kangaroo

Pluralkangaroos

Formskangaroos, kangarooing, kangarooed

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A large marsupial of the Macropodidae family, native to Australia, with powerful hind legs adapted for hopping.

   A kangaroo bounded across the highway just before dawn.

   The reserve protects red kangaroos and several smaller marsupials.

   Note

   Every other use grows from the animal, and the word itself comes from Guugu Yimidhirr, where gangurru named one species, the eastern grey kangaroo. English took time to settle the spelling. James Cook's Journal of 1770 gives Kangooroo and Kanguru, and Matthew Flinders still writes kanguroo in A Voyage to Terra Australis (1814). Today the plural is simply kangaroos.

2. 2
   verbintransitive

   To move in a series of jumps or jerky leaps, similar to the hopping motion of a kangaroo.

   Inexperienced drivers tend to kangaroo down the street, lurching forward in jerks.

   The kayak kangarooed over the choppy waves.

   Similarlurch, jerk, bounce, hop

3. 3
   verbtransitive

   To hold a premature or newborn infant against bare skin, typically chest to chest, as a form of care promoting bonding and warmth.

   The midwife showed both parents how to kangaroo their fragile newborn.

   Mothers who kangaroo their infants regularly report stronger bonding.

4. 4
   verbintransitive

   To hunt kangaroos, usually across the open country of the Australian outback.

   Settlers would kangaroo across the plains whenever the herds grew too large.

   They spent the dry season kangarooing in the back country.

5. 5
   nounCanadacountablebefore a noun

   A hooded jacket, usually made of fleece, with a large pouch-style pocket across the front.

   He tucked his cold hands into the front pocket of his kangaroo.

   The store sells fleece kangaroos in every color.

   Similarhoodie

   Note

   In Canada the word names a garment, and it began as a modifier. Kangaroo jacket is the full form, and the pouch-like front pocket is what calls the animal to mind. Outside Canada the bare noun is likely to be heard as the marsupial, so the longer kangaroo jacket is the safer choice when writing for other readers.

6. 6
   adjective

   Relating to Australia, its people, or things considered characteristically Australian.

   The travelers fell in love with the kangaroo countryside and its endless horizons.

   Old letters from the colony often described the kangaroo climate as harsh.

   SimilarAustralian

   Note

   Its busiest home is finance, in the phrase kangaroo bond: a bond issued in the Australian market, in Australian dollars, by a non-resident borrower. The word appears both capitalized and lowercase, as Kangaroo bonds and kangaroo bonds. It does not take degrees, because nothing is more kangaroo than something else. It marks origin, much as an attributive noun would.

   Foreign banks issued kangaroo bonds to raise Australian dollars.

   The kangaroo bond market grew quickly as overseas issuers sought new funding.

7. 7
   adjective

   Describing a securities market marked by rapidly jumping prices, or by the belief that prices are unstable, as distinct from bear and bull markets.

   Analysts warned that the kangaroo market made long-term planning nearly impossible.

   Traders profited from the kangaroo swings by buying and selling within minutes.

   Similarvolatile, choppy, jumpy

   Oppositestable

   Note

   Market talk already has the bear and the bull, and this word adds a third animal: one that leaps instead of charging or falling. The image is the kangaroo's hop, with prices bounding up and down and no lasting trend. Do not confuse it with kangaroo bond. That phrase belongs to the "Australian" adjective and says where a bond is issued, not how its price behaves.

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