From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsloughslough1 /slʌf/ verb → slough something ↔ off→ See Verb table
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.sloughslough2 /slaʊ $ sluː, slaʊ/ noun 1 SITUATION[singular] literary a bad situation or a state of sadness that you cannot get out of easilyslough of Harry was in a slough of despondency for weeks.2 [countable]SG an area of land covered in deep dirty water or mudExamples 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 