SLOUGH Definition & Meaning

View synonyms for

slough

or sluff

[ sluhf ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

the outer layer of the skin of a snake, which is cast off periodically.
Pathology. a mass or layer of dead tissue separated from the surrounding or underlying tissue.
anything that is shed or cast off.
Cards. a discard.

verb (used without object)

to be or become shed or cast off, as the slough of a snake.
to cast off a slough.
Synonyms:
Pathology. to separate from the sound flesh, as a slough.
Cards. to discard a card or cards.

verb (used with object)

to dispose or get rid of; cast (often followed by off ):
to slough off a bad habit.
to shed as or like a slough.
Cards. to discard (cards).

verb phrase

to treat as slight or trivial:
to slough over a friend's mistake.

slough

[ slou, sloo ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

a swamp or swamplike region.
Also slew, slue. Northern U.S. and Canada. a usually shallow and slow-moving marshy or reedy body of water, such as one that provides drainage; wetland.
a hole full of mud or wet soil, such as one in a road.
a condition of degradation, despair, or helplessness:
Exercise was one thing that helped to lift me out of the slough of depression.

Slough

/ ��ʊ /

noun

an industrial town in SE central England, in Slough unitary authority, Berkshire; food products, high-tech industries. Pop: 126 276 (2001)
a unitary authority in SE central England, in Berkshire. Pop: 118 800 (2003 est). Area: 28 sq km (11 sq miles)

slough

/ ��ʊ /

noun

a hollow filled with mud; bog
��ː
1. (in the prairies) a large hole where water collects or the water in such a hole
2. (in the northwest) a sluggish side channel of a river
3. (on the Pacific coast) a marshy saltwater inlet
despair or degradation

slough

/ ��ʌ�� /

noun

any outer covering that is shed, such as the dead outer layer of the skin of a snake, the cellular debris in a wound, etc
Alsosluff bridge a discarded card

verb

often foll by off to shed (a skin, etc) or (of a skin, etc) to be shed
Alsosluff bridge to discard (a card or cards)

slough

/ ��ŭ�� /

Noun

The dead outer skin shed by a reptile or an amphibian.

Verb

To shed an outer layer of skin.

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Derived Forms

ˈ��ǳܲ��, adjective
ˈ��ǳܲ��, adjective

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Other �y��vlog Forms

��ǳܲ��i·�Ա�� noun
��ǳܲ��y adjective
�ܲ�·��ǳܲ�� adjective
�ܲ�·��ǳܲ��i�Բ� adjective

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of slough¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English slough, slugh(e), slouh “skin of a snake”; cognate with Low German sluwe, slu “husk, peel,” German Schlauch “skin, wineskin, bag”

Origin of slough²

First recorded before 900; Middle English slough(e), slouh(e) “muddy place, mud hole,” Old English ��ōh, ��ōg; cognate with Middle Low German ��ō��, Middle High German sluoche “ditch”; further origin uncertain

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of slough¹

Old English ��ō��; related to Middle High German sluoche ditch, Swedish slaga swamp

Origin of slough²

C13: of Germanic origin; compare Middle Low German ��ū husk, German Schlauch hose, Norwegian ��ō fleshy part of a horn

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Rather than correct them, Liz decides to keep up the pretense — no great stretch for someone so used to sloughing off and trying on one alias after another.

From

The MS Aurora, a 70-year-old cruise ship that inspired TV’s ‘The Love Boat,’ sits abandoned in a slough outside Stockton.

From

Aiello, who has monitored environmental conditions at the slough for more than a decade, said he was shocked by the results.

From

But consider adding on a scrub and sloughing off a layer or two of skin — it’s my favorite way to enter the new year.

From

At a time when capitulating to the mainstream was regarded as selling out, R.E.M.’s move to a major label stung, as if the band had sloughed off its loyalists for the teeming masses.

From

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