slough

Word family

1 slough something ↔ off phrasal verbphr v

a) technicalHB to get rid of a dead layer of skin 蜕〔皮〕，脱〔皮〕

b) GET RID OF literary to get rid of something, especially something that is damaging you 抛弃，摆脱，消除〔尤指于己不利的东西〕

The president wanted to slough off the country’s bad image.

总统想消除国家的不良形象。

Examples from the Corpus

slough• Pieces of the bowel or stomach wall may slough off in diarrhea.• After sloughing off Payless, May could turn its attention to acquisitions, possibly of other department stores, analysts said.• It is this cheapness which I am endeavouring to slough off.• The edges are frayed, with the ends sloughing off.

Related topics: Geography

1 SITUATION[singular] literary a bad situation or a state of sadness that you cannot get out of easily 困境；深渊

slough of

Harry was in a slough of despondency for weeks.

哈里几个星期来都陷在沮丧的深渊里。

2. [countableC]SG an area of land covered in deep dirty water or mud 泥沼，沼泽，泥坑

Examples from the Corpus

slough• Many commentators now believed that Kasparov was finished, that psychologically he could not recover from such a slough of despond.• It was seen as an anarchic slough of disorder and despair.• Now the steps end in a kind of stagnant slough.

Origin slough1

(1700-1800) slough “dead skin of an animal” ((14-21 centuries)), of unknown origin

slough2

Old English sloh

Chinese

Corpus