slough 1
/slow/ for 1, 2, 4; /slooh/ for 3 , n.
1. an area of soft, muddy ground; swamp or swamplike region.
2. a hole full of mire, as in a road.
3. Also, slew, slue . Northern U.S. and Canadian. a marshy or reedy pool, pond, inlet, backwater, or the like.
4. a condition of degradation, despair, or helplessness.
[ bef. 900; ME; OE sloh; c. MLG sloch, MHG sluoche ditch ]
slough 2
— sloughiness , n. — sloughy , adj.
/sluf/ , n.
1. the outer layer of the skin of a snake, which is cast off periodically.
2. Pathol. a mass or layer of dead tissue separated from the surrounding or underlying tissue.
3. anything that is shed or cast off.
4. Cards. a discard.
v.i.
5. to be or become shed or cast off, as the slough of a snake.
6. to cast off a slough.
7. Pathol. to separate from the sound flesh, as a slough.
8. Cards. to discard a card or cards.
v.t.
9. to dispose or get rid of; cast (often fol. by off ): to slough off a bad habit.
10. to shed as or like a slough.
11. Cards. to discard (cards).
12. slough over , to treat as slight or trivial: to slough over a friend's mistake.
Also, sluff .
[ 1250-1300; ME slughe, slouh skin of a snake; c. G Schlauch skin, bag ]
Syn. 6. molt.