream side of a bridge; and halyard, the rope that hauls up a sail -- sails having been attached to yardarms when ships were square-rigged."
• "In the stern the motor chugged on easily; at the bows I heard the tinkling ripple from the cutwater."