Please answer before reading others’ responses. And include, if you will, from where in the world you learned what it is. No dictionaries allowed! This word seems to have different meanings in different places.
My definition and place:
Slough: A side channel to a river, under the influence of tide waters. Place: southern Oregon coast, USA.
I thought it was a city in England. I live in Arizona, USA and I think I learned the word from a list of cities which a former company I worked for had an office.
Pronounced “slew”? I have no idea. I would pronounce it “sluff” and use it to mean the shedding of an outer layer.
Same as the OP, raised in California-SF Bay Area.
Doesn’t mean anything to me. Slough pronounced “sluff” means to shed.
My English friend pronounces that city to rhyme with “plough”.
A small pond, usually just a low spot in a field with standing water after spring melt. May or may not contain water year round.
Western Canada
Pronounced “sluff”, means to shed, like a snake’s skin.
I learned it from my Canadian* grandfather as a body of water. Not entirely clear what kind: I think of it as still water, like a temporary pond or lake. Slough “sluff” is the snake thing, “slew” is the water. ETA: Almost exactly what Gorsnak said, and I didn’t even see his (her?) comment on preview.
*Western Canada (Sask – Alberta)
Sort of ditto the OP.
Tallahassee, FL
We have many around here including Munson Slough, but none of them are “under the influence of tide waters”. Most are side waters off rivers (too far up for tide to be an issue) or lakes.
A creek.
Sacramento, CA.
It’s a common word around here in gold country.
ETA: Looks like I was wrong about the definition, but I knew it was some kind of watery thing.
I had a vague idea it was a marshy area, but that’s from reading the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, um, many years ago. Never heard it outside that context. Midwest, US.
I’ve heard it to mean peel off and fall away, such as a snake sloughing its skin. I think I’ve heard it to mean slacking off or being lazy. And lastly, I seem to remember it being used in Pilgrim’s Progress, via Little Women, as “the Slough of Despond”, which always made me think of a swampy area with mud so thick you can get stuck and sink in it.
Other than the last, I don’t recall where else I’ve heard the word.
What he said.
Swampy thing.
If it rhymed with plough, I would’ve gone with the town. In fact, that’s how I thought it was always pronounced , I’ve only seen it written (not a native English speaker).
I thought it meant a valley. I seem to recall a slough of despair or something in Pilgrim’s Progress. I’ve heard of the British city also. A company I worked for in the eighties had a development center there.
Since this is more of a poll than a factual question, it’s better suited for IMHO.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Pronounced “slew.” Low lying stagnant ponds of accumulated drainage from groundwater or other bodies of water.
Shedding of skin, like a snake. Pronounced “sloff.” Also slang for being lazy, as in “sloughed off.” Grew up in West Texas.
From where did you learn that?