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

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

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 29, 2025

Meaning, they tried to blast each other with powder, basically slough a mini avalanche or powder storm on top of each other.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 1, 2024

It probably gets into the water as bits slough off when the bottle is squeezed or gets exposed to heat.

From Science Daily • Jan. 8, 2024

Varon describes her famously mercurial subject as “gloomy” and “in a funk,” struggling to “fight his way out of his slough of despond,” harboring “a fatalistic despair.”

From Slate • Nov. 20, 2023

I had invented a quill pen out of a peacock feather, but stopped writing with it when I saw that it waved like a one-eyed slough plant.

From "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston