skid row

Meaning

1. (Canada, US, countable, derogatory, informal, uncountable) An especially dilapidated section of a city, characterized by abandoned or run-down buildings and vices such as drug dealing and prostitution, and frequented by homeless people.
2. (Canada, US, countable, figuratively, informal, uncountable) A situation of great desperation or misfortune.

Synonyms

slum

underworld

skid road

Translations

Unterwelt

Kriminellenviertel

barrio bajo

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˌskɪd ˈɹəʊ/

Etymology

An alteration of skid road (“road along which logs are dragged or skidded; (Canada, US, informal) downtown streets where loggers go for recreation on their time off”). In 1852, skid road was first applied to a slum area at the loggers’ part of town in Seattle, Washington, USA, and before 1900 it had come into common usage in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Over time, the variant skid row came to refer to a district or slum frequented by alcoholics and hobos, even in areas without a lumber industry.