sluff

plural sluffs · alternative slough

1. alternativeAlternative spelling of slough (skin shed by a snake or other reptile).

   That is the sluff of a rattler; we must be careful.

2. alternativeAlternative spelling of slough (dead skin on a sore or ulcer).

   This is the sluff that came off of his skin after the burn.

3. An avalanche, mudslide, or a like slumping of material or debris.

   At least for small sluffs like the ones Brown and his colleagues have triggered, the avalanche slides like a block of material instead of flowing like a fluid.

   2002 March 2, Sid Perkins, “Avalanche! Scientists are digging out the secrets of lethal flows of snow.”, in The Free Library

   1 more example

   The Scouts learned from expert Keith Burke that snow avalanches come in different forms. A powder or "sluff" avalanche starts at a single point and fans out as surface snow slides downhill. These avalanches are not as violent as slab avalanches. Slab avalanches are very dangerous. They occur when a whole hillside of snow breaks loose in a giant slab, which then breaks into snow blocks that tumble downhill faster and faster.

   2001 Mar, Buck Tilton, “Cold Comfort”, in Boys Life, volume 91, number 3, page 18

present singular third person sluffs · participle present sluffing · participle past sluffed · past sluffed · alternative slough

1. alternativeAlternative spelling of slough (to shed or to slide off).

   After temperatures warm up a little, however, the snow will "sluff", or slide, down the front of the windshield, often in small slabs.

   2011 October 10, “Anatomy of an avalanche”, in Encyclopedia of Earth

   1 more example

   While I found wonderfully soft and untracked snow near the top, I ended up surprised by the firmer stuff in the chutes near the bottom, where small slides had sluffed away the soft, top layer.

   1995 Jan, Peter Oliver, “Easy Doesn't Do It”, in Skiing, volume 47, number 5, page 24

2. ignore, shrug (off)

   Blaser, for whom the rumored death of his program has been an annual affair, recalled the other day how nervous he was the first time he heard swimming might be cut his freshman year and how it became easier to sluff off the rumors.

   1996 January 29, Kevin Acee, “Several coaches are worried over what will happen to their sports”, in The Free Library, archived from the original on 26 Apr 2013

3. alternativeAlternative spelling of slough (discard).

   If either played another club, declarer would ruff on the board and sluff his diamond queen.

   2009 February 16, Phillip Alder, “At a Florida Game, an Unusual Double Squeeze”, in New York Times

4. to avoid working

   He's sluffing off somewhere.

5. transitiveUtah; Idaho; Utah; IdahoTo play truant from (school).

   Sunshine for the Latter-Day Saint Mother's Soul Both calls told her the same thing — that her son had been sluffing school. She felt betrayed. She had trusted this child.

plural SLUFFs

1. USabbreviationacronymslangAir ForceAcronym of Short Little Ugly Fat Fellow (or Fucker), US Airforce nickname for the A-7 bomber.