Slough



GRE Barron

解释

GRE 红宝书

• v. ( 蛇等) 蜕皮; n. ( 蛇等) 蜕皮
• ［英］ v. ( 蛇等) 蜕皮 ( to cast off one's skin) ;
• ［类］ molt : bird / slough : snake ( 鸟脱羽 / 蛇脱皮)
• ［例］ Snakes slough annually

Webster Collegiate

I. noun

• Etymology: Middle English sloughe, slo, from Old English slōh; akin to Middle High German slouche ditch
• Date: before 12th century
• 1.
  • a. a place of deep mud or mire
  • b. (also slew) (or slue)
    • (1) swamp
    • (2) an inlet on a river; also backwater
    • (3) a creek in a marsh or tide flat
• 2. a state of moral degradation or spiritual dejection
• ? sloughy adjective

II. verb

• Date: 1846
• transitive verb
  • to engulf in a slough
• intransitive verb
  • to plod through or as if through mud ; slog

III. noun also sluff

• Etymology: Middle English slughe; akin to Middle High German slūch snakeskin
• Date: 14th century
• 1. the cast-off skin of a snake
• 2. a mass of dead tissue separating from an ulcer
• 3. something that may be shed or cast off

IV. verb also sluff

• Date: 1720
• intransitive verb
  • 1.
    • a. to become shed or cast off
    • b. to cast off one's skin
    • c. to separate in the form of dead tissue from living tissue
  • 2. to crumble slowly and fall away
• transitive verb
  • 1. to cast off
  • 2.
    • a. to get rid of or discard as irksome, objectionable, or disadvantageous — usually used with off
    • b. to dispose of (a losing card in bridge) by discarding
• Synonyms: see discard

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