He pounces upon an arm, which he rubs until, like a serpent, we slough the worn-out skin, and resume our infantile smoothness and fairness.

Serpents are thought to slough off their old age with their old skin, and so get power.

as good a conceit as sloughing hotcockles or blindman-buff.

Its name is custom, Which first not potent, later holds us fast; So that which at the outset shocked, appalled, Sloughs off the first impression of disgust, And grows, a thing continued, to a need Is this not of our very bodies true?

(Infantryan organization of military infantshas on the contrary sloughed its reproach and now enshrines the dignity of lowliness.)

We prize them for their rough-plastic, abstergent force; to get people out of the quadruped state; to get them washed, clothed, and set up on end; to slough their animal husks and habits; compel them to be clean; overawe their spite and meanness, teach them to stifle the base, and choose the generous expression, and make them know how much happier the generous behaviors are.

She seemed to slough off at that moment the church of her youth, averring that New York was too big for a creed.