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Webster 1913 Edition

Slough

Slough

,
Adj.
Slow.
[Obs.]
Chaucer.

Slough

,
Noun.
[OE.
slogh
,
slough
, AS.
slōh
a hollow place; cf. MHG.
slūch
an abyss, gullet, G.
schlucken
to swallow; also Gael. & Ir.
sloc
a pit, pool. ditch, Ir.
slug
to swallow. Gr. [GREEK][GREEK][GREEK][GREEK][GREEK] to hiccough, to sob.]
1.
A place of deep mud or mire; a hole full of mire.
Chaucer.
He’s here stuck in a
slough
.
Milton.
2.
[Pronounced sloō.]
A wet place; a swale; a side channel or inlet from a river.
[In this sense local or provincial; also spelt
sloo
, and
slue
.]
Slough grass
(Bot.)
,
a name in the Mississippi valley for grasses of the genus
Muhlenbergia
; – called also
drop seed
, and
nimble Will
.

Slough

,
obs.
imp.
of
Slee
, to slay. Slew.
Chaucer.

Slough

,
Noun.
[OE.
slugh
,
slouh
; cf. MHG.
sl[GREEK]ch
the skin of a serpent, G.
schlauch
a skin, a leather bag or bottle.]
1.
The skin, commonly the cast-off skin, of a serpent or of some similar animal.
2.
(Med.)
The dead mass separating from a foul sore; the dead part which separates from the living tissue in mortification.

Slough

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Sloughed
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Sloughing
.]
(Med.)
To form a slough; to separate in the form of dead matter from the living tissues; – often used with off, or away;
as, a
sloughing
ulcer; the dead tissues
slough
off slowly.

Slough

,
Verb.
T.
To cast off; to discard as refuse.
New tint the plumage of the birds,
And
slough
decay from grazing herds.
Emerson.

Webster 1828 Edition

Slough

SLOUGH

,
Noun.
slou.
1.
A place of deep mud or mire; a hole full of mire.
2.
[pron. sluff.] The skin or cast skin of a serpent. [Its use for the skin in general, in Shakespeare, is not authorized.]
3.
[pron. sluff.] The part that separates from a foul sore. The dead part which separates from the living in mortification.

SLOUGH

,
Verb.
I.
sluff. To separate from the sound flesh; to come off; as the matter over a sore; a term in surgery.

Definition 2025

Slough

Slough

See also: slough

English

Proper noun

Slough

  1. A town in east Berkshire (formerly Buckinghamshire), close to Heathrow Airport

Anagrams

slough

slough

See also: Slough

English

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • enPR: slŭf, IPA(key): /slʌf/
  • Rhymes: -ʌf

Noun

slough ‎(plural sloughs)

  1. The skin shed by a snake or other reptile.
    That is the slough of a rattler; we must be careful.
  2. Dead skin on a sore or ulcer.
    This is the slough that came off of his skin after the burn.
Translations

Verb

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).
    A week after he was burned, a layer of skin on his arm sloughed off.
    • 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 terms
  • slough off
Translations

Etymology 2

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

Pronunciation

  • (Australia, UK):
    • enPR: slou, IPA(key): /slaʊ/
    • Rhymes: -aʊ
  • (US): enPR: slou, slo͞o, IPA(key): /slaʊ/, /sluː/
    • Rhymes: -aʊ
    • Rhymes: -uː

Noun

slough ‎(plural sloughs)

  1. (Britain) A muddy or marshy area.
    • 1883 "That comed - as you call it - of being arrant asses," retorted the doctor, "and not having sense enough to know honest air from poison, and the dry land from a vile, pestiferous slough. — Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
  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.
    The Sacramento River Delta contains dozens of sloughs that are often used for water-skiing and fishing.
  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.
    Potholes or sloughs formed by a glacier’s retreat from the central plains of North America, are now known to be some of the world’s most productive ecosystems.
Derived terms
Translations

Anagrams

Pronunciation

  • enPR: slou, IPA(key): /slaʊ/

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