Dictionary.net

Ancient crufty hardware or software that is keptobstinately alive by forces beyond the control of the hackersat a site. Like dusty deck or gonkulator, but connotesthat the thing described is not just an irritation but anactive menace to health and sanity. "Mostly we code new stuffin C, but they pay us to maintain one big Fortran IIapplication from nineteen-sixty-X that's a real crawlinghorror."Compare WOMBAT.