subs. (American).—The bottom; lowest level; the last. TO GET DOWN TO BEDROCK = to get at the bottom of matters; to thoroughly understand; to get in on the GROUND FLOOR (q.v.) [a miner’s term, alluding to the solid rock underlying superficial and other formations]. BEDROCK FACT = ‘a chiel that winna ding,’ the incontestable and uncontrovertable truth. BED-ROCK DOLLAR = the last dollar.
1870. BRET HARTE, Tennessee’s Partner, in Poems and Prose, 113. ‘No! no!’ continued Tennessee’s Partner hastily. ‘I play this yer hand alone. TO COME DOWN TO THE BED-ROCK, it ’s just this,’ etc.
1875. S. WILLIAMS, The City of the Golden Gate, in Scribner’s Monthly, x. July, 277. Getting at the real character of a man is ‘COMING DOWN TO THE BED ROCK.’
1881. Chicago Times, 11 June. The transactions … having been based on BEDROCK prices.
1883. Century, xxvi. Aug., 581. The family is about DOWN TO BEDROCK.
1888. Louisiana Press, 31 March. You can bet your BEDROCK dollar that the next governor of Missouri will be, etc.
