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