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Synonyms for kangaroo

Grammar : Noun
Spell : kang-guh-roo
Phonetic Transcription : ˌkæŋ gəˈru

Définition of kangaroo

Origin :
  • 1770, used by Capt. Cook and botanist Joseph Banks, supposedly an aborigine word from northeast Queensland, Australia, usually said to be unknown now in any native language. However, according to Australian linguist R.M.W. Dixon ("The Languages of Australia," Cambridge, 1980), the word probably is from Guugu Yimidhirr (Endeavour River-area Aborigine language) /gaNurru/ "large black kangaroo."
  • In 1898 the pioneer ethnologist W.E. Roth wrote a letter to the Australasian pointing out that gang-oo-roo did mean 'kangaroo' in Guugu Yimidhirr, but this newspaper correspondence went unnoticed by lexicographers. Finally the observations of Cook and Roth were confirmed when in 1972 the anthropologist John Haviland began intensive study of Guugu Yimidhirr and again recorded /gaNurru/. [Dixon]
  • Kangaroo court is American English, first recorded 1850 in a Southwestern context (also mustang court), from notion of proceeding by leaps.
  • As in marsupial : noun pouched mammal
Example sentences :
  • But in the kangaroo figure, the burden is slightly shifted and naught is amiss.
  • Extract from : « The Book of Khalid » by Ameen Rihani
  • A little higher in the scale stand the kangaroo and the opossum.
  • Extract from : « The Meaning of Evolution » by Samuel Christian Schmucker
  • He jumps here and there like a kangaroo when he goes on one of his scouting trips.
  • Extract from : « Mixed Faces » by Roy Norton
  • "Only I did so want to dress up as a kangaroo," mourned Joan dolefully.
  • Extract from : « The Jolliest School of All » by Angela Brazil
  • But the most interesting event of the day, by far, was the kangaroo hunt.
  • Extract from : « In Search of the Castaways » by Jules Verne
  • Nothing could be more astonishing than the enormous bounds of the kangaroo.
  • Extract from : « In Search of the Castaways » by Jules Verne
  • There are now very few, if any, kangaroo in this immediate neighbourhood.
  • Extract from : « A Boy's Voyage Round the World » by The Son of Samuel Smiles
  • "Prod him with the icicle," said the Kangaroo to the Polar Bear.
  • Extract from : « Andiron Tales » by John Kendrick Bangs
  • The only game of any size was the kangaroo and a few species of birds.
  • Extract from : « Foot-prints of Travel » by Maturin M. Ballou
  • The kangaroo also is proper to Australia, and there are other animals of like kind.
  • Extract from : « Early Australian Voyages » by John Pinkerton

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Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019