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• slough
  slough

  noun

  the outer layer of the skin of a snake, which is cast off periodically.
• Slough
  Slough

  noun

  an industrial town in SE central England, in Slough unitary authority, Berkshire; food products, high-tech industries. Pop: 126 276 (2001)

slough

¹ American  

[sluhf] / slʌf /

Or sluff

noun

1. the outer layer of the skin of a snake, which is cast off periodically.

2. Pathology. a mass or layer of dead tissue separated from the surrounding or underlying tissue.

3. anything that is shed or cast off.

4. Cards. a discard.

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verb (used without object)

1. to be or become shed or cast off, as the slough of a snake.

2. to cast off a slough.

   Synonyms:

   molt

3. Pathology. to separate from the sound flesh, as a slough.

4. Cards. to discard a card or cards.

verb (used with object)

1. to dispose or get rid of; cast (often followed byoff ).

   to slough off a bad habit.

2. to shed as or like a slough.

3. Cards. to discard (cards).

verb phrase

1. slough over to treat as slight or trivial.

   to slough over a friend's mistake.

slough ² American  

[slou, sloo] / slaʊ, slu /

noun

1. a swamp or swamplike region.

2. Northern U.S. and Canada. Also slew, slue a usually shallow and slow-moving marshy or reedy body of water, such as one that provides drainage; wetland.

3. a hole full of mud or wet soil, such as one in a road.

4. a condition of degradation, despair, or helplessness.

   Exercise was one thing that helped to lift me out of the slough of depression.

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slough ¹ British  

/ slaʊ /

noun

1. a hollow filled with mud; bog

2. 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

3. despair or degradation

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slough ² British  

/ slʌf /

noun

1. 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

2. Also: sluff.  bridge a discarded card

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verb

1. (often foll by off) to shed (a skin, etc) or (of a skin, etc) to be shed

2. Also: sluff.  bridge to discard (a card or cards)

Slough ³ British  

/ slaʊ /

noun

1. an industrial town in SE central England, in Slough unitary authority, Berkshire; food products, high-tech industries. Pop: 126 276 (2001)

2. a unitary authority in SE central England, in Berkshire. Pop: 118 800 (2003 est). Area: 28 sq km (11 sq miles)

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slough Scientific  

/ slŭf /

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

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1. To shed an outer layer of skin.

Other Word Forms

• sloughiness
  noun
• sloughy
  adjective
• unsloughed
  adjective
• unsloughing
  adjective

Etymology

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 slōh, slōg; cognate with Middle Low German slōch, Middle High German sluoche “ditch”; further origin uncertain

Explanation

When you slough, you get rid of the rough. To slough is to remove an outer layer, like filing dry skin from feet. You can slough away emotions too, like the heebie-jeebies you get thinking about dead skin from people's feet. Ew. Slough rhymes with "rough." It doesn't sound as though it'll give you a beautiful result, but when you slough away old skin, new skin appears. Snakes shed or slough off their skins as they grow and get rid of icky cells, and humans do the same, though fortunately we don't slough off one big skin as snakes do. Maybe it's best to slough off that mental image with a nicer one.

Example Sentences

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, Bracknell Forest, Slough, West Berkshire and Wokingham councils all said they will soon decide how to implement the Crisis and Resilience Fund.

From BBC • Apr. 8, 2026

On a visit to Slough, communities secretary Steve Reed said the scheme was "doing politics in a very different way".

From BBC • Mar. 20, 2026

There have also been reports of high surf near Half Moon Bay in San Francisco and some flooding in the Elkhorn Slough area in the northern part of Monterey County on Hwy 1.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 3, 2026

The butt-numbing hours will fly by like minutes when you immerse yourself in the TV adaptation of the first five of Mick Herron’s Slough House novels.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 10, 2025

At the end of the tour, he did not even want to pet the Slough of Vertigrin the Wise for good luck.

From "The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge" by M.T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin