Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. usu. of places, the worst, the most disgusting.

1966		J.J. Phillips Mojo Hand 41: It look to me like them grand juries going to see one hell of a shit-hole mess 'round this place.
1980		M. Burke Laughing War 106: One time we were frozen into some forlorn little shithole village.
1997		C. Hiaasen Lucky You 37: ‘You’d cry, too,’ said Bodean Gazzer, ‘if you was stuck in a shithole town like this.’.
1997		(con. 1970s) G. Pelecanos King Suckerman (1998) 20: The absolute shithole part of town.
2002		D.H. Sterry Chicken (2003) 59: Maybe I should whisk her into my shithole bedroom and kiss her all over.
2008		R. Price Lush Life 263: You should have seen the shithole projects where I grew up .
2012		G. Pelecanos (con. 1972) What It Was 216: Get out of this shithole town and get back to Jersey.
2017		D. Trump in Wash. Post 11 Jan. 🌐 Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?
2019		P. Temple ‘High Art’ in The Red Hand 43: ‘Someone’ll be around your shithole office’.
2020		D. Winslow ‘Broken’ in Broken 25: ‘Drinking in a shithole bar’.

2. a general abusive epithet.

1966		P. Krassner Realist n.p.: [S]ome shithole state dropouts’ college.
1988		A. Hollinghurst Swimming-Pool Library (1998) 173: ‘Fuckin’ shit-hole wanker,’ the skinhead on the bin said.