slough

== English == === Etymology 1 === From Middle English slogh, slugh, slouh, from Proto-Germanic *sluk-, perhaps related to *sleupaną (“to slip, sneak”) (compare Gothic 𐍃𐌻𐌹𐌿𐍀𐌰𐌽 (sliupan)). Akin to Middle Low German slô (“sheath, skin on a hoof”). Perhaps also related with Old Saxon slūk (“snakeskin”), Middle High German slūch, whence German Schlauch (“waterskin, hose”). ==== Alternative forms ==== sluff ==== Pronunciation ==== (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /slʌf/ (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA(key): /slɐf/ (Northern England) IPA(key): /slʊf/ Rhymes: -ʌf ==== Noun ==== slough (countable and uncountable, plural sloughs) The skin shed by a snake or other reptile. Dead skin on a sore or ulcer. ===== Translations ===== ==== Verb ==== slough (third-person singular simple present sloughs, present participle sloughing, simple past and past participle sloughed) (transitive) To shed skin or outer layers. (intransitive) To slide off or flake off, as an outer layer, such as skin, might do. 1944 United States. Bureau of Mines · War Minerals Report 386. Google books The adit penetrated the vug ... and at this level ... it was filled with material that had ... sloughed off the walls. (transitive, card games) To discard. (intransitive, slang, Western US) To commit truancy, be absent from school without permission. Synonym: ditch ===== Translations ===== ==== Derived terms ==== === Etymology 2 === From Middle English slough (“muddy place; swamp; mire”), Old English slōh, probably from Proto-Germanic *slōhaz. ==== Alternative forms ==== slue, slew ==== Pronunciation ==== (General Australian, UK): enPR: slou, IPA(key): /slaʊ/ Rhymes: -aʊ (US) enPR: slou, slo͞o, IPA(key): /slaʊ/, /sluː/ Rhymes: -aʊ, -uː ==== Noun ==== slough (plural sloughs) A marshy or muddy area. Alternative forms: slew, slue (both dialectal for /slu/ variant) (Northern US, Southern US) A type of swamp or shallow lake system, typically formed as or by the backwater of a larger waterway, similar to a bayou with trees. (Western US) 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. ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Translations ===== === Anagrams === Loughs, ghouls, loughs