Crossword clues for groundling
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Groundling \Ground"ling\, n. [Ground + -ling.]
(Zo["o]l.) A fish that keeps at the bottom of the water, as the loach.
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A spectator in the pit of a theater, which formerly was on the ground, and without floor or benches.
No comic buffoon to make the groundlings laugh.
--Coleridge.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"theater patron in the pit," c.1600, from ground (n.) in an Elizabethan sense of "pit of a theater" + -ling. From the beginning emblematic of bad or unsophisticated taste. Old English grundling was a type of fish.
Wiktionary
n. 1 Any of various plants or animals living on or near the ground, as a benthic fish or bottom feeder, especially 2 # The (vern: spined loach), (taxlink Cobitis taenia species noshow=1), or other loaches. 3 # The ringed plover, ''Charadrius hiaticula''. 4 by association, an individual of uncultivated or uncultured taste 5 ''in Elizabethan theater'': an audience member (usually standing) in the cheap section
WordNet
n. in Elizabethan theater: a playgoer in the cheap standing section
Wikipedia
A groundling was a person who frequently visited the Globe Theatre in the early 17th century. They were too poor to pay to be able to sit on one of the three levels of the theatre. By paying one penny, they could stand in "the pit", also called "the yard", just below the stage to watch the play. Standing in the pit was uncomfortable, and people were usually packed in tightly. The groundlings were commoners who were also referred to as stinkards or penny-stinkers. The name 'groundlings' came about after Hamlet referenced them as such when the play was first performed around 1600. At the time, the word had entered the English language to mean a small type of fish with a gaping mouth - this becomes pertinent when we realise that from the vantage point of the actor playing Hamlet, set on a stage raised around 5 feet from the ground, the sea of upturned faces may indeed have registered as something akin to wide-mouthed fish. Those who had paid to sit in the raised galleries would also have shared in this image, which clearly became popular enough to stick until this day. They were known to misbehave and are commonly believed to have thrown food such as fruit and nuts at characters they did not like, although there is no evidence of this. They would watch the plays from the cramped pits with sometimes over 500 people standing there.
There might also be "cut-purses" in the crowd, who would cut the piece of string that attached a purse to a woman's clothes and snatch the purse without the women being aware of the theft. The gentry would pay to sit in the galleries, sometimes using cushions for comfort. Rich nobles could watch the play from the Lords' Rooms above the Tiring House at the back of the stage. Theatre performances were held in the afternoon because there was limited artificial lighting. Men and women attended plays, but prosperous women would often wear masks to disguise their identity. The plays were extremely popular and attracted vast audiences to the Globe. The audience capacity was estimated at 3000, including the 3-tied galleries and Lords' rooms. In 1599, Thomas Platter mentioned the cost of admission at contemporary London theatres in his diary:
"There are separate galleries and there one stands more comfortably and moreover can sit, but one pays more for it. Thus anyone who remains on the level standing pays only one English penny: but if he wants to sit, he is let in at a farther door, and there he gives another penny. If he desires to sit on a cushion in the most comfortable place of all, where he not only sees everything well, but can also be seen then he gives yet another English penny at another door. And in the pauses of the comedy food and drink are carried round amongst the people and one can thus refresh himself at his own cost."
Usage examples of "groundling".
With most of the menservants from Woburton House scattered among the audience, the groundlings had lost interest in badgering her, turning for entertainment to the painted pretties in their midst.
Along with the company, the tireman and his assistants, the prompter, and the stagehands, a couple of dozen friends and wives and lovers milled about where the groundlings would throng in a few hours.
Centaur Project in were useful enough to keep him busy fifteen hours a day in the army of groundlings who, minus the glamor, also served.
Not many groundlings would volunteer for space-piracy, not even with the loot there is in it.
Manhattan groundlings, extras and understudies, walk-ons and bit-part players, these unknown Earthlings.
That she, the strong-minded Amazon, the lion-hearted wielder of the sword of justice, the indomitable scorner of men should thus have been cozened, baffled, bamboozled like any groundling or village dolt was inconceivable.
The sort of scum he would've gotten a kick out of finding asleep in some alley, soaking down with gas, and lighting off if he'd been born a mere groundling.
It was a simple group, in spite of its university setting, and it had responded to his oratory as uncritically as any groundlings.
Having established his pattern of mobility, Mouse might arrange a fatal encounter with Marya somewhere far from the usual groundling stomping ground.
There it was -- tamped earth for the groundlings to tamp down yet further.
I walked back to the hotel through the crowds (here they come again) of Manhattan groundlings, extras and understudies, walk-ons and bit-part players, these unknown Earthlings.