2. (noun) crime, evil deed.
mahi
1. (verb) (-a,-ngia) to work, do, perform, make, accomplish, practise, raise (money).
Kei te taka mai ngā rā e mahia nuitia ai e te Pākehā te mahi whakamaroke me te mahi tini i te paramu me ērā atu huarākau (TP 12/1905:7). / The days are approaching when Pākehā will be busy drying and canning plums and other fruit.
Synonyms: whakatutuki, mea, hangahanga, waihanga, whakahangahanga, whaihanga, hanga, āhua
2. (noun) work, job, employment, trade (work), practice, occupation, activity, exercise, operation, function.
Kei te taka mai ngā rā e mahia nuitia ai e te Pākehā te mahi whakamaroke me te mahi tini i te paramu me ērā atu huarākau (TP 12/1905:7). / The days are approaching when Pākehā will be busy drying and canning plums and other fruit.
3. (noun) abundance, lots of, many, heaps of.
(Te Māhuri Textbook (Ed. 2): 113;)
Kua kapi taua wāhi i te mahi a te whare. / That place was covered with lots of houses.
I ētahi tau he tino kaha kē te hua o ngā piki nei, ā, he tino reka hoki mō te kai. I ētahi rā, i te haere kē mātau, hoki rawa mai kua pau ngā hua te kai i te mahi a te tamariki (HP 1991:13). / In some years these fig trees fruited prolifically and they were very tasty to eat. Some days, when we went elsewhere, when we returned the fruit had all been eaten by the many children.
See also te mahi a te ...
Synonyms: te mahi a te ..., tokomaha, ngerongero, ngero, rahinga, ranea, kaipukahu, harahara, tōnuitanga, maruru, ngahue, maha, makuru, nui, makurutanga, hira, huhua, huhuatanga, humi, pukahu
2. (noun) gardening.
mahi kairau
1. (noun) sex work.
I tīmata anō tana whakamātau kia utua ia mō ngā mahi kairau i te tūponotanga ki tētahi kaipakihi tāne Ingarihi, nāna nei i whakarite ētahi kiritaki utu e rua, e toru i te wiki. (Townsend, 2018) / She also began experimenting with paid sex work after a chance meeting with an English businessman, who arranged two or three paying clients per week.
2. (noun) casual job, casual work, casual labour.
wāhi mahi
1. (noun) workplace, work address.
I te tīmatanga, ka noho ngā Māori ki te pokapū taone, he tata hoki ki ngā wāhi mahi – arā ngā wāpu, ngā wheketere, me ngā ahumahi nui (Te Ara 2013). / At first Māori tended to live in inner-city locations because they were close to where workplaces were found – on the wharves, in factories and industries.
mahi atu
1. forget it, get on and do it then, go on then do it, get lost - an idiom used as a command to get on and do something. Also used to imply that the speaker does not support the action or want be a part of it, or it is a warning to the person not to do it.
Mahi atu koe! / You get lost!
Rangi: Tēnā haramai e hoa - kei te purei ‘iuka’ mātou. Pare: Mahi atu koutou. Kāore ōku take ki tēnā kēmu (HKK 1999:58). / Rangi: Well, come here my friend - we are playing euchre. Pare: You can forget it. I'm no use at that game.
See also mahia atu/e mahi ([koe]) i [tō] mahi