slough2

verb

• 1 [with object] (usually slough something off) shed or remove (a layer of dead skin):a snake sloughs off its old skin exfoliate once a week to slough off any dry skin
• get rid of (something undesirable or no longer required):he is concerned to slough off the country’s bad environmental image
• [no object] (slough off) (of dead skin) drop off; be shed: it is a rare skin disease in which the skin sloughs off

• 2 [no object] (slough away/down) (of soil or rock) collapse or slide into a hole or depression: an eternal rain of silt sloughs down from the edges of the continents

noun

• the dropping off of dead tissue from living flesh:the drugs can cause blistering and slough