FreeScrabbleDictionary

hoodlum

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
13
Words With Friends
15
Letters
7
Pronunciation
/ˈhuːdləm/
See all 2 pronunciations
/ˈhuːdləm/ · /ˈhʊdləm/

Definition of hoodlum

2 senses · 1 part of speech · etymology included

noun

  1. A gangster; a hired thug.
    “When the hoodlums reach their headquarters...”
    “There is no question the MS-13 gang must be stopped. It is a vile organization of hoodlums with no regard for life.”
    “In Sam Mendes's excellent gangster movie Road to Perdition (2002), he tested the boundaries further playing a hitman – but while we know he's a killer, we never really see him go full-pelt hoodlum.”
    “Caesar Enrico “Rico” Bandello is a hoodlum who rises swiftly in Chicago’s mob world, in the 1931 film “Little Caesar.” Played by Edward G. Robinson, Rico is tracked down by police and shot.”
    “The state’s police spokesman Wasiu Abiodun told CNN in a statement that operatives arrested 11 armed “hoodlums” who set fire to a government building after looting it.”
See all 2 definitions

noun

  1. A gangster; a hired thug.
    “When the hoodlums reach their headquarters...”
    “There is no question the MS-13 gang must be stopped. It is a vile organization of hoodlums with no regard for life.”
    “In Sam Mendes's excellent gangster movie Road to Perdition (2002), he tested the boundaries further playing a hitman – but while we know he's a killer, we never really see him go full-pelt hoodlum.”
    “Caesar Enrico “Rico” Bandello is a hoodlum who rises swiftly in Chicago’s mob world, in the 1931 film “Little Caesar.” Played by Edward G. Robinson, Rico is tracked down by police and shot.”
    “The state’s police spokesman Wasiu Abiodun told CNN in a statement that operatives arrested 11 armed “hoodlums” who set fire to a government building after looting it.”
  2. A rough or violent youth.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

First attested in a December 1866 Daily Alta California article, which mentions "the 'Hoodlum Gang' of juvenile thieves". Several possible origins have been proposed. It may derive from a Germanic…

See full etymology

First attested in a December 1866 Daily Alta California article, which mentions "the 'Hoodlum Gang' of juvenile thieves". Several possible origins have been proposed. It may derive from a Germanic word like Swabian hudelum (“disorderly”) or Bavarian Haderlump (“ragamuffin”). Herbert Asbury's book The Barbary Coast: An Informal History of the San Francisco Underworld (1933, A. A. Knopf, New York) says the word originated in San Francisco from a particular street gang's call to unemployed Irishmen to "huddle 'em" (to beat up Chinese migrants), after which San Francisco newspapers took to calling street gangs "hoodlums".

Words you can make from hoodlum

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5-letter words

2 words

4-letter words

14 words

3-letter words

24 words

2-letter words

11 words

Hooks

1 extension · 1 back

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