hooligan

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a violent or destructive troublemaker, especially one acting as part of a group

   Police arrested several hooligans who had smashed shop windows after the match.

2. 2
   noun

   a person who engages in violence or disorder connected with a sports team, especially football

   The club banned a known hooligan from entering the stadium.

First recorded in late nineteenth-century British English. Its origin is uncertain; it may have been influenced by the Irish surname Houlihan or by a fictional rowdy family in popular entertainment.

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