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slough

 [slou for 1, 2, 4; sloo for 3]   Origin

slough

1   [slou for 1, 2, 4; sloo for 3]
noun
1.
an area of soft, muddy ground; swamp or swamplike region.
2.
a hole full of mire, as in a road.
3.
Also, slew, slue. Northern U.S. and Canadian. a marshy or reedy pool, pond, inlet, backwater, or the like.
4.
a condition of degradation, despair, or helplessness.
Origin:
before 900; Middle English; Old English slōh; cognate with Middle Low German slōch, Middle High German sluoche ditch

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Slough is always a great word to know.
So is zedonk. Does it mean:
the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged

slough

2   [sluhf]
noun
1.
the outer layer of the skin of a snake, which is cast off periodically.
2.
Pathology. a mass or layer of dead tissue separated from the surrounding or underlying tissue.
3.
anything that is shed or cast off.
4.
Cards. a discard.
verb (used without object)
5.
to be or become shed or cast off, as the slough of a snake.
6.
to cast off a slough.
7.
Pathology. to separate from the sound flesh, as a slough.
8.
Cards. to discard a card or cards.
verb (used with object)
9.
to dispose or get rid of; cast (often followed by off): to slough off a bad habit.
10.
to shed as or like a slough.
11.
Cards. to discard (cards).
Verb phrase
12.
slough over, to treat as slight or trivial: to slough over a friend's mistake.
Also, sluff.

Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English slughe, slouh skin of a snake; cognate with German Schlauch skin, bag

Related forms
slough·i·ness, noun
slough·y, adjective
un·sloughed, adjective
un·slough·ing, adjective

Synonyms
6. molt.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
slough1 (slaʊ)
 
—n
1.  a hollow filled with mud; bog
2.  (US), (Canadian)
 a.  (in the prairies) a large hole where water collects or the water in such a hole
 b.  (in the northwest) a sluggish side channel of a river
 c.  (on the Pacific coast) a marshy saltwater inlet
3.  despair or degradation
 
[Old English slōh; related to Middle High German sluoche ditch, Swedish slaga swamp]
 
'sloughy1
 
—adj

slough2 (slʌf)
 
—n
1.  any outer covering that is shed, such as the dead outer layer of the skin of a snake, the cellular debris in a wound, etc
2.  bridge Also: sluff a discarded card
 
—vb
3.  (often foll by off) to shed (a skin, etc) or (of a skin, etc) to be shed
4.  bridge Also: sluff to discard (a card or cards)
 
[C13: of Germanic origin; compare Middle Low German slū husk, German Schlauch hose, Norwegian slō fleshy part of a horn]
 
'sloughy2
 
—adj

Slough (slaʊ)
 
—n
1.  an industrial town in SE central England, in Slough unitary authority, Berkshire; food products, high-tech industries. Pop: 126 276 (2001)
2.  a unitary authority in SE central England, in Berkshire. Pop: 118 800 (2003 est). Area: 28 sq km (11 sq miles)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

slough
"muddy place," O.E. sloh "soft, muddy ground," of uncertain origin, perhaps from P.Gmc. *slokhaz. Figurative use, e.g. of moral sunkenness or Bunyan's "Slough of Despond," attested from mid-13c.
EXPAND

slough
"to cast off" (as the skin of a snake or other animal), 1720, originally of diseased tissue, from M.E. noun slughe, slouh "shed skin of a snake" (c.1300), probably related to O.S. sluk "skin of a snake," M.H.G. sluch "snakeskin, wineskin," M.L.G. slu "husk, peel, skin," Ger. Schlauch "wineskin;" from
P.Gmc. *sluk-, of uncertain origin, perhaps from PIE base *sleug- "to glide."
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

slough (slŭf)
n.
A layer or mass of dead tissue separated from surrounding living tissue, as in a wound, a sore, or an inflammation. v. sloughed, slough·ing, sloughs
To separate from surrounding living tissue. Used of dead tissue.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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American Heritage
Science Dictionary
slough   (slŭf)  Pronunciation Key 
Noun   The dead outer skin shed by a reptile or an amphibian.

Verb   To shed an outer layer of skin.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary

sluff (off) definition


and slough (off)
  1. in.
    to waste time; to goof off. : Watch him. He will sluff off if you don't keep after him.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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