In the 16th century, Turkish women could divorce their husbands if the man failed to keep his family’s pot filled with coffee.
slough
(noun) any outer covering that can be shed or cast off (such as the cast-off skin of a snake)
slough
(noun) a stagnant swamp (especially as part of a bayou)
slough
(noun) a hollow filled with mud
gangrene, sphacelus, slough
(noun) necrotic tissue; a mortified or gangrenous part or mass
shed, molt, exuviate, moult, slough
(verb) cast off hair, skin, horn, or feathers; “our dog sheds every Spring”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Slough
A town in east Berkshire, England (formerly Buckinghamshire), close to Heathrow Airport.
A borough and unitary authority (Slough Borough Council) in Berkshire.
• Loughs, ghouls, loughs
slough (countable and uncountable, plural sloughs)
The skin shed by a snake or other reptile.
Dead skin on a sore or ulcer.
slough (third-person singular simple present sloughs, present participle sloughing, simple past and past participle sloughed)
(transitive) To shed (skin).
(intransitive) To slide off (like a layer of skin).
(transitive, card games) To discard.
(intransitive, slang, Western US) To commit truancy, be absent from school without permission. (compare ditch)
slough (plural sloughs)
(British) A muddy or marshy area.
(Western United States) A secondary channel of a river delta, usually flushed by the tide.
A state of depression.
(Canadian Prairies) A small pond, often alkaline, many but not all formed by glacial potholes.
• Loughs, ghouls, loughs
Source: Wiktionary
Slough, a.
Definition: Slow. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Slough, n. Etym: [OE. slogh, slough, AS. sloh a hollow place; cf. MHG. sluch an abyss, gullet, G. schlucken to swallow; also Gael. & Ir. sloc a pit, pool. ditch, Ir. slug to swallow. Gr.
1. A place of deep mud or mire; a hole full of mire. Chaucer. He's here stuck in a slough. Milton.
2. [Pronounced sloo.]
Definition: A wet place; a swale; a side channel or inlet from a river.
Note: [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.
Definition: imp. of Slee, to slay. Slew. Chaucer.
Slough, n. Etym: [OE. slugh, slouh; cf. MHG. sl 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.)
Definition: The dead mass separating from a foul sore; the dead part which separates from the living tissue in mortification.
Slough, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Sloughed; p. pr. & vb. n. Sloughing.] (Med.)
Definition: 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, v. t.
Definition: To cast off; to discard as refuse. New tint the plumage of the birds, And slough decay from grazing herds. Emerson.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
22 February 2025
(noun) the use of closed-class words instead of inflections: e.g., ‘the father of the bride’ instead of ‘the bride’s father’
In the 16th century, Turkish women could divorce their husbands if the man failed to keep his family’s pot filled with coffee.