Definition of "slough" [slough]

• A depression or hollow, usually filled with deep mud or mire. (noun)
• A stagnant swamp, marsh, bog, or pond, especially as part of a bayou, inlet, or backwater. (noun)
• A state of deep despair or moral degradation. (noun)
• The dead outer skin shed by a reptile or amphibian. (noun)
• Medicine A layer or mass of dead tissue separated from surrounding living tissue, as in a wound, sore, or inflammation. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "On Mitchell Slough, a part of the Bitterroot River, the billionaire discount broker Charles Schwab and the singer Huey Lewis have banded together with other landowners to argue that the slough is actually an irrigation ditch and shouldn't be open to the public."
• "We had a small stream, which we called a slough, that ran behind our house."
• "And, the B7 line, once it's on the other side of the slough, is measurably further away from wetlands and sensitive areas as well."