In the 16th century, Turkish women could divorce their husbands if the man failed to keep his family’s pot filled with coffee.
LARRIKIN
Etymology
Noun
larrikin (plural larrikins)
(Australia, New Zealand, slang, dated) A brash and impertinent, possibly violent, troublemaker, especially a youth; a hooligan.
(Australia, slang) A high-spirited person who playfully rebels against authority and conventional norms.
Adjective
larrikin (comparative more larrikin, superlative most larrikin)
(Australian, slang) Exhibiting the characteristics or behaviour of a larrikin; playfully rebellious against and contemptuous of authority and convention.
Source: Wiktionary
Lar"ri*kin, n. [Cf. E. dial. larrikin a mischievous or frolicsome youth, larrick lively, careless, larack to trolic, to romp.]
Definition: A rowdy street loafer; a rowdyish or noisy ill-bred fellow; -- variously applied, as to a street blackguard, a street Arab, a youth given to horse-play, etc. [Australia & Eng.] -- a.
Definition: 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."
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
30 April 2024
NURSE
(verb) treat carefully; “He nursed his injured back by lying in bed several hours every afternoon”; “He nursed the flowers in his garden and fertilized them regularly”
Coffee Trivia
