(Żeby już nie wyrzucać watku, który nierozważnie zaczęłam, pro publico bono podaję informacje z Wikipedii):
"A groundling was a person that frequented the Globe Theatre in the early 17th century who was 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 They were known to misbehave and even throw food such as fruit and nuts at characters they did not like. They would watch the plays from the cramped pits with sometimes over 500 people standing there"

groundling
adj. superficial, shallow; uncritical, not thinking deeply
n. plant or animal that lives close to the ground; fish that live near the bottom of the water; person with poor taste

mój słownik mówi tak, twoje to bardziej geneza tego słowa, a inny słownik:

n. 1 a a creeping or dwarf plant. b an animal that lives near the ground, at the bottom of a lake, etc., esp. a ground-fish. 2 a person on the ground as opposed to one in an aircraft. 3 a spectator or reader of inferior taste (with ref. to Shakesp. Hamlet III. ii. 11).

niby to samo, ale jeszcze kilka znaczeń, a to drugie to:

belly laugh
a deep loud laugh