It was Burke who first called the mob “the great unwashed,” but the term “unwashed” had been applied to them before, for Gay uses it.
“The king of late drew forth his sword
(Thank God, ‘t was not in wrath),
And made, of many a squire and lord,
An unwashed knight of Bath.”
A Ballad on Quadrille.
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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.
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