slough
1or sluff
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.
to be or become shed or cast off, as the slough of a snake.
to cast off a slough.
Pathology. to separate from the sound flesh, as a slough.
Cards. to discard a card or cards.
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).
slough over, to treat as slight or trivial: to slough over a friend's mistake.
Origin of slough
1Other words for slough
Other words from slough
- slough·i·ness, noun
- sloughy, adjective
- un·sloughed, adjective
- un·slough·ing, adjective
Words Nearby slough
Other definitions for slough (2 of 2)
an area of soft, muddy ground; swamp or swamplike region.
a hole full of mire, as in a road.
Also slew, slue .Northern U.S. and Canadian. a marshy or reedy pool, pond, inlet, backwater, or the like.
a condition of degradation, despair, or helplessness.
Origin of slough
2Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use slough in a sentence
slough away dead skin cells, dirt, and impurities with this powerful daily peel.
Skincare gifts that are actually worth the splurge | Rachel Feltman | November 18, 2021 | Popular-ScienceA few years after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, it’s still strictly segregated between Catholics and Protestants and stuck in an economic slough so old it’s covered in mold.
We lived on the Old West Side near Lake Sacajawea, which was nothing more than a dredged-out slough full of carp and muskrat.
In Sydney it was across the Harbor, in London it was outside the city in Basildon or slough.
He forces a patient to submit to radiation therapy, even as it makes her skin slough off her body.
American Dreams, 1993: The Road to Wellville by T. Coraghessan Boyle | Nathaniel Rich | October 30, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
A week after the inauguration, his wife, Lady Bird, watched with worry as a “slough of despond” surrounded her husband.
They would get weird diseases where the flesh on their faces would slough off.
He began to be afraid lest he might be overwhelmed in this slough of a petty, useless, and vicious existence.
The Life & Letters of Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky | Modeste TchaikovskyBecause he had sunk into the slough of despond, he would be heedless of the mud that gathered on his garments.
Julian Home | Dean Frederic W. Farrar"It sounds pretty bad," admitted Heavy, coming out of her momentary slough of despond.
Ruth Fielding At College | Alice B. EmersonShe had taken us up in her great strong arms and carried us over the slough of difficulty, turning the whole tide in our favor.
The Boys of '61 | Charles Carleton Coffin.The most subtly painted serpent casts ultimately its slough.
Sinister Street, vol. 1 | Compton Mackenzie
British Dictionary definitions for slough (1 of 3)
/ (slaʊ) /
a hollow filled with mud; bog
(sluː) US and Canadian
(in the prairies) a large hole where water collects or the water in such a hole
(in the northwest) a sluggish side channel of a river
(on the Pacific coast) a marshy saltwater inlet
despair or degradation
Origin of slough
1Derived forms of slough
- sloughy, adjective
British Dictionary definitions for slough (2 of 3)
/ (slʌf) /
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
Also: sluff bridge a discarded card
(often foll by off) to shed (a skin, etc) or (of a skin, etc) to be shed
Also: sluff bridge to discard (a card or cards)
Origin of slough
2Derived forms of slough
- sloughy, adjective
British Dictionary definitions for Slough (3 of 3)
/ (slaʊ) /
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)
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for slough
[ slŭf ]
The dead outer skin shed by a reptile or an amphibian.
To shed an outer layer of skin.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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