Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a rascal, a villain, a Bohemian, one who acts without regard for conventions; thus larrikin push, a street gang; larrikiness/larrikina, a female larrikin.

1867		Empire (Sydney) 16 Oct. 6/2: A little bit of a larrikin, T—, but it won’t do here, you know.
1870		Age (Melbourne) 8 Feb. 3/1: A gang of ‘larrikins’ who had been the terror of Little Bourke-street.
1871		Ballarat Star (Vic) 24 Apr. 2/4: What must be the effect upon the larrikin and larrikiness order of mind!
1880		Bulletin (Sydney) 31 Jan. 3/3: Whilst he was speaking, a heathen retriever dog had a swim on his own account, much to the delight of the larrikins whose legs dangled from the edges of the platform.
1880		N.Z. Observer (Auckland) 2 Oct. 18/1: Occasionally the Newton larrikins gain admittance [to a Mormon meeting] and then the fun ‘grows fast and furious’.
1881		Bulletin (Sydney) 26 Mar. 9/1: A loud scream. The dog had nipped a larrikiness on the calf.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 14 Mar. 18/4: Its strains will be of use to him / This Orpheus-like snake-charmer, / And, in the larries’ fierce attack, / ’Twill serve in place of armour.
1887		‘Aus. Colloquialisms’ in All Year Round 30 July 65/2: ‘Larrikin’ is perhaps the Australian word best known in this country .
1889		Dead Bird (Sydney) 9 Nov. 6/3: Without further ado the larrikin [...] struck the young man in the face. [...] The country yokel [...] accomodated the larry, the two fighting it out for some ten minutes.
1891		Bird o’ Freedom (Sydney) 18 Apr. 5/1: From the big-mouthed, high-heeled larry to the ped.
1891		N.Z. Observer (Auckland) 28 Feb. 13: He [...] accepted the offer of a resident larrikin to water his horse.
1892		F.A. Hare Last of Bushrangers 122: Dan Kelley (who appeared the greatest ruffian of the lot and a thorough type of a larrakin).
1894		H. Lawson ‘Board & Residence’ in Roderick (1972) 172: One of the little girls, a sharp-faced little larrikiness [...] comes in and says please she wants to tidy up.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 23 June 32/2: Aggie was no longer the easy-going little larrikiness of weekdays; no longer the infuriated, insulted wife. She was a fighter pure and simple.
1903		Star (Canterbury) 28 Feb. 4/2: The Sundaty evening larrikin is again on he boom. He collects at street corners with the usual dirty cigarette in his dirtier mouth and insults females.
1903		N. Gould Straight Goer (1915) 32: ‘There’s no telling what takes place with a such a crowd of larrikens about’.
1903		Bulletin (Sydney) 3 Dec. 26/1: Drifting by, drifting by, ruby lip and laughing eye / The ‘dolly’ of the dandy and the larry’s ‘bit of skirt’.
1906		E. Dyson Fact’ry ’Ands 155: I ’ope I got too much self-respec’ t’ have anythink t’ say t’ them low larrikins.
1916		W. Sickert Burlington Mag. Apr. 35: The larrikins and the shop-girls on the towing path at Hammersmith.
1926		A.R.D. Fairburn letter in Edmond Letters (1981) 21 July 5: Pretending that soldiers are heroes, instead of brainless larrikins.
1930		K.S. Prichard Haxby’s Circus 237: Gina had seen brawls before when a crowd of larrikins and rowdies had some grouch against Bruiser or Sailor.
1941		V. Davis Phenomena in Crime 176: The easy money [...] went into the pockets of Soho’s army of ‘hooks, crooks and larakins’.
1949		R. Park Poor Man’s Orange 109: He tried to cover it up by adopting the manner of a larrikin, as though to demonstrate to the world that he didn’t give a deener for its regard.
1953		T.A.G. Hungerford Riverslake 32: A garrulous, profane larrikin who had a lot to say.
1968		S. Gore Holy Smoke 62: Now wouldn’t it be up to the vineyard boss to come along with his strong-arm men to do these larrikins over?
1970		B. Oakley Salute to the Great McCarthy 72: Get out of here! Larrikin! Hoodlum! Out!
1980		M. Bail Homesickness (1999) 100: I saw PHAR LAP and THE MELBOURNE CUP some larrikin had carved on the rails.
1991		R.G. Barrett Between the Devlin 102: ‘You fuckin’ larrikin’.
1999		Nelson Mail (Nelson, NZ) 13 Nov. 13: The Bloke was a turn-of-the-century larrikin [...] he’s right up there with The Man from Snowy River and Clancy of the Overflow in Aussie folk-lore.
2001		(ref. to 1950s) C. Lee Eight Bells & Top Masts 139: These were the 1950s. [...] Hooligans were larrikins.
2004		(con. 1960s-70s) T. Taylor Top Fellas 20/2: There were definite shades of the ‘Larrikin’ in the sharps’ get-up and roaring-boy antics.
2018		G. Gilmore Base Nature [ebook] ‘Great sense of humour. A bit of a larrikin, if you know what I mean. Not very PC – not that that's a bad thing, if you ask me’.

2. attrib. use of sense 1.

1875		Wanganui Chronicle (Otago) 29 Apr. 3/4: The larrikin nuisance is being severely dealt with. The Magistrates are imposing heavy fines.
1886		N.Z. Observer and Free Lance (Auckland) 20 Mar. 23/3: The larrikin dancing class has collapsed.
1888		Bay of Plenty Times (NZ) 13 June 2/5: There was another larrikin riot in Burke Street [Melbourne] last night, when the larrikins attacked the police.
1892		H. Nisbet Bushranger’s Sweetheart 177: ‘You can do it [...] can you?’ cried Stringy eagerly, with all his old larikin vivacity.
1896		Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW) 31 Dec. 2/8: It was an excellent specimen of the waltz as she is waltzed in Larrikin-land.
1901		‘Miles Franklin’ My Brilliant Career 110: It shows what a larrikin Don Juan sort of character you are.
1911		H. Lawson ‘Ah Soon’ in Roderick (1972) 769: The only white fruit and vegetable hawkers [...] were spiteful weeds of the larrikin variety.
1917		Examiner (Launceston, Tas.) 1 Oct. 6/5: The cheeky, swaggering, cigarette-smoking, larrikin collection of youths [...] ‘chipping’ the girls of the town.
1977		(con. 1941) R. Beilby Gunner 234: He felt bound to apologize for the larrikin uncouthness.
1986		R.G. Barrett Godson 20: Their larrikin past.

3. in fig. use, any object that is rowdy, violent or unpleasant.

1953		K. Tennant Joyful Condemned 34: A wind that snivelled round street corners and blew its nose on wayfarers as though they were so many dirty pocket handkerchiefs, a larrikin of a Southerly.
1956		J. Harvey ‘East Wind on Sunday’ in Drake-Brockman West Coast Stories (1959) 13: An unpleasant, noisy, rowdy larrikin wind.