English

Alternative forms

• mud sill
• mud-sill

Noun

mudsill ‎(plural mudsills)

1. The lowest sill of a structure, usually placed in or on the ground.
2. (figuratively) A particularly low or dirty place/state; the nadir of something (see rock bottom)

   The Pre-Historic Era was the mudsill of human development.

3. (dated, US, Southern US) A person of low status or humble provenance.
   • 1861, Theodore Winthrop, Washington as a Camp, The Following Is the Oath

     We were now miserable mercenaries, serving for low pay and rough rations. Read the Southern papers and you will see us described. “Mudsills,” — that, I believe, is the technical word.

   • 1868, Carl Schurz, The Road to Peace — a Solid, Durable Peace

     General Lee throw down his sword and surrender his invincible Southern legions to that poor little Northern mud-sill, a late tanner from Illinois!

   • 1903, Hightower Theodore Kealing, The Characteristics of the Negro People

     Though the mudsill of the labor world, he whistles as he hoes, and no dark broodings or whispered conspirings mar the cheerful acceptance of the load he bears.

References

• Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 02 Dec. 2007.
• Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian. 02 Dec. 2007.