Heard it on BBC America. I found a lot of articles with the term, but I could not find the definition. From context, it seems that it is a teen who is a criminal or who has at least been through the court system at some time or another or it could be a troublemaking, rebellious, headstrong youth. Can a 10 year old or a 25 year old be a tearaway? Official term or slang? Term origins?
According to Merriam-Webster, it’s a rebellious, reckless, or unruly young person (not necessarily a criminal, it seems), and the usage dates to 1950.
I need to be less Google and Wikipedia dependent!
Yeah. You can call a child a “tearaway”. It can be affectionate. Uncles and grandpas use it a lot.
That’s pretty much it, plus the use for younger kids TheLoadedDog describes.
Actually, I can’t recall an instance here where the media (or adults generally) have used the term in anything but an affectionate manner. It is too affectionate to be used for, say, a teenager who is hanging out with the wrong crowd/stealing cars/using drugs etc. Well, his parents might use it in that context but the papers wouldn’t.
That must be a difference between Britain and Oz, then, as shown by these results from the first page of a Google News UK search for the word:
http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Judge-queries-Leeds-tearaway-reprimand.3822949.jp
http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=231771&command=displayContent&sourceNode=231754&home=yes&more_nodeId1=231776&contentPK=19735338
Here’s OED, from which one can see the progression in meaning:
I liken it to “scallywag.”
The hooligans are loose!
Sorry, but that had to be done.
I’m not familiar with the reference. The Simpsons or something more cerebral?
Sort of. Bill Hicks. (Just the audio! 1:30 in.)
Out of town and on dialup right now, will check it out when back home.