1. n. a swamp; a miry place; a quagmire.
Phrases and idioms:
Slough of Despond a state of hopeless depression (with ref. to Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress).
Derivatives:
sloughy adj.
Etymology: OE sloh, slo(g) 2. n. & v.
--n.
1. a part that an animal casts or moults, esp. a snake's cast skin.
2 dead tissue that drops off from living flesh etc.
3 a habit etc. that has been abandoned.
--v.
1. tr. cast off as a slough.
2 intr. (often foll. by off) drop off as a slough.
3 intr. cast off a slough.
4 intr. (often foll. by away, down) (of soil, rock, etc.) collapse or slide into a hole or depression.
Derivatives:
sloughy adj.
Etymology: ME, perh. rel. to LG slu(we) husk