Sekirov Dictionary

slough

/slaʊ/

noun 5
/slʌf/ verb 4
/slʌf/ noun 2
forms 3
phrases 1

noun5

•
A marshy or muddy area.
- "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. — 1881
•
(Southern-US) 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.
•
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.
•
A state of depression.
- John is in a slough.
•
(US) 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.

slough

/slʌf/

verb4

•
To shed skin or outer layers.
- This skin is being sloughed.
- Snakes slough their skin periodically.
•
To slide off or flake off, as an outer layer, such as skin, might do.
- A week after he was burned, a layer of skin on his arm sloughed off.
•
To discard.
- East sloughed a heart.
(US, slang) To commit truancy, be absent from school without permission.

noun2

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

forms

sloughed · sloughing · sloughs

Phrases with slough

slough off
To discard something useless or unwanted.

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