Middle English Dictionary Entry
slough n.(2)
Entry Info
| Forms | slough n.(2) Also slouȝ(e, slouh, slou, slogh(e, slugh(e, slught, (?correct reading) sloughte, (errors) slohu, sowche; pl. slouȝhes, sloȝis, slughes. |
| Etymology | Cp. MLG slū, slō husk, shell, peel & MHG slūch. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) A skin covering a body, the skin; fig. a covering; (b) the skin of a serpent, an eel, etc. [in the Titus & V. quot. the scribe who wrote the vr. slyme may have construed the slough of his exemplar as slough n.(1)]; also, the cocoon of a silkworm; also, a scale of a serpent; (c) a morbid vesicle, cyst; (d) a husk, rind; ?also, the cup of an acorn [1st quot.].
Associated quotations
a
- c1400 PConsc.(Sim)520 : Slouh [vr. slow; Glb & Hrl: Bot a rym þat es ful wlatsome..es noght bot a blody skyn Þat he byfor was lapped in].
- c1450(?a1400) Wars Alex.(Ashm 44)4456 : Þus make ȝe vessels in vayne to ȝoure foule corses..Þat ilk slymand slugh.
- c1450 Earth(3) (Cmb Ii.4.9)33/40 : Erthe may of erth at þe last take a fowle, When erth is in erthe here so long in his slogh.
- a1500(a1400) Ipom.(1) (Chet 8009)663 : To that grette hertte gon is hee And seruyd hym full right; He lacys the sowche [?read: slowche], to fede the hounde.
- a1500(a1460) Towneley Pl.(Hnt HM 1)128/385 : I was flayd with a swevyn, My hart out of sloghe [rime: Enoghe].
b
- a1400(a1325) Cursor (Vsp A.3)745 : Þis nedder forth þat he ne blan, Bot in hijs slught [Frf: slughe; Göt: slohu; Trin-C: slouȝe] was self satan.
- ?c1425 Chauliac(2) (Paris angl.25)634/14 : Take..of rawe silk and proprely of þe wormes flokke or slogh ikytte smalle.
- a1450(a1400) Titus & V.(Add 36523)2542 : He stoode up all hole..And as a slough [vrr. Þe yvel as a slouȝ; And as it were slyme; And al his sore] gan from hym fall, He bicam clene.
- c1450(?a1400) Wars Alex.(Ashm 44)5085 : Fellis of fischis..with lions on lyue & lamprays sloȝis.
- ?c1475 *Cath.Angl.(Add 15562)116a : A Slughe of A neder: scama, Squama, Squamula.
- 1483 Cath.Angl.(Monson 168)345 : Slughes of eddyrs: exemie, idimia.
c
- ?c1425 Chauliac(2) (Paris angl.25)118/34 : Smyte þe exiture..til it vanysche away and til þe ynner sloghe [*Ch.(1): kist; L chiscis] be wasted.
- ?c1425 Chauliac(2) (Paris angl.25)149/15 : Kytte þe skyn and vnflesche it and drawe it [aposteme] oute altogedre wiþ his slogh [*Ch.(1): huske; L flosculo].
d
- ?c1425 Chauliac(2) (Paris angl.25)499/25 : Put þerto a litel ventose or slowȝhes or huskes of akornes [*Ch.(1): an acorne cupule; L cupula glandium] imade hote.
- a1500 Add.37075 Gloss (Add 37075)78/314a : Folliculus: a sluthe.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
- c1500 King & H.(Ashm 61:Furness)326 : Besyde my bed þou must goo And take vp a slouȝte of strawe Als softly as þou may.
Note: The actual reading is either "flouȝte" or "slouȝte" (sl- and fl- are indistinguishable). MED, having to pick one, has taken the word under flaught n., q.v., but it must be admitted that recent editors have taken the opposite tack. Furness (1985) notes that "the word slouȝte is unattested in OED. It probably represents [OED] slough sb2 (with intrusive -t) [i.e. MED slough n.(2)] in the sense 'a ... covering layer,' a sense which is not attested there until 1610." Her gloss in the glossary is only slightly different: 'an enclosing layer.' The same or similar gloss, and therefore presumably the same identification, is supplied without comment in Furness's TEAMS edition (Ten Bourdes, 2013) and in George Shuffelton's TEAMS edition of Codex Ashmole 61 as a whole (2008).
Supplemental Materials (draft)
Note: Med., etc., see further J.Norri, Dictionary of Medical Vocabulary, s.v. slough.