larrikin

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. ]