slough
/slʌf/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.06 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
1
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To commit truancy, be absent from school without permission.
American usage; Intransitive verb; Slang
Example Sentences
- "That is the slough of a rattler; we must be careful."
- "And without more ado she stood up and shook the white wrappings from her, and came forth shining and splendid like some glittering snake when she has cast her slough; ay, and fixed her wonderful eyes upon me - more deadly than any Basilisk's - and pierced me through and through with their beauty, and sent her light laugh ringing through the air like chimes of silver bells."
- "This is the slough that came off of his skin after the burn."
- "This skin is being sloughed."
- "Snakes slough their skin periodically."
- "When Harper came back into the infirmary of the Hyperion, Alec was laboriously trying to pull on his pants. His burned skin had healed over the intervening day, the damaged layer sloughed off and quickly replaced thanks to SAM’s efforts, but the buildup of waste products in Alec’s body from the accelerated healing had left him with sore muscles and achy joints."
Etymology
From Middle English slogh, slugh, slouh, from Proto-Germanic *sluk-, perhaps related to *sleupaną (“to slip, sneak”) (compare Gothic 𐍃𐌻𐌹𐌿𐍀𐌰𐌽 (sliupan)). Akin to Middle Low German slô (“sheath, skin on a hoof”). Perhaps also related with Old Saxon slūk (“snakeskin”), Middle High German slūch, whence German Schlauch (“waterskin, hose”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /slʌf/
- British English: /slʌf/