Definition of "slough off" []

• Discard as undesirable (verb)
• Separate from surrounding living tissue, as in an abortion (verb)

WordNet. Princeton University. 2010.

• "At night in his cabin, Jellicoe did what he could to slough off the weight of responsibility by reading thrillers “of a particularly lurid description.”"
• "We will have to slough off bad habits - like driving gas guzzlers that weaken our ecomony and feed our enemies abroad."