I. ˈsləm noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: origin unknown
1. : a highly congested usually urban residential area characterized by deteriorated unsanitary buildings, poverty, and social disorganization
brought up in an unwholesome slum
the slums of the city
slum clearance
a slum district
creating a rural slum
2. : cheap articles given as prizes in games of chance (as at carnivals)
II. intransitive verb
( slummed ; slummed ; slumming ; slums )
: to visit or frequent slums ; especially : to make an excursion into slums out of curiosity or for pleasure — often used in the expression go slumming
went slumming in their evening clothes
III. noun
( -s )
Etymology: perhaps from German schlamm slime, mud, from Middle High German slam; probably akin to obsolete English dialect slemp to slip away, Old Norse sleppa to slide, slip, Latin labi to slide, slip, sink, fall — more at sleep
1. : slime
2. : a passage at the bottom of a mining pit
IV. noun
( -s )
Etymology: by shortening
1. : slumgullion 1b
2. : slumgullion 3