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.

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.]

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Thu 18th April 2019