the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
n. The lower classes; beggars.
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
Of or pertaining to the proletariate; relating to the proletarians; proletarian.
n. Proletarians collectively; a body of proletarians; the class of wage-workers dependent for support on daily or casual employment; the lowest and poorest class in the community.
Word Usage
"It is, briefly, to the growth of a huge 'proletariate' outside the church, and hostile to the state, that Southey attributes all social evils."