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slum

   Also found in: Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.01 sec.
slum  (slm)
n.
A heavily populated urban area characterized by substandard housing and squalor. Often used in the plural.
intr.v. slummed, slum·ming, slums
To visit impoverished areas or squalid locales, especially out of curiosity or for amusement.
Idiom:
slum it
To endure conditions or accommodations that are worse than what one is accustomed to.

[Origin unknown.]

slummer n.
slummy adj.

slum
Noun
1. an overcrowded and badly maintained house
2. (often pl) a poor rundown overpopulated section of a city
Verb
[slumming, slummed]
1. to visit slums, esp. for curiosity
2. slum it to temporarily and deliberately experience poorer places or conditions [origin unknown]
slummy adj
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Noun1.slumslum - a district of a city marked by poverty and inferior living conditions
city district - a district of a town or city
shantytown - a city district inhabited by people living in huts and shanties
skid row - a city district frequented by vagrants and alcoholics and addicts
Verb1.slum - spend time at a lower socio-economic level than one's own, motivated by curiosity or desire for adventure; usage considered condescending and insensitive; "attending a motion picture show by the upper class was considered sluming in the early 20th century"
spend, pass - pass time in a specific way; "how are you spending your summer vacation?"

slum
Translations
Spanish slum [slʌm] n (area) → barrios mpl bajos;
(house) → casucha

French slum [slʌm] n (= house) → taudis m;
slums npl (= area) → quartiers mpl pauvres

German slum [slʌm] nSlum m, Elendsviertel nt
Italian slum [slʌm] ncatapecchia

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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
Mrs Jarley was not proof against the poet's insinuating manner, and Mr Slum entered the order in a small note-book as a three-and-sixpenny one.
A gipsy encampment to-day is little more than a moving slum, a scab of squalor on the fair face of the countryside.
Without arguing this matter of my general reputation, accepting it at its current face value, let me add that I have indeed lived life in a very rough school and have seen more than the average man's share of inhumanity and cruelty, from the forecastle and the prison, the slum and the desert, the execution-chamber and the lazar-house, to the battlefield and the military hospital.
 
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