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Slough

//slʌf// name, noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Proper Noun

1
A town in east Berkshire, England (formerly Buckinghamshire), close to Heathrow Airport.
2
A unitary authority and borough of Berkshire, the Slough Borough Council.

Noun

1
The skin shed by a snake or other reptile. countable, uncountable
"That is the slough of a rattler; we must be careful."
2
A marshy or muddy area.
""That comed - as you call it - of being arrant asses," retorted the doctor, "and not having sense enough to know honest air from poison, and the dry land from a vile, pestiferous slough."
3
any outer covering that can be shed or cast off (such as the cast-off skin of a snake) wordnet
4
Dead skin on a sore or ulcer. countable, uncountable
"This is the slough that came off of his skin after the burn."
5
A type of swamp or shallow lake system, typically formed as or by the backwater of a larger waterway, similar to a bayou with trees. Northern-US, Southern-US
"We paddled under a canopy of trees through the slough."

Show 6 more definitions

6
a stagnant swamp (especially as part of a bayou) wordnet
7
A secondary channel of a river delta, usually flushed by the tide. US, Western
"The Sacramento River Delta contains dozens of sloughs that are often used for water-skiing and fishing."
8
a hollow filled with mud wordnet
9
A state of depression.
"John is in a slough."
10
necrotic tissue; a mortified or gangrenous part or mass wordnet
11
A small pond, often alkaline, many but not all formed by glacial potholes. Canadian-Prairies
"Potholes or sloughs formed by a glacier’s retreat from the central plains of North America, are now known to be some of the world’s most productive ecosystems."

Verb

1
To shed skin or outer layers. transitive
"This skin is being sloughed."
2
cast off hair, skin, horn, or feathers wordnet
3
To slide off or flake off, as an outer layer, such as skin, might do. intransitive
"A week after he was burned, a layer of skin on his arm sloughed off."
4
To discard. transitive
"East sloughed a heart."
5
To commit truancy, be absent from school without permission. US, Western, intransitive, slang

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English slogh, slugh, slouh, from Proto-Germanic *sluk-, perhaps related to *sleupaną (“to slip, sneak”) (compare Gothic 𐍃𐌻𐌹𐌿𐍀𐌰𐌽 (sliupan)). Akin to Middle Low German slô (“sheath, skin on a hoof”). Perhaps also related with Old Saxon slūk (“snakeskin”), Middle High German slūch, whence German Schlauch (“waterskin, hose”).

Etymology 2

Etymology 3

From Middle English slough (“muddy place; swamp; mire”), Old English slōh, probably from Proto-Germanic *slōhaz.

Etymology 4

From Middle English Slo, perhaps related to the noun slough (“marsh”) (referring to the land) or to sloe (referring to bushes).

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