[Native Austral. joè: see quot. 1839.] A young kangaroo; also gen. a young animal or child. See also quot. 1887.
1839. W. H. Leigh, Reconnoit. Voy. S. Austral., 93–4 (Morris). Here [in Kangaroo Island] is also the wallaba…. The young of the animal is called by the islanders a joè.
1845. Moore, Tasman. Rhymings (1860), 15. He was a ‘joey’ which, in truth, Means nothing more than that the youth Who claims a Kangaroo descent Is by that nomenclature.
1866. Cornhill Mag., Dec., 742. Large flocks of kangaroo…. The larger males … towered above the flying bucks, flying does and joeys, the half-grown bucks, does, and young ones.
1887. All Year Round, 30 July, 67/2 (Farmer). Joey … is applied indifferently to a puppy, or a kitten, or a child, while a ‘wood-and-water Joey’ is a hanger about hotels, and a doer of odd jobs.
