slum

slum
slummer, n.
/slum/, n., v., slummed, slumming.
n.
1. Often, slums. a thickly populated, run-down, squalid part of a city, inhabited by poor people.
2. any squalid, run-down place to live.
v.i.
3. to visit slums, esp. from curiosity.
4. to visit or frequent a place, group, or amusement spot considered to be low in social status.
[1805-15; cf. earlier argot slum room; orig. obscure]

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Densely populated area of substandard housing, usually in a city, characterized by unsanitary conditions and social disorganization.

Rapid industrialization in 19th-century Europe was accompanied by rapid population growth and the concentration of working-class people in overcrowded, poorly built housing. England passed the first legislation for building low-income housing to certain minimum standards in 1851; laws for slum clearance were first enacted in 1868. In the U.S., slum development coincided with the arrival of large numbers of immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; laws concerning adequate ventilation, fire protection, and sanitation in urban housing were passed in the late 1800s. In the 20th century government and private organizations built low-income housing and appropriated funds for urban renewal and offered low-interest home loans. Shantytowns, which often grow up around urban centres in developing countries as rural populations migrate to the cities in search of employment, are one type of slum for which alleviating measures have yet to be successfully introduced. See also urban planning.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • slum — slum·ber·er; slum·ber·ous; slum·bery; slum·dom; slum·gul·lion; slum·mage; slum·mock; slum·my; slum; slum·ber; slum·ber·ous·ly; slum·ber·ous·ness; slum·brous; slum·brous·ly; …   English syllables

  • Slum — in Mumbai Slum in der Dominik …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Slum — Pays  Croatie Comitat Istrie Municipalité Lanišće Altitude 563 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • slum — s.n. Casă mizeră, insalubră. ♦ (la pl.) Cartier de case mizere şi insalubre în ghetourile din S.U.a. [pron. slam, pl. slums. / < engl. slum]. Trimis de LauraGellner, 13.09.2007. Sursa: DN  SLUM SLAM/ s. n. casă mizeră, insalubră. ♢ ( …   Dicționar Român

  • slum — ● slum nom masculin (anglais slum) Quartier de taudis, bidonville. slum [slœm] n. m. ÉTYM. 1927; mot angl. (1825), « taudis ». ❖ ♦ Anglic. Taudis; habitation vétuste, délabrée (d abord en milieu an …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • slum — 1845, from back slum back alley, street of poor people (1825), originally a slang word meaning room, especially back room (1812), of unknown origin. Go slumming is from 1884, pastime popularized by East End novels. Slumlord first attested 1953,… …   Etymology dictionary

  • slum — sb., men el. met, slum, mene, i sms. slum , fx slumområde …   Dansk ordbog

  • slum — [slum] n. [c. 1800 < cant: orig. sense, a room < ?] 1. a usually heavily populated area of a city, characterized by poverty, poor housing, etc. 2. something considered to be like a slum, as in being dilapidated or dirty vi. slummed,… …   English World dictionary

  • Slum — (sl[u^]m), n. [CF. {Slump}, n.] 1. A foul back street of a city, especially one filled with a poor, dirty, degraded, and often vicious population; any low neighborhood or dark retreat; usually in the plural; as, Westminster slums are haunts for… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Slum — (sl[u^]m), v. i. To visit or frequent slums, esp. out of curiosity, or for purposes of study, etc. Also called {go slumming}. [Colloq.] [Webster 1913 Suppl.] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Slum — [slam, engl. slʌm] der; s, s <aus gleichbed. engl. slum, eigtl. »kleine, schmutzige Gasse«, weitere Herkunft unsicher> (meist Plur.) Elendsviertel [von Großstädten] …   Das große Fremdwörterbuch

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