Etymology

According to Herbert Asbury in his book The Barbary Coast: An Informal History of the San Francisco Underworld (1933, A. A. Knopf, New York), the word originated in San Francisco from the call of a particular street gang, "huddle 'em". Thousands of resentful unemployed Irish workers beat up Chinese migrants. San Francisco newspapers thereafter took to calling street gangs "hoodlums".

The word early evolved into the shortened form "hood", especially during the 1920's. Gangsters were often referred to as "hoods".

Noun

1. a gangster; a hired thug
2. a rough or violent youth