from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
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.
Note: 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.]