or great-unwashed, subs. (common).—The mob, the rabble: orig. the artisan class. [First used by Burke, popularised by Scott.]
1889. Pall Mall Gazette, 18 Oct., 6. 2. Was it not time … that THE GREAT UNWASHED should declare that the great unpaid were no longer at liberty to oppress them?
1892. SYDNEY WATSON, Wops the Waif, III. iv. It is only when we have paid our ‘tuppence’ and ascended to the gallery just under the roof … that we begin to understand what is meant by the lowest classes, THE GREAT UNWASHED.
Adj. (old colloquial).—Vulgar, filthy. UNWASHED BAWDRY (B. E.) = rant, errant, fulsome, bawdry.
1596. SHAKESPEARE, King John, iv. 2. 201. Another lean, UNWASH’D artificer.
1605. JONSON, Volpone, or the Fox, Dedication. Such foul and UNWASHED BAWDRY as is now made the food of the scene.
