Larrikin

1 definition found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Larrikin \Lar"ri*kin\, n. [Cf. E. dial. larrikin a mischievous
     or frolicsome youth, larrick lively, careless, larack to
     frolic, to romp.]
     A rowdy street loafer; a rowdyish or noisy ill-bred fellow; a
     hoodlum; -- variously applied, as to a street blackguard, a
     street Arab, a youth given to horse-play, etc. [Australia &


     Eng.] -- a. Rowdy; rough; disorderly. [Australia & Eng.]
  
           Mobs of unruly larrikins.                --Sydney Daily
                                                    Telegraph.
  
     Note: Larrikin is often popularly explained by the following
           anecdote (which is without foundation): An Irish
           policeman at Melbourne, on bringing a notorious rough
           into court, was asked by the magistrate what the
           prisoner had been doing, and replied, "He was
           a-larrikin' [i. e., a-larking] about the streets."
           [Webster 1913 Suppl.]