SLOUGH

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


Proper noun

Slough

A town in east Berkshire, England (formerly Buckinghamshire), close to Heathrow Airport.

A borough and unitary authority (Slough Borough Council) in Berkshire.

Anagrams

• Loughs, ghouls, loughs

Etymology 1

Noun

slough (countable and uncountable, plural sloughs)

The skin shed by a snake or other reptile.

Dead skin on a sore or ulcer.

Verb

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)

Etymology 2

Noun

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.

Anagrams

• 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



RESET




Word of the Day

22 January 2025

MEGALITH

(noun) memorial consisting of a very large stone forming part of a prehistoric structure (especially in western Europe)


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Coffee Trivia

The expression “coffee break” was first attested in 1952 in glossy magazine advertisements by the Pan-American Coffee Bureau.

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