Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1960 (SND Vol. V).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
KANGAROO, n. Sc. usage: a children's method of sliding on ice (see quot.). Cf. Katie-hunkers.Abd. 1926 Buchan Observer (23 April):
The fun on the “roans” was fast and furious, the lassies being equally as good sports as the boys . . . the popular method was for a couple to sit on their “hunkers” and any number of boys and girls to fall in behind, each one holding on to the one in front. This, for some unexplained reason, was called a “kangaroo”. When the “kangaroo” over-turned, as it often did, its component parts were flung helter-skelter, a squirming mass of exuberant yelling humanity.
