bottom feeder

American  

[bot-uhm fee-der] / ˈbɒt əm ˌfi dər /

Sometimes bottom-fisher or bottom-feeder

noun

1. bottom fish.

2. an opportunist, as in politics or business.

   bottom feeders who buy up commercial failures.

3. a person or thing having low status or value; loser.

   bottom feeders hanging out in seedy bars.

4. a person who appeals to base instincts.

   Gossip columnists are the bottom feeders of journalism.

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bottom feeder British  

noun

1. a fish that feeds on material at the bottom of a river, lake, sea, etc

2. an objectionable and unimpressive person or thing

3. Also called: bottom fisher.  a speculator who buys shares in companies that are performing poorly in anticipation of improved performance

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Etymology

Origin of bottom feeder

First recorded in 1850–55

Example Sentences

The Buffalo Sabres drafted Rasmus Dahlin with the No. 1 overall pick in 2018 and they are still a bottom feeder.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 15, 2022

“We’re like this entertainment-industry bottom feeder, and as such we have a ton of creative freedom to really define what the American pub quiz actually is.”

From The Guardian • Mar. 5, 2020

A bottom feeder pretends to be a fearsome shark slayer after the son of a finned hoodlum meets an accidental death.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 13, 2019

When a columnist wrote a nasty piece dismissing the First Bloke as a “hipster salty seadog,” he tweeted a picture of himself holding a fish and calling it another bottom feeder.

From New York Times • Sep. 8, 2018

It is a bottom feeder and will take a fish-bait either alive or dead; it is said occasionally to run at a spinning bait when used very deep.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Part 1, Slice 1 by Various