slough1
verb /slʌf/
/slʌf/
Verb Forms
Phrasal Verbspresent simple I / you / we / they slough | /slʌf/ /slʌf/ |
he / she / it sloughs | /slʌfs/ /slʌfs/ |
past simple sloughed | /slʌft/ /slʌft/ |
past participle sloughed | /slʌft/ /slʌft/ |
-ing form sloughing | /ˈslʌfɪŋ/ /ˈslʌfɪŋ/ |
- to lose a layer of dead skin, etc.
- slough something a snake sloughing its skin
- slough something off Slough off dead skin cells by using a facial scrub.
Word OriginMiddle English (as a noun denoting a skin, especially the outer skin shed by a snake): perhaps related to Low German slu(we) ‘husk, peel’. The verb dates from the early 18th cent.