Hooligan

//ˈhuː.lɪ.ɡən// noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A young person who causes trouble or violence, typically as a member of a gang or other group. attributive, informal

    "She also heard boys from other classes behind her talking: “So, Teacher Tang is a female hooligan.”"

  2. 2
    A type of fish, an anadromous smelt, Thaleichthys pacificus, found in the North Pacific.

    "One year there was a strong wind. We couldn’t catch herring, but they were there. We caught lots of hooligans (smelt) and got through the year on those."

  3. 3
    a cruel and brutal fellow wordnet
  4. 4
    Ellipsis of football hooligan. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis

    "These excursions abroad confirm that displacement has actually been a feature of the development of hooligan conflicts for some time, but an important wider point is that domestic hooligan displacement also seems to be a much more central issue today, as policing and other control strategies (segregation, seating, stewarding and CCTV in and around the larger English football grounds) have become more comprehensive, and especially as sentences for hooliganism have become much more forbidding."

  5. 5
    A member of the United States Coast Guard. US, slang

    "Many professional Navy and Coast Guard men were inclined to scoff. What kind of Navy was this, and what did they think they were up to, anyway? This bunch of hooligans wouldn't be any good to anyone; wouldn't be worth the powder to blow 'em to hell. Hooligan's Navy."

Verb
  1. 1
    To act as a hooligan (etymology 1 sense 1). intransitive
  2. 2
    To treat (a person) roughly. broadly, transitive

Etymology

Etymology 1

Probably a variant of the Irish surname Houlihan, 1890s.

Etymology 2

Probably a variant of the Irish surname Houlihan, 1890s.

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Chinook Jargon ulakan, from Clatsop Chinook, with spelling and pronunciation influenced by the preceding.

Next best steps

Mini challenge

Unscramble this word: hooligan