sloughing


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slough 1

 (slo͞o, slou) also slew (slo͞o)
n.
1. A depression or hollow, usually filled with deep mud or mire.
2. also slue A swamp, marsh, bog, or pond, especially as part of a bayou, inlet, or backwater.
3. A state of deep despair or moral degradation.
[Middle English, from Old English slōh.]
slough′y adj.

slough 2

 (slŭf)
n.
1. The dead outer skin shed by a reptile or amphibian.
2. Medicine A layer or mass of dead tissue separated from surrounding living tissue, as in a wound, sore, or inflammation.
3. An outer layer or covering that is shed or removed.
v. sloughed, slough·ing, sloughs
v.intr.
1. To be cast off or shed; come off: "smooth fallen branches from which all bark has sloughed" (David M. Carroll).
2. To shed a slough: every time that a snake sloughs.
3. Medicine To separate from surrounding living tissue. Used of dead tissue.
v.tr.
1. To cast off or shed (skin or a covering): came inside and sloughed off his coat.
2. To discard or disregard as undesirable or unfavorable: sloughed off her misgivings.
Phrasal Verb:
slough off
Slang To work less intensely than is required or expected.
[Middle English slughe; akin to Middle High German slūch, sluoch , sloughed off snake skin (Modern German Schlauch, hose, tire tube).]

Slough

 (slou)
A borough of southeast England, a residential and industrial suburb of London.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.sloughing - the process whereby something is shedsloughing - the process whereby something is shed
shedding
abscission - shedding of flowers and leaves and fruit following formation of scar tissue in a plant
ecdysis, molt, molting, moult, moulting - periodic shedding of the cuticle in arthropods or the outer skin in reptiles
biological process, organic process - a process occurring in living organisms
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
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References in periodicals archive ?
They open up new options in ESD applications where very high heat resistance and absence of sloughing are critical, such as hard-disk drives.
Steel-fiber ESD grades now include PEEK, PPS. (Materials)
Transnasal esophagoscopy detected an area of severe inflammation and circumferential sloughing of the mucosa in the middle portion of the esophagus, 24 cm from the nasal vestibule (figure, B).
Dilation of an esophageal stricture caused by epidermolysis bullosa. (Esophagoscopy Clinic)

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