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SLUM
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SLUM, a squalid, dirty street or quarter in a city, town or village, inhabited by the very poor, destitute or criminal classes; over-crowding is frequently another characteristic (see HOUSING). The word is a comparatively recent one and is of uncertain origin. It has been doubtfully connected with a dialectal use of " slump " in the sense of a marshy, swampy place; cf. Ger. Schlamm, mud, and Eng. dialect slammock, slattern (Skeat, Etym. Did., 1910).