groundling

American  

[ground-ling] / ˈgraʊnd lɪŋ /

noun

1. a plant or animal that lives on or close to the ground.

2. any of various fishes that live at the bottom of the water.

3. a spectator, reader, or other person of unsophisticated or uncultivated tastes; an uncritical or uncultured person.

4. a member of a theater audience who sits in one of the cheaper seats.

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groundling British  

/ ˈɡraʊndlɪŋ /

noun

1. any animal or plant that lives close to the ground or at the bottom of a lake, river, etc

2. 1. (in Elizabethan theatre) a spectator standing in the yard in front of the stage and paying least

   2. a spectator in the cheapest section of any theatre

3. a person on the ground as distinguished from one in an aircraft

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Etymology

Origin of groundling

First recorded in 1595–1605; ground ¹ + -ling ¹

Explanation

In the 17th century, a groundling was an audience member in the theater's least expensive section. For the price of a penny, groundlings stood just below the stage to view plays. Groundlings, unable to afford an actual seat, were packed tightly together and stood throughout the entire show. Three British venues admitted groundlings, one of them being the famous Globe Theatre, for which Shakespeare wrote his plays. The Shakespearean character Hamlet even refers to groundlings in the first known written reference to the word. Today groundlings is used for unsophisticated audience members, rather than people paying a penny to stand in the theater's pit.

Example Sentences

Through these seemingly frivolous details, Swen says, “they’re having kind of the experience of being an actual groundling in Shakespeare’s time.”

From Washington Post • Dec. 16, 2022

As might be expected they quickly tired of a groundling honeymoon.

From Time Magazine Archive

Between pilots and their airplanes are secrets that no groundling can ever know.

From Time Magazine Archive

A clumsy, pigeon-like groundling, larger than a turkey, the dodo lived on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius.

From Time Magazine Archive

That at heart, I’m a groundling, and I’ll always be one.

From "From Twinkle, with Love" by Sandhya Menon