slough

Meanings

Noun

• The skin shed by a snake or other reptile.
• Dead skin on a sore or ulcer.
• A muddy or marshy area.
• 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.
• A secondary channel of a river delta, usually flushed by the tide.
• A state of depression.
• A small pond, often alkaline, many but not all formed by glacial potholes.

Verb

• To shed (skin).
• To slide off (like a layer of skin).
• To discard.
• To commit truancy, be absent from school without permission.

Origin

• From Middle English slogh, slugh, slouh. Akin to Middle Low German slô. Perhaps also related with Old Saxon slūk, Middle High German slūch, whence German Schlauch.
• From Old English slōh, probably from Proto-Germanic *slōhaz.