n. The lowest sill of a structure, usually placed in or on the ground.
n. A particularly low or dirty place/state; the nadir of something (see rock bottom)
n. A person of low status or humble provenance.
the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
n. The lowest sill of a structure, usually embedded in the soil; the lowest timber of a house; also, that sill or timber of a bridge which is laid at the bottom of the water. See sill.
n. Fig.: A person of the lowest stratum of society; -- a term of opprobrium or contempt.
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
n. The lowest sill of a structure, resting on the ground.
n. A lowborn, ignorant, contemptible person.
n. Specifically, the bed-piece or bottom timber of a dam placed across the stream and usually resting on rocks or in mud.
Word Usage
"All of this -- but little understood within a very few years -- has been of late made generally intelligible on this side of the border, thanks, perhaps, as much to Mr. Hammond's word 'mudsill' as to any other cause."