mudsill

1. (figuratively) A particularly low or dirty place/state; the nadir of something (see rock bottom)Examples: "The Pre-Historic Era was the mudsill of human development."figuratively

2. (dated, Southern US) A person of low status or humble provenance.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."; "General Lee throw down his sword and surrender his invincible Southern legions to that poor little Northern mud-sill, a late tanner from Illinois!"; "Though the mudsill of the labor world, he whistles as he hoes, and no dark broodings or whispered conspirings mar the cheerful acceptance of the load he bears."Southern-USdated