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kangaroo

Pronunciation: /ˌkaŋgəˈruː/
Translate kangaroo | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of kangaroo

noun

  • a large plant-eating marsupial with a long powerful tail and strongly developed hindlimbs that enable it to travel by leaping, found only in Australia and New Guinea.
    • Genus Macropus, family Macropodidae: several species

Phrases

have kangaroos in the (or one's) top paddock

Australian informal be mad or eccentric.

Origin:

late 18th century: the name of a specific kind of kangaroo in an extinct Aboriginal language of North Queensland

Spelling help

Spell kangaroo with -gar- in the middle.

kangaroo in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of kangaroo in the US English dictionary

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