un·washed

(ŭn-wŏsht′, -wôsht′)

adj.

1. Not washed; unclean.

2. Common; plebeian: the unwashed masses.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

unwashed

(ʌnˈwɒʃt)

adj

not washed

pl n

the great unwashed jocular derogatory the masses

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

un•washed

(ʌnˈwɒʃt, -ˈwɔʃt)

adj.

1. not cleaned or purified by or as if by washing.

2. untutored, unsophisticated, or ignorant; plebeian.

3. the (great) unwashed, the masses; the rabble.

[1350–1400]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adj.	1.	unwashed - of or associated with the great masses of people; "the common people in those days suffered greatly"; "behavior that branded him as common"; "his square plebeian nose"; "a vulgar and objectionable person"; "the unwashed masses" plebeian, vulgar, common lowborn - of humble birth or origins; "a topsy-turvy society of lowborn rich and blue-blooded poor"
	2.	unwashed - not cleaned with or as if with soap and water; "a sink full of unwashed dishes" dirty, soiled, unclean - soiled or likely to soil with dirt or grime; "dirty unswept sidewalks"; "a child in dirty overalls"; "dirty slums"; "piles of dirty dishes"; "put his dirty feet on the clean sheet"; "wore an unclean shirt"; "mining is a dirty job"; "Cinderella did the dirty work while her sisters preened themselves"

unwashed

adjective

Lacking high station or birth:

baseborn, common, déclassé, declassed, humble, ignoble, lowly, mean, plebeian, vulgar.

Archaic: base.

Translations

unwashed

[ˈʌnˈwɒʃt]

A. ADJ → sin lavar, sucio

B. NPL the Great Unwashed → la plebe

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

unwashed

[ˌʌnˈwɒʃt]

adj [person] → qui ne s'est pas lavé(e); [hair, dishes] → non lavé(e)

n
the great unwashed (humorous) → la populace

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

unwashed

adj → ungewaschen; dishes → ungespült

n the great unwashed pl (hum) → der Pöbel

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Laura Lean Jibbey, peanut brittle, a little almond cream on the neck muscles, dishes unwashed, half an hour's talk with the iceman, reading a package of old letters, a couple of pickles and two bottles of malt extract, one hour peeking through a hole in the window shade into the flat across the air-shaft--that's about all there is to it.

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The society is - er - not congenial - I allude of course to our hosts - and the attentions of these unwashed, and I am afraid I must say unclothed, ladies of dusky complexion is to say the least of it embarrassing."

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"Me talk," spoke up a fat and filthy savage whose hairy chest was caked with the unwashed dirt of years.

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He could see only the littered writing-table, the empty space where the type-writer had stood, and the unwashed window-pane.

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'It goes rather hard with you, indeed,' said the fellow, as the stranger disclosed his haggard unwashed face, and torn clothes.

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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.

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When driven with his mates to the new owners' camp, Buck saw a slipshod and slovenly affair, tent half stretched, dishes unwashed, everything in disorder; also, he saw a woman.

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Then it flashed on me - 'The clown at my elbow, who is drinking his tea out of a basin and eating his broad with unwashed hands, may be her husband: Heathcliff junior, of course.

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His hands were unwashed, his few straggling locks uncombed.

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I was unshaven and unwashed, and my heart was faint within me.

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She had an unwashed air and you could not help wondering if she slept in her clothes.

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He was remarkable for the poverty, not to say uncleanliness, of his personal appearance: the sleeves of his overcoat were greasy; his dirty waistcoat, buttoned up to his neck, showed not a trace of linen; a filthy black silk scarf, twisted till it resembled a cord, was round his neck, and his hands were unwashed. He looked round with an air of insolent effrontery.

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