plural hoodlums
1
somewhat old-fashioned
: a usually violent criminal
… hoodlums smashed through the glass enclosed foyer of a Royal Bank of Canada branch with a backhoe and scooped a machine right from the wall.—Ron Suskind
Newspapers and broadcasters all over the country, including the New York Times, referred to this … murder as an "execution," and the hoodlums as an "execution team."—Harold Evans
On October 24, 1931, Judge James H. Wilkerson sentenced America's most powerful hoodlum to eleven years in jail, fines of $50,000, and court costs of $30,000.—David Burnham
2
somewhat old-fashioned
: a young person who behaves in a rowdy or intimidating way : ruffian
… a moonlit late-summer battle between leather-jacketed hoodlums and T-shirt-clad fathers …—David Leavitt
Yeah, the girl has a little hoodlum in her. She's a hard-edged street kid who can probably kick Dick Button's butt.—Bryan Burwell
… the court sits just below … where Coney Island's worst hoodlums sometimes pass a summer evening "getting hectic," as they say—shooting at each other or tossing batteries and beer bottles onto the court from apartment windows fifteen stories above.—Darcy Frey
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Merriam-Webster unabridged
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