mudsill

American  

[muhd-sil] / ˈmʌdˌsɪl /

noun

1. the lowest sill of a structure, usually placed in or on the ground.

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Etymology

Origin of mudsill

First recorded in 1675–85; mud + sill

Example Sentences

These are among the mudsill jobs in a pandemic, the jobs less likely to guarantee health coverage or sick days but that sustain the rest of society, allowing others to shelter in place.

From New York Times

That piece is called the mudsill, the sill plate that runs along the base of a house and anchors the entire structure above it.

From New York Times

The studs and subfloors, the ceilings and windows, the doors and roofing, all the components that make it a house are built on top of the mudsill.

From New York Times

Perhaps more important than the details of the actual incident is the culture in which it occurred, and which has not just survived but thrived — a quintessentially American backdrop that allows white men to kill a black boy with impunity in, as Tyson writes, “an atmosphere created by the Citizens’ Councils, the Ku Klux Klan, and the mass of white public opinion, all of which demanded that African Americans remain the subservient mudsill of Mississippi — or die.” 

From Los Angeles Times

Professing to be a mudsill and glorying in it, chanting democracy and the shirt-sleeves and equal rights, declaring that he is nothing if not one of the people; nevertheless the people, the democracy, will yet have nothing to do with him, and it is safe to say that his sole audience has lain among such representatives of the highest culture as Emerson and the English illuminated.

From Project Gutenberg