washaway

plural washaways

1. AustraliaThe washing away of earth, a road, structure etc. by flood, or the channel caused by this.First known use 19th c.

   It was the giddy sight down the gullies below the twisting road which had been formed and re-formed from years of washaways, and now hung like fish gills, out over edges of the limestone substrata.

   2006, Alexis Wright, Carpentaria, Giramondo, published 2012, page 145

   1 more example

   The first report of damage was received at 5.45 a.m. on Monday, July 30, when there was a slight washaway of the bank on the down side of the line two miles north of Daviot station, and subsequently further damage was reported between Inverness and Daviot. Shortly afterwards, a washaway occurred on the line between Dunphail and Dava, and this route was closed to all traffic from 10.30 a.m. until 3.30 p.m.

   1956 October, “Summer Floods in Scotland”, in Railway Magazine, page 656

   Synonyms: washout