• n. 流氓；暴徒；無賴

詞源不詳，特別用于指美國加利福尼亞州19世紀70年代欺負中國移民的街頭流氓，一種說法是來自”huddle ‘em”,即huddle them,類似于攻擊中國移民的暗號，后來報紙就把這幫人稱做hoodlum.

hoodlum (n.)

popularized 1871, American English, (identified throughout the 1870s as "a California word") "young street rowdy, loafer," especially one involved in violence against Chinese immigrants, "young criminal, gangster;" it appears to have been in use locally from a slightly earlier date and may have begun as a specific name of a gang:

The police have recently been investigating the proceedings of a gang of thieving boys who denominate themselves and are known to the world as the Hoodlum Gang. [San Francisco "Golden Era" newspaper, Feb. 16, 1868, p.4]

Of unknown origin, though newspapers of the day printed myriad fanciful stories concocted to account for it. A guess perhaps better than average is that it is from German dialectal (Bavarian) Huddellump "ragamuffin" [Barnhart].

What the derivation of the word "hoodlum" is we could never satisfactorily ascertain, though several derivations have been proposed; and it would appear that the word has not been very many years in use. But, however obscure the word may be, there is nothing mysterious about the thing; .... [Walter M. Fisher, "The Californians," London, 1876]

1. If I was a hoodlum I could hit you on the head.

如果我是強盜的話,我可以猛擊你的頭.

來自辭典例句

2. The hoodlum is still in jug.

那個惡棍仍在坐牢.

來自辭典例句

3. The hoodlum menaced the local merchants.

盜匪威脅著當(dāng)?shù)厣倘?

來自辭典例句

4. He is a well - known hoodlum in this neighborhood , always bullying others.

他是這邊有名的混子, 經(jīng)常欺負人.

來自互聯(lián)網(wǎng)

5. My not hoodlum, but ill health.

我不流氓, 但不健康.

來自互聯(lián)網(wǎng)