Great Unwashed

the great unwashed

The general public, especially those of the lower and lower-middle classes. Critics are hailing the film as a modern masterpiece, though it doesn't seem to be causing too great a stir among the great unwashed The world of the super rich is one that we among the great unwashed can't even begin to understand.
See also: great, unwashed
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

great unwashed, the

The working classes. The term showed up in print in the early nineteenth century in Theodore Hook’s The Parson’s Daughter (1833), where it appears in quotation marks. Exactly who first coined the phrase is not known, but in Britain it was used to describe the rabble of the French Revolution who rose up against the privileged classes. Although Eric Partridge said that its snobbishness had made it obsolescent by the 1940s, it is still used ironically.
See also: great
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer

Great Unwashed

A disparaging term for the common man. The phrase first appeared in an 1830 novel, Paul Clifford, by the British novelist and playwright Edward Bulwer-Lytton: “He is certainly a man who bathes and ‘lives cleanly,' (two especial charges preferred against him by Messrs. the Great Unwashed).” Among other cynics (although they would call themselves realists) who used the phrase was H. L. Mencken, who also referred to the majority of Americans as the “booboisie.”
See also: great, unwashed
Endangered Phrases by Steven D. Price
See also:
  • great unwashed, the
  • the great unwashed
  • unwashed
  • the unwashed masses
  • bid (something) down
  • bid down
  • bidding
  • bargain (someone or something) down
  • bargain down
  • lower voice
References in periodicals archive
Eradication of idiotic and disgusting supremacist ideals on one hand while citing 'the great unwashed' on the other?
Matt's Corner: Buck stops at Chelsea boardroom for lack of consistency
However the comments were later taken down as they drew criticism from some Facebook users, who were unhappy at the use of the term the 'great unwashed' and denied that they were NIMBYs.
Councillors in spat over Airthrey Kerse; WAR OF WORDS Decision on 600 homes sparks row
What a huge difference it was from City Hall where the great unwashed converged.
No red carpet for great unwashed
HUDDLED under their brollies on Roger Ridge, the 1st Battalion Great Unwashed would not be moved.
VOLLEYS WITH THE BROLLIES
"I cannot ever recall experiencing the Pavilion both as full as it was for the Middlesex v Surrey 20/20 and so crammed with such predominantly repulsive, ill-behaved, apologies-for- membership-of-the-human- race what, for the most part, I would regard as 'The Great Unwashed'," The Telegraph quoted John "Fingers" Fingleton, a colorful club stalwart, as saying.
MCC members protest against 'repulsive' visitors at Lord's pavilion
I read with dismay, then disgust, the news about Bishop Thomas Olmsted's reported decree that there would be no more cup at "ordinary" Masses, because it seems he fears the celebrant is being crowded out by the great unwashed who parade onto his stage to distribute the Eucharist.
Take and drink
Over the years we have had our share of white elephants, with cries of disgust and outrage from taxpayers ignored by the lofty elite who, unlike the great unwashed, know a thing or too when it comes to commissioning great works that will enhance our city's surroundings and put us on the cultural map.
Wasting tax is a fine art; Your shout
The two series on view are titled The Great Unwashed and Stumble Asleep.
An exhibition of FABIEN CHARUAU's photographs at Matthieu Foss Gallery, Mumbai. The two series on view are titled The Great Unwashed and Stumble Asleep. On view from September 02 to 30, 2010
There is a third official guy who is on the right of our line who is talking loudly about these great unwashed workers and how they cannot fill a simple form.
On coming home - the shock and awe
IF you view chilling in a field populated by the great unwashed as a costly exercise in deprivation, you could just create your own harmonious space at home.
on home ground
Perhaps the chaps who switch on the fixtures computer could advise we great unwashed why, with just a matter of days to go before the whole shebang gets under way, there was a flurry of emails and telephone calls between the four participants trying to work out exactly who is to play who and when.
Confusing finish to a turbulent campaign
I don't think I represent a minority opinion from the "Great Unwashed" beyond the borders of Metro Toronto when I say that our system of government worked well in the crisis at the end of last year.
Re: "Unbalanced Thoughts," by Andrew Potter, July/August 2009
London's landmark Royal Opera House is throwing open its doors to the great unwashed on Sept.
Plight at the opera
The rest did not meet the requisite wealth requirements, leading one to believe the city was awash with the great unwashed and no one else.
Between tradition and modernity; Aby Warburg and art in Hamburg's public realm, 1896-1918
Views that before would have been aired only in betting shops are now in the public domain, to the huge annoyance of the racing industry, who regard us, I am sure, as the great unwashed.
Letter: Jockeys want it all