# Who/What is a "tearaway"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 29, 2008, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-what-is-a-tearaway/439613 "2008-02-29T06:16:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mesquite-oh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@Mesquite-oh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mesquite-oh)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-what-is-a-tearaway/439613/1 "2008-02-29T06:16:56Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-what-is-a-tearaway/439613/2 "2008-02-29T06:27:11Z")
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. > **[Definition of TEARAWAY](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tearaway)** > > a rebellious and unruly or reckless young person… See the full definition ---
**Author:** ![Mesquite-oh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@Mesquite-oh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mesquite-oh)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-what-is-a-tearaway/439613/3 "2008-02-29T06:42:31Z")
[QUOTE=TWDuke] 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. [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tearaway](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tearaway) [/QUOTE] I need to be less Google and Wikipedia dependent! ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-what-is-a-tearaway/439613/4 "2008-02-29T07:18:41Z")
Yeah. You can call a child a “tearaway”. It can be affectionate. Uncles and grandpas use it a lot. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-what-is-a-tearaway/439613/5 "2008-02-29T08:14:15Z")
[QUOTE=Mesquite-oh] troublemaking, rebellious, headstrong youth. [/QUOTE] That’s pretty much it, plus the use for younger kids **TheLoadedDog** describes. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-what-is-a-tearaway/439613/6 "2008-02-29T08:37:08Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-what-is-a-tearaway/439613/7 "2008-02-29T09:02:42Z")
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: > **[Police get tough on tearaway bikers](https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/2050322.police-get-tough-on-tearaway-bikers/)** > > Teenage tearaways illegally riding off-road motorbikes will face the full force of the law after a three-day crackdown in Bradford. [http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Judge-queries-Leeds-tearaway-reprimand.3822949.jp](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](http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=231771&command=displayContent&sourceNode=231754&home=yes&more_nodeId1=231776&contentPK=19735338) ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-what-is-a-tearaway/439613/8 "2008-02-29T09:05:55Z")
Here’s OED, from which one can see the progression in meaning: > [@](#): > > tear-away > > n., one who or that which ‘tears’ or rushes away, or acts with great impetuosity; now usu. (written tearaway), an unruly young person, a hooligan, ruffian, or petty criminal (formerly applied spec. to a kind of thief: see quot. 1938) > > 1833 T. HOOK Parson’s Dau. III. vii, To mount a great \*tear-away chestnut horse. 1891 N. GOULD Double Event 67 The tearaway [a horse] of that morning..had suddenly developed into a mild, affectionate creature. 1901 S. F. BULLOCK Irish Past. iv. 100 Now that lassie’s a tear-away. 1903 Windsor Mag. Sept. 394/2 The substitutes also were tear-away bowlers, but they were not so fast as the first pair. 1938 F. D. SHARPE Sharpe of Flying Squad i. 15 A type of crime which has almost died out now was that carried out by thieves known as ‘Tearaways’ who used to hang about outside the theatres after the show and snatch costly brooches from women’s dress fronts. 1950 Observer 2 Apr. 7/3 He..boasted of being a proper ‘tearaway’ (one who sticks at nothing). ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-what-is-a-tearaway/439613/9 "2008-02-29T09:16:48Z")
I liken it to “scallywag.” ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-what-is-a-tearaway/439613/10 "2008-02-29T09:19:08Z")
[QUOTE=1920s Style “Death Ray”] I liken it to “scallywag.” [/QUOTE] _The hooligans are loose!_ Sorry, but that had to be done. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-what-is-a-tearaway/439613/11 "2008-02-29T09:24:41Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] _The hooligans are loose!_ [/QUOTE] I’m not familiar with the reference. The Simpsons or something more cerebral? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-what-is-a-tearaway/439613/12 "2008-02-29T09:27:17Z")
[QUOTE=1920s Style “Death Ray”] The Simpsons or something more cerebral? [/QUOTE] Sort of. [Bill Hicks](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP-3_jyCS9Q). (Just the audio! 1:30 in.) ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-what-is-a-tearaway/439613/13 "2008-02-29T09:45:17Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] Sort of. [Bill Hicks](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP-3_jyCS9Q). (Just the audio! 1:30 in.) [/QUOTE] Out of town and on dialup right now, will check it out when back home.