See also: Slough



Etymology 1Edit

From Middle English, akin to Middle High German slûch(slough) (whence German Schlauch(tube, hose)).

Alternative formsEdit



slough ‎(plural sloughs)

  1. The skin shed by a snake or other reptile.
  2. Dead skin on a sore or ulcer.


slough ‎(third-person singular simple present sloughs, present participle sloughing, simple past and past participle sloughed)

  1. (transitive) To shed (skin).
    This skin is being sloughed.
    Snakes slough their skin periodically.
  2. (intransitive) To slide off (like a layer of skin).
    • 2013, Casey Watson, Mummy’s Little Helper: The heartrending true story of a young girl:
      The mud sloughed off her palms easily []
  3. (transitive, card games) To discard.
    East sloughed a heart.
Derived termsEdit

Etymology 2Edit

From Old English slōh, probably from Proto-Germanic *slōhaz.



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slough ‎(plural sloughs)

  1. (Britain) A muddy or marshy area.
  2. (Eastern United States) 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.
    We paddled under a canopy of trees through the slough.
  3. (Western United States) A secondary channel of a river delta, usually flushed by the tide.
  4. A state of depression.
    John is in a slough.
  5. (Canadian Prairies) A small pond, often alkaline, many but not all formed by glacial potholes.
Derived termsEdit