[slough] n [ME slogh, fr. OE sloh; akin to MHG slouche ditch] (bef. 12c) 1 a: a place of deep mud or mire b (1): swamp (2): an inlet on a river; also: backwater (3): a creek in a marsh or tide flat
2: a state of moral degradation or spiritual dejection -- sloughy adj
[2]slough vt (1846): to engulf in a slough ~ vi: to plod through or as if through mud: slog [3]slough also sluff n [ME slughe; akin to MHG sluch snakeskin] (14c) 1: the cast-off skin of a snake
2: a mass of dead tissue separating from an ulcer
3: something that may be shed or cast off [4]slough also sluff vi (1720) 1 a: to become shed or cast off b: to cast off one's skin c: to separate in the form of dead tissue from living tissue
2: to crumble slowly and fall away ~ vt 1: to cast off
2. a: to get rid of or discard as irksome, objectionable, or disadvantageous--usu. used with off b: to dispose of (a losing card in bridge) by discarding syn see discard