n. & v.
--n.
1. an overcrowded and squalid back street, district, etc., usu. in a city and inhabited by very poor people.
2 a house or building unfit for human habitation.
--v.intr. (slummed, slumming)
1. live in slumlike conditions.
2 go about the slums through curiosity, to examine the condition of the inhabitants, or for charitable purposes.
Phrases and idioms:
slum clearance the demolition of slums and rehousing of their inhabitants. slum it colloq. put up with conditions less comfortable than usual.
Derivatives:
slummy adj. (slummier, slummiest). slumminess n.
Etymology: 19th c.: orig. cant