n. (Politics) the lowest level of the proletariat, comprising unskilled workers, the unemployed, and the dispossessed, alienated from the class with with they would normally identify and having little or no class solidarity; -- an important element in Marxist theory. [ PJC ]
n. [ F. ] The indigent class in the State; the body of proletarians. [ 1913 Webster ]
n. The lower classes; beggars. “The Italian proletariate.” J. A. Symonds. [ 1913 Webster ]