mudsill

Meaning

Noun

• The lowest sill of a structure, usually placed in or on the ground.
• A particularly low or dirty place/state; the nadir of something (see rock bottom)
• A person of low status or humble provenance.

Origin

• "1685, 'lowest sill of a house,' from mud + sill. The word entered U.S. political history in a speech by James M. Hammond of South Carolina, March 4, 1858, in U.S. Senate, alluding to the very mudsills of society, and the term subsequently was embraced by Northern workers in the pre-Civil War sectional rivalry." (OED, 2007)