Standard Lemma guide

mudsill

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

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Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

The lowest sill of a structure, usually placed in or on the ground.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A particularly low or dirty place/state; the nadir of something (see rock bottom)

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: figuratively

Examples

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

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A person of low status or humble provenance.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Southern-US, dated

Examples

  • 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.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

"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)