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slough 2 pronounced to rhyme with allow for def. 4, otherwise to rhyme with “boot”
n.
5ME slowe < OE sloh, akin to MLowG slbch, swamp < IE base *sklck, wet > SLACK36
1 a place, as a hollow, full of soft, deep mud
2 5after Slough of Despond, a deep swamp in Bunyan‘s Pilgrim‘s Progress6 deep, hopeless dejection or discouragement
3 moral degradation
4 a swamp, bog, or marsh, esp. one that is part of an inlet or backwater

Having spent part of my life living in Stoke Poges, near Slough (for pronunciation see Sir John Betjeman's poem at http://www.bbc.co.uk/berkshire/bigread/bigread_betjeman.shtml),I think I would use that pronunciation for all of the above. It would never have occurred to me to rhyme slough in any sense with boot.



Bingley


Bingley