Word Study
larrikin
CIDE DICTIONARY
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.
" 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.]
"Mobs of unruly larrikins."
OXFORD DICTIONARY
larrikin, n. Austral. a hooligan.
Etymology
also Engl. dial.: perh. f. the name Larry (pet-form of Lawrence) + -KIN
ROGET THESAURUS
larrikin
Blusterer
N blusterer, swaggerer, vaporer, roisterer, brawler, fanfaron, braggart, bully, terrorist, rough, bulldozer, hoodlum, hooligan, larrikin, roarer, Mohock, Mohawk, drawcansir, swashbuckler, Captain Bobadil, Sir Lucius O'Trigger, Thraso, Pistol, Parolles, Bombastes Furioso, Hector, Chrononhotonthologos, jingo, desperado, dare-devil, fire eater, fury, rowdy, slang-whanger, tough, puppy, prig, Sir Oracle, dogmatist, doctrinaire, jack-in-office, saucebox, malapert, jackanapes, minx, bantam-cock.Evil doer
N evil doer, evil worker, wrongdoer, mischief-maker, marplot, oppressor, tyrant, destroyer, Vandal, iconoclast, firebrand, incendiary, fire bug, pyromaniac, anarchist, communist, terrorist, savage, brute, ruffian, barbarian, semibarbarian, caitiff, desperado, Apache, hoodlum, hood, plug-ugly, Red Skin, tough, Mohawk, Mo-hock, Mo-hawk, bludgeon man, bully, rough, hooligan, larrikin, dangerous classes, ugly customer, thief, cockatrice, scorpion, hornet, snake, viper, adder, snake in the grass, serpent, cobra, asp, rattlesnake, anaconda, canker-worm, wire-worm, locust, Colorado beetle, alacran, alligator, caymon, crocodile, mosquito, mugger, octopus, torpedo, bane, cutthroat, cannibal, anthropophagus, anthropophagist, bloodsucker, vampire, ogre, ghoul, gorilla, vulture, gyrfalcon, gerfalcon, wild beast, tiger, hyena, butcher, hangman, blood-hound, hell- hound, sleuth-hound, catamount, cougar, jaguar, puma, hag, hellhag, beldam, Jezebel, monster, fiend, devil incarnate, demon in human shape, Frankenstein's monster, harpy, siren, Furies, Eumenides, Hun, Attila, scourge of the human race, faenum habet in cornu.For further exploring for "larrikin" in Webster Dictionary Online