the unwashed

the (great) unwashed

the mass or multitude of ordinary people. derogatory
1997 Spectator Early piers tried to be rather socially exclusive, but the need to maintain revenue soon opened the gates to the great unwashed.
See also: unwashed
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • activist
  • activist judge
  • blob
  • bean counter
  • a bean counter
  • foundry
  • nut factory
  • nut-foundry
  • nuthatch
  • nuthouse
References in classic literature
"Me talk," spoke up a fat and filthy savage whose hairy chest was caked with the unwashed dirt of years.
He could see only the littered writing-table, the empty space where the type-writer had stood, and the unwashed window-pane.
Countrymen, butchers, drovers, hawkers, boys, thieves, idlers, and vagabonds of every low grade, were mingled together in a mass; the whistling of drovers, the barking dogs, the bellowing and plunging of the oxen, the bleating of sheep, the grunting and squeaking of pigs, the cries of hawkers, the shouts, oaths, and quarrelling on all sides; the ringing of bells and roar of voices, that issued from every public-house; the crowding, pushing, driving, beating, whooping and yelling; the hideous and discordant dim that resounded from every corner of the market; and the unwashed, unshaven, squalid, and dirty figues constantly running to and fro, and bursting in and out of the throng; rendered it a stunning and bewildering scene, which quite confounded the senses.
Buck has done a fine job at Chelsea - but his club is really no bigger than many of the unwashed he does not want to join.
The unwashed and the neglected didn't create the deficit - yet they are being punished while the greedy bankers who did crash the economy enjoy a huge tax cut gifted to them by the Tories.
So, to protect the unwashed masses against their own ignorance, the "privilege" of selecting their own appellate judges was stripped away.
In addition, they noted apparent effects of unwashed Ag-nps on viaiblity and cytokine release that they conclude were caused by contaminants in the unwashed solution rather than direct effects of the Ag-nps.
The chips washed in alcohol (C, D, Tab1) attained an efficiency of only 56%, which is less than in the case of the unwashed chips.
[KD.sub.50] after six washes was 48.38 min which was 9-fold more than the unwashed one.
Among the many problems with letting the unwashed masses decide the winner is their debased vulgarity."
THE stereotype of the unwashed student may turn out to be true in weeks to come as eight out of 10 young men starting university this autumn have never washed their own clothes, according to a survey.
Some pretty brutal stuff that will definitely give your grandma a headache and make you a hit with the unwashed masses...
These cities are often viewed as dumping grounds for the unwashed, holding pens for labor, or residences for the wealthiest.
One of the key perks of corporate jets is that they park at the private aviation terminal, allowing limos to pull up directly to the aircraft, no lines and no brushing shoulders with the unwashed. No humiliating bending over slightly as you must do when boarding a Lear Jet or Falcon or any other previous executive aircraft; sales material for the Boeing Business Jet boast that for a mere $48 million, you get to stand up straight.
9 Low to High Now that the twentieth century is due to be buried, it's safe to reconsider the stuff modernist hierarchies sneered at, particularly art that was once immensely popular among the unwashed masses.