Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US) to convict unjustly, orig. as in a ‘kangaroo court’.

1902		Wash. Times (DC) 14 Sept. 10/4: Kangarooed — Given a false trial.
1909		F.H. Tillotson How I Became a Detective 92: Kangarooed – Given a false trial.
1931		G. Milburn ‘Convicts’ Jargon’ in AS VI:6 439: kangaroo, v. To convict with false evidence.
1935		N. Algren Somebody in Boots 208: The possibility of another thirty-dollar kangarooing caused Nubby to pull on his boots frenziedly. [Ibid.] 217: I guess I must of kangarooed twelve Mexes in that jail-house.
1951		C. Stoker Thicker ’n Thieves 393: Chief of Police Worton [...] believed in kangarooing those whom he disliked.

2. (US) to beat up.

1919

Van Loan ‘Excess Baggage’ in Score by Innings (2004) 398: They decided that kangarooing Billy wouldn’t do them any good with the girl.

3. (Aus.) usu. constr. with it, to defecate in a squatting position, usu. with one’s feet on the seat; also as n.

1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. 40: kangaroo a s***: To defecate while sitting on one’s haunches.
c.1943		S .J. Baker Aus. Vulgarisms [t/s] 10: kangaroo a shit: To defecate in the open air.
1955		D. Niland Shiralee 115: There was a notice on the wall [...] It ended up with the injunction in snaggled capitals: Kangarooing it Not Allowed. And in smaller letters: Remember others have to sit where you shat.
1965		J. O’Grady Aussie Eng. (1966) 36: The practice of ‘kangarooing the dyke’ – squatting on it with your feet on the seat – is reprehensible, and frowned upon by all purveyors of public amenities.
1979		Tharunka (Sydney) 3 Sept. 17/5: Due to slippery seats many of those attempting the ‘Kangaroo’ have fallen to their doom, unable to get a firm grip [...] ‘Slippery seats’ the mere mention of the phrase will send even the most stubborn TURD trotting, and has resulted in the virtual extinction of that position de elegance, ‘Kangarooing the Dunny’.
1981		P. Radley Jack Rivers and Me 6: An accumulation of advice. ‘Yeah! Like: “No use to kangaroo this seat; the crabs here jump fifteen feet”.’.
1983		R. Aven-Bray Ridgey-Didge Oz Jack Lang 33: Kangaroo Crap on the toilet seat.

4. of a car, to jerk along rather than run smoothly; also used as vtr. of the driver thus kangaroo start, a jerky, shuddering start, typically that of a learner driver.

1964		Sydney Morning Herald 14 Sept. 1: Be on the lookout for a grey car kangarooing through the Manly area. Mrs—has just received her driver’s licence [GAW5].
1971		C. McGregor Don’t Talk to Me about Love 187: The car [...] jerked and kangarooed off into the night [GAW5].
2001		(con. 1945–6) P. Doyle Devil’s Jump (2008) 217: The Blighter started off, and immediately kanagarooed it.
2013		G. White Rich Deceiver [ebook] Ellie had manoeuvred the coffee and cream Metro up the steep little drive, kangarooing it slightly.