sloughed

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
slough1 /slaʊ/

▶noun

• 1 a swamp.

  ■ N. Amer. a muddy side channel or inlet.

• 2 a situation characterized by lack of progress or activity.

– derivatives
sloughy adjective.

– origin OE slōh, slō(g), of unknown origin.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
slough2 /slʌf/

▶verb

• 1 (of an animal, especially a snake) cast off or shed (an old skin).

• 2 (slough away/down) (of soil or rock) collapse or slide into a hole or depression.

▶noun the dropping off of dead tissue from living flesh.

– derivatives
sloughy adjective.

– origin ME (as n. denoting a skin, especially the outer skin shed by a snake): perh. rel. to Low Ger. slu(we) ‘husk, peel’.