cutwater

noun

1. The forward curve of the stem of a ship.

   “For two hours we laboured, Mahomed, Job, and I, who was supposed to be strong enough to pull against the two of them, on the bank, while Leo sat in the bow of the boat, and brushed away the weeds which collected round the cutwater with Mahomed's sword.”

2. The wedge of a bridge pier, that resists the flow of water and ice.

   “TARKA became one with the river, finding his course among the slimy stones so that his back was always covered. He rose beside the middle pier, whose cutwater was hidden by a faggot of flood sticks. Under the sticks was dimness, streaked and blurred with sunlight. Tarka hid and listened.”

3. A black skimmer; a sea bird of the species Rynchops niger, that flies low over the sea, "cutting" the water surface with its lower mandible to catch small fish.