It flows roughly 6 miles (9.7 km) in a southeasterly direction from its source at Oxoboxo Lake to its confluence with the Thames.

[2] The Oxoboxo was an important source of water power during English colonial settlement and 19th-century European-American industrial development in Montville.

The earliest dam at Oxoboxo Lake was constructed in the 17th century; it has been rebuilt and increased in height several times since, reaching its current elevation in the 1880s.

Other historical names for the stream and alternative spellings of "Oxoboxo" include Abscubogset, Absubogsuck, Cochikuack Brook, Cokichiwake, Cokikuak, Cuchickuwock, Okeshoksee, Okseboksce, Oxopaugsuck, Oxyboxy, and Sawmill Brook.

Many are transliterations of the feature name in the Mohegan and other Algonquian languages of historical Native American tribes in the area.