Slough (?), a.
Slow.
[Obs.]
Chaucer.
© Webster 1913.
Slough (?), n. [OE. slogh, slough, AS. slōh a hollow place; cf. MHG. slūch an abyss, gullet, G. schlucken to swallow; also Gael. & Ir. sloc a pit, pool. ditch, Ir. slug to swallow. Gr. to hiccough, to sob.]
1.
A place of deep mud or mire; a hole full of mire.
Chaucer.
He's here stuck in a slough.
Milton.
2. [Pronounced slō.]
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 grass Bot., a name in the Mississippi valley for grasses of the genus Muhlenbergia; -- called also drop seed, and nimble Will.
© Webster 1913.
Slough, obs.
imp. of Slee, to slay. Slew.
Chaucer.
© Webster 1913.
Slough (?), n. [OE. slugh, slouh; cf. MHG. slch the skin of a serpent, G. schlauch a skin, a leather bag or bottle.]
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.
© Webster 1913.
Slough, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Sloughed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Sloughing.] 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.
© Webster 1913.
Slough, v. t.
To cast off; to discard as refuse.
New tint the plumage of the birds,
And slough decay from grazing herds.
Emerson.
© Webster 1913.