slough

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)The skin shed by a snake or other reptile.

   “That is the slough of a rattler; we must be careful.”

   “And without more ado she stood up and shook the white wrappings from her, and came forth shining and splendid like some glittering snake when she has cast her slough; ay, and fixed her wonderful eyes upon me - more deadly than any Basilisk's - and pierced me through and through with their beauty, and sent her light laugh ringing through the air like chimes of silver bells.”

2. (countable, uncountable)Dead skin on a sore or ulcer.

   “This is the slough that came off of his skin after the burn.”

3. A marshy or muddy area.

   “"That comed - as you call it - of being arrant asses," retorted the doctor, "and not having sense enough to know honest air from poison, and the dry land from a vile, pestiferous slough.”

4. (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.

   “We paddled under a canopy of trees through the slough.”

   “At that time I had no staff officer who could be trusted with that duty. In the woods, at a short distance below the clearing, I found a depression, dry at the time, but which at high water became a slough or bayou.”

5. (US, Western)A secondary channel of a river delta, usually flushed by the tide.

   “The Sacramento River Delta contains dozens of sloughs that are often used for water-skiing and fishing.”

6. A state of depression.

   “John is in a slough.”

7. (Canadian-Prairies)A small pond, often alkaline, many but not all formed by glacial potholes.

   “Potholes or sloughs formed by a glacier’s retreat from the central plains of North America, are now known to be some of the world’s most productive ecosystems.”

verb

1. (transitive)To shed skin or outer layers.

   “This skin is being sloughed.”

   “Snakes slough their skin periodically.”

   “When Harper came back into the infirmary of the Hyperion, Alec was laboriously trying to pull on his pants. His burned skin had healed over the intervening day, the damaged layer sloughed off and quickly replaced thanks to SAM’s efforts, but the buildup of waste products in Alec’s body from the accelerated healing had left him with sore muscles and achy joints.”

2. (intransitive)To slide off or flake off, as an outer layer, such as skin, might do.

   “A week after he was burned, a layer of skin on his arm sloughed off.”

   “The mud sloughed off her palms easily […]”

   “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.”

   “An avalanche sloughing off a Utah mountainside killed a state Department of Transportation avalanche forecaster while he was surveying snow levels near a popular winter recreation area, authorities reported.”

3. (transitive)To discard.

   “East sloughed a heart.”

4. (US, Western, intransitive, slang)To commit truancy, be absent from school without permission.

name

1. A town in east Berkshire, England (formerly Buckinghamshire), close to Heathrow Airport.
2. A unitary authority and borough of Berkshire, the Slough Borough Council.