Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) the act of rubbing one’s knuckles hard across one’s victim’s skull; also used on other parts of the body.

1978		Wash. Post 31 May B1: [heading] Don’t Get Outta Here, Bill Murray; The ‘Saturday Night’ Whackos, Wailing for Freddie, With Noogies.
1983		S. King Christine 193: I started to poke my fingers at his sides [...] screaming ‘Side-noogies! Look out, Arnie, I got side-noogies onya!’.
2003		J. Lethem Fortress of Solitude 163: He kneaded and pinched, gave her spine a noogie.
2013		T. Pluck ‘Six Feet Under God’ in Life During Wartime (2018) 192: ‘Am I forgiven?’ ‘Of course you are,’ he said, giving me a noogie.