crumb, adj. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

crumb adj.

also crum

1. (US) filthy, dirty, disgusting.

1930		’Rags’ Roberts ‘The Old Cook County Jail’ in Stiff Milk and Honey Route (1930) 194: Jesus Christ, this is a crum box! This old Cook County Jail.
1949		N. Algren Man with the Golden Arm 22: You think I’m gonna sleep in this crum dump tonight again?

2. second-rate, badly rewarded.

1978		(con. 1965) J. Carroll The Basketball Diaries 85: Crumb day, I might add, the really boring type rain . .
2010		Codella and Bennett Alphaville (2011) 22: For a while he bided his time working a five-dollar-a-day crumb job as a shipping clerk.

crumb joint (n.) [joint n. (3b)]

1. (US) a filthy lodging house or hostel.

1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 53/2: Crumb-joint. 2. A dirty lodging house, jail or other establishment.
1960, 1975		Wentworth & Flexner DAS 132/2: crumb joint A flop-house infested with lice.

2. (US) as sense one, extended to a whole town or city.

1953

‘John Monahan’ [W.R. Burnett] Big Stan 129: Tijuana. What a crumb joint, but lots of fun.