Dictionary

bottom of the barrel en · NOUN

Meanings

1. (derogatory, figuratively) The lowest possible level of a person or thing in terms of character or quality; also, a person or thing at such a level.
   • He went from being at the bottom of the barrel to being an inch above the bottom of the barrel.
   • I know it’s hard work in our game, and you get to a point, 15 years into a career, where you’re not bringing in much dough. But it’s proper bottom of the barrel, a celebrity Britain’s Got Talent. 2023 March 5, Miranda Sawyer, quoting Jason Williamson, “Sleaford Mods: ‘The UK is like a crazy golf course – all we’ve got left are landmarks’”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
   • Here is the first new collection of Rohmer stories in years, and they are the absolute bottom of the barrel! Detective stories, romances, war stories — everything but the "strange stories" advertised in the title. 2007, Robert Reginald, Douglas Menville, Forgotten Fantasy: Issue #2, December 1970, page 32:
   • The bottom of the barrel as far as accommodation in the Ville Nouvelle goes. 2010, Donna Wheeler et al., Tunisia, page 212:

Forms

Deriveds

scrape the bottom of the barrel · BOMB

Relateds

lowest of the low

Translations (1)

de unterste Schublade (Translations)