/un wosht", -wawsht"/ , adj.
1. not cleaned or purified by or as if by washing: unwashed dishes; the unwashed soul of a sinner.
2. pertaining to or characteristic of the common people; untutored, unsophisticated, or ignorant; plebeian: the power of the unwashed electorate.
n.
3. ( used with a pl. v. ) an ignorant or lower-class group; rabble (usually prec. by the ): The author claimed that the unwashed would not understand his books.
[ 1350-1400; ME; see UN- 1 , WASHED ]