Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A mock court, especially one hastily improvised or irregularly conducted.
- noun A court characterized by dishonesty or incompetence.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun idiomatic A
judicial orquasi-judicial proceeding , or a group which conducts such proceedings, which is withoutproper authority ,abusive , or otherwiseunjust .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an irregular unauthorized court
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
First attested 1853 in a Texas context, possibly from the notion of proceeding by leaps or because the kangaroo's appearance defies nature.
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Examples
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This is a kangaroo court set up by a terrorist guy who served eight years in prison.
whichbe commented on the word kangaroo court
When people take the law into their own hands and form courts that are not legal.
May 21, 2008
sakhalinskii commented on the word kangaroo court
A court that involves a disproportionately high number of Australians.
July 30, 2008