ned
/nɛd
/noun Scottish informal
1A hooligan or petty criminal.But why, if they can respond so zealously to this kind of pressure, can they not respond to the other kind, which requires them to deal with recidivist hoodlums, neds, antisocial juveniles or whatever the correct term is?...
- We have turned these low-life neds into personalities who are set to give Glasgow yet another dose of unwanted notoriety.
- These include a crackdown on youths found with knives, forcing vandals to clean up the areas they destroy and setting up a hotline for members of the public to report neds.
1.1A stupid or loutish boy or man.It was a festival to commemorate the tenth anniversary of punk and there were several more thousand neds in the audience than it would take to disfigure the National Curriculum for ever....
- But we all know that you're unemployable, because which job advertisement starts with ‘Seeking a stupid, inarticulate, aggressive ned.’
- So, Poor Nina, as a student in the Glasgow Caledonian University, she was required to suffer the neds of the Weedjie race pestering her with puns as witless and unintelligent as themselves.
Origin
Early 19th century: perhaps from Ned (see neddy).