KANGAROO

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does kangaroo mean? 

• KANGAROO (noun)
  The noun KANGAROO has 1 sense:

1. any of several herbivorous leaping marsupials of Australia and New Guinea having large powerful hind legs and a long thick tail

  Familiarity information: KANGAROO used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• KANGAROO (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of several herbivorous leaping marsupials of Australia and New Guinea having large powerful hind legs and a long thick tail

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("kangaroo" is a kind of...):

marsupial; pouched mammal (mammals of which the females have a pouch (the marsupium) containing the teats where the young are fed and carried)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "kangaroo"):

giant kangaroo; great grey kangaroo; Macropus giganteus (very large greyish-brown Australian kangaroo formerly abundant in open wooded areas)

brush kangaroo; wallaby (any of various small or medium-sized kangaroos; often brightly colored)

Hypsiprymnodon moschatus; musk kangaroo (small kangaroo of northeastern Australia)

kangaroo rat; rat kangaroo (any of several rabbit-sized ratlike Australian kangaroos)

Holonyms ("kangaroo" is a member of...):

family Macropodidae; Macropodidae (kangaroos; wallabies)

 Context examples 

I do not know that I can bring their appearance home to you better than by saying that they looked like monstrous kangaroos, twenty feet in length, and with skins like black crocodiles.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Shall I ever forget how, in a moment, he was the most sanguine of men, looking on to fortune; or how Mrs. Micawber presently discoursed about the habits of the kangaroo!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I say "hopped" advisedly, for the beast moved like a kangaroo, springing along in an erect position upon its powerful hind legs, while its front ones were held bent in front of it.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)