The common people

• Home Office head blocking just over 100 ordinary folk
• Hospital treated polio with oil for masses

Wikipedia Word definitions in Wikipedia
Hoi polloi (, hoi polloi , "the many") is an expression from Greek that means the many or, in the strictest sense, the majority . In English, it has been corrupted by giving it a negative connotation to signify deprecation of the working class , commoners ...

Wiktionary Word definitions in Wiktionary
n. 1 The common people; the masses. (qualifier: Used with or without the definite article.) 2 (context proscribed English) The elite.

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Word definitions in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
noun EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS ▪ They had little faith that the hoi polloi would very soon be using computers. ▪ They helped keep the 3, 800 delegates and alternates, more than 90 percent white, from the hoi polloi .

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary Word definitions in Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1837, from Greek hoi polloi (plural) "the people," literally "the many" (plural of polys ; see poly- ). Used in Greek by Dryden (1668) and Byron (1822), in both cases preceded by the , even though Greek hoi means "the," a mistake repeated often by subsequent ...

WordNet Word definitions in WordNet
n. the common people generally; "separate the warriors from the mass"; "power to the people" [syn: multitude , masses , mass , people ]