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Idioms

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Historical loan words

Filters

Idioms

Phrases

Proverbs

Loan words

Historical loan words

ngutu roa

1. (noun) kiwi.

See also kiwi

kiwi

1. (noun) northern brown kiwi, North Island brown kiwi, kiwi feather, Apteryx mantelli and tokoeka, Apteryx australis - flightless, nocturnal endemic birds with hair-like feathers and a long bill with sensitive nostrils at the tip.

Ko ō rātou tiakete he mea mahi anō ki te kiri houi, engari ki te titiro atu rite tonu ki te kiwi (TP 8/1901:5). / There jackets were made of bark of the lacebark tree, but they looked just like kiwi feathers.

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See also rowi, kiwi pukupuku, roa, tokoeka, tokoweka

kiwi pukupuku

1. (noun) little spotted kiwi, Apteryx owenii - smallest kiwi with brownish grey finely mottled or banded horizontally with white and now found only at Karori Sanctuary and on a few predator free islands such as Kapiti and Tiritiri Mātangi.

kahu kiwi

1. (noun) kiwi feather cloak.

Ko ngā kākahu ēnei o roto o te puku—: he kaitaka, he pukupuku-pātea, he pukupuku, he kahu waero, he kahu toroa, he pūahi, he kākahu kura, he kahu kiwi, he kahu kekeno, he maiaorere, he kahakaha, he korirangi, he tātata, he mangaeka tātara, he pūreke, me ērā atu (NM 1928:129). / These were the garments that were in the stomach: a flax fibre cloak with tāniko border, a cloak with an ornamental border, a cape of dog tail skins, a cape covered with albatross down, a cloak of strips of dogskin, a cape of red feathers, a kiwi feather cloak, a sealskin cape, a maiaorere fine cloak, an undergarment, a cloak ornamented with black and white thrums of unscraped flax, a flax garment worn from the waist, a cape of undressed and undyed flax, a garment of undressed flax leaves, and other garments.

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Kiwi Tāmaki

1. (personal name) powerful leader of Te Wai-o-Hua of Tāmaki-makau-rau who were eventually defeated by Ngāti Whātua and Kiwi was killed.

(Te Kōhure Textbook (Ed. 2): 108-109;)

ngutungutu kiwi

1. (noun) Prince of Wales Feathers, crape fern, Leptopteris superba - native tufted ground fern, often with a short woody trunk. Fronds tapered equally at both ends, very finely divided. Fluffy to touch. Grows best in cool, wet forest. Frond tapers at both ends.

toetoe kiwi

1. (noun) cutty grass, Gahnia lacera - a sedge found from North Cape to Whanganui. Grows 60 cm-1.5 m tall with wide yellowish green leaves that have a sharp cutting edge. Short flowering stems are stiff, and the panicles are followed by shiny black fruit.

See also toetoe ngaungau

tokoweka

1. (noun) South Island brown kiwi, Apteryx australis - species of kiwi found in Fiordland and Stewart Island. A flightless, nocturnal endemic bird with hair-like feathers and a long bill with sensitive nostrils at the tip.

tokoeka

1. (noun) South Island brown kiwi, Apteryx australis - species of kiwi found in Fiordland and Stewart Island. A flightless, nocturnal endemic bird with hair-like feathers and a long bill with sensitive nostrils at the tip.

See also tokoweka

roaroa

1. (noun) great spotted kiwi, Apteryx haastii - flightless, nocturnal endemic bird with hair-like feathers and a long bill with sensitive nostrils at the tip. Now found only on the northern West Coast of Te Wai Pounamu, the South Island.

See also roa

rowi

1. (noun) Okarito brown kiwi, Apteryx mantelli Okarito - flightless, nocturnal endemic birds with hair-like feathers and a long bill with sensitive nostrils at the tip. Found near Okarito, South Island.

poāi

1. (verb) to call, cry (of a female kiwi).

Mehemea ka poāi, he uwha taua manu (W 1971:286). / If it calls poāi, that bird is a female.

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2. (interjection) female kiwi call.

Ko te tangi a te kiwi uha, ‘Poai! Poai!’; ko tā te kiwi tāne i rite ki te korowhio. Nā reira ko te whakangē o te kiwi he korowhio (M 2004:80). / The call of the female kiwi was, 'Poāi! Poāi!', while that of the male kiwi was like a whistle. So the lure call of the kiwi was a whistle.

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roa

1. (noun) great spotted kiwi, Apteryx haastii - flightless, nocturnal endemic bird with hair-like feathers and a long bill with sensitive nostrils at the tip. Now found only on the northern West Coast of Te Wai Pounamu, the South Island.

Manu huna a Tāne

1. The hidden bird of Tāne referring to the kiwi. Someone who comes out at night or remains hidden, or is a recluse.

E hoa, e te manu huna a tāne, ahakoa tēnei hāora ko te mea nui kua tae mai / Oh friend, the hidden bird of tāne, regardless of the hour the main thing is you've arrived.

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korowhio

1. (verb) to whistle.

Mehemea ka korowhio te kiwi, pēnei me te korowhiti, ā he tāne tēnā (W 1971:146). / If the kiwi whistles, like the whistle through a bent finger, that's a male.

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2. (noun) whistle sound - e.g. the call of a male kiwi.

Ko te tangi a te kiwi uha, ‘Poai! Poai!’; ko tā te kiwi tāne i rite ki te korowhio. Nā reira ko te whakangē o te kiwi he korowhio (M 2004:80). / The call of the female kiwi was, 'Poāi! Poāi!', while that of the male kiwi was like a whistle. So the lure call of the kiwi was a whistle.

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3. (noun) blue duck, Hymenolaimus malacorhynchos - blue-grey duck with a pale pink bill found along fast-flowing mountain streams and rivers in native forest and tussock grassland. Named after the call of the male bird.

See also whio

kākara

1. (noun) rattle - made of several pieces of bone or wood and hung around a dog's neck when hunting kiore, kiwi and kākāpō.


2. (noun) conch shell trumpet - with an attached short, wooden mouthpiece.


3. (noun) Cook's turban shell, Cookia sulcata - a large, round, heavy univalve that lives under rocks just below low tide.

See also kāeo


4. (noun) knobble whelk, Austrofusus glans - a species of medium-sized sea snail or whelk, a marine gastropod mollusc.


5. (noun) dark rock shell, snail whelk, Haustrum haustorium - a large species of predatory sea snail. The shell has a low point, weak spiral groves and large aperature. Dark brown to purple in colour, white inside. Common among rocks between tides.

He tōrino te āhua o te anga o te kākara, he anga manauri, he mā a roto, he awaawa whāiti e kōmiro ana i te anga, he waha nui tonu. / The shell shape of the dark rock shell is spiral, a dark shell that is white inside having narrow grooves spiralling around the shell and it has a quite wide mouth opening.

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whakahihī

1. (verb) (-tia) to make a hissing noise.

Synonyms: hihī


2. (verb) (-tia) to whistle - with a bent finger as done in hunting kiwi.

Ka whakahihītia te kiwi e te tangata (W 1971:47). / The man whistled for the kiwi.

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