slough Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun necrotic tissue; a mortified or gangrenous part or mass
    gangrene; sphacelus.
  2. noun a hollow filled with mud
  3. noun a stagnant swamp (especially as part of a bayou)
  4. noun any outer covering that can be shed or cast off (such as the cast-off skin of a snake)
  5. verb cast off hair, skin, horn, or feathers
    moult; exuviate; shed; molt.
    • our dog sheds every Spring

WordNet

Slough adjective
Definitions
  1. Slow. Obs. Chaucer.
Slough noun
Etymology
OE. slogh, slough, AS. sl&omac;h a hollow place; cf. MHG. sl&umac;ch an abyss, gullet, G. schlucken to swallow; also Gael. & Ir. sloc a pit, pool. ditch, Ir. slug to swallow. Gr. to hiccough, to sob.
Definitions
  1. A place of deep mud or mire; a hole full of mire. Chaucer.
    He's here stuck in a slough. Milton.
  2. A wet place; a swale; a side channel or inlet from a river. In this sense local or provincial; also spelt sloo, and slue.
Slough
Definitions
obs.
  1. imp. of Slee, to slay. Slew. Chaucer.
Slough noun
Etymology
OE. slugh, slouh; cf. MHG. slch the skin of a serpent, G. schlauch a skin, a leather bag or bottle.
Definitions
  1. The skin, commonly the cast-off skin, of a serpent or of some similar animal.
  2. (Med.) The dead mass separating from a foul sore; the dead part which separates from the living tissue in mortification.
Slough intransitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Sloughed ; present participle & verbal noun Sloughing
Definitions
  1. (Med.) 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 transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To cast off; to discard as refuse.
    New tint the plumage of the birds, And slough decay from grazing herds. Emerson.

Webster 1913