slough
4
8.9
- noun
- /slʌf/
- US
:
pantano
- To Maggie's relief, the bus got stuck here, in an awesome slough where some kind of quicksand lurked at the bottom of a puddle twenty yards long.
- marshes and sloughs
Examples
-
After heavy rain, the slough overflowed, creating a shallow lake that attracted many birds.
-
The hikers enjoyed the peaceful scenery as they walked along the quiet slough filled with wildflowers.
-
In a runoff slough near Lake Mead.
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Pop says he spotted catfish hunter down at Indian slough.
-
On those drives, whenever she parked near a slough, the air smelled both fetid and sweet.
Fiction book (1994) -
Most years, only the marshes near deep sloughs hold water year-round.
Academic text (1994) -
Yet no matter where she stopped, by which slough or riverbed, she always saw a tall, blue egret wading near one of the banks.
Fiction book (1994) -
The birds, busy fishing along a narrow slough (that is also filled with alligators), ignore the many visitors.
Academic text (2006) -
A few years before us, a DI marched a platoon into one of the saltwater sloughs on the island.
Fiction book (1998) -
Dry ridges and wet sloughs are protected by mangrove trees that marvelously adjusted to this particular swampy location.
Academic text (2004)
Synonyms
2
8.5
Soft wet ground that gives way under your feet
1
8.6
A soft wet area of low land that sinks underfoot
A small stream or marshy channel in a field
An area of ground filled with water and very soft to walk on
Compounds
How Marshy
Surface Forms
Etymology
Slough comes from an old English word for 'mud' or 'mire', so imagine a place of wet, sticky ground; a helpful way to remember it is to think of 'slimy' earth. That's why a slough is a swampy, muddy area.