Filters

Idioms

Phrases

Proverbs

Loan words

Historical loan words

Filters

Idioms

Phrases

Proverbs

Loan words

Historical loan words

māhie

1. (noun) hatred.

Ko te māhie e whakaoho ana i te totohe, ko te aroha e hīpoki ana i ngā hara katoa (Ng 1993:197). / Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins (Ng 1993:197).

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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.

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Synonyms: whakatutuki, whakaakoako, parakitihi, haratau, whakawai, whakahāngai, whakaharatau, akoako, hangahanga, whakahangahanga, whaihanga, hanga, āhua, mea, waihanga, whakarite, tapa, whakaatu, whakaataata, whakahua, whakahaere, whakatūtū, hahaka, haka


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.

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Synonyms: umanga, whakatāuteute, whakahaerenga, whakahaere


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.

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See also te mahi a te ...

Synonyms: ngerongero, ngero, tokomaha, te mahi a te ..., tōnuitanga, maruru, ngahue, maha, makuru, nui, makurutanga, hira, huhua, huhuatanga, humi, pukahu, rahinga, ranea, kaipukahu, harahara, te hanga a te, takitini, hia, wene, mahamaha, tuarea, marea, tuauriuri, pio, tini

māhī

1. (verb) to ferment, purefy.

Kua māhī ngā kai (W 1971:163). / The food has fermented.

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māhi

1. (loan) (noun) mast.

...ka rere anō tōna haki i te māhi he whero he rīpeka te tohu, kia mōhiotia ai ia (TJ 28/6/1898:2). / ...its flag flies on the mast showing a red cross so that its status is known.

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Synonyms: rewa, tira, maihi, maihe, rākau

Māhi

1. (loan) (personal name) Massey.

I mea a Māhi, tumuaki o te Āpitihana… (TP 11/1903:10). / Massey, the leader of the Opposition said…

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mahi māra

1. (verb) to garden.


2. (noun) gardening.

mahi pāpāho

1. (noun) media studies.

mahi tīpako

1. (noun) shift work.

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.

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Synonyms: kairautanga

paearu mahi

1. (noun) performance criteria, performance criterion.

papa mahi

1. (noun) desktop.

rā mahi

1. (noun) working day.

mahi tūwaenga

1. (noun) fieldwork.

Nō te mutunga o ana mahi tūwaenga i ngā motu o te Kuki Airani, i te tau 1930, ka hoki mai ia ki konei mō te kotahi marama (TTR 1996:15). / When he finished his fieldwork in the Cook Islands in 1930 he returned here for a month.

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mahi waimori

1. (verb) to work in a casual job, do casual work.

Ka mataku ia tēraka pea a Eruera ka mahi waimori (TTR 1994:21). / His fear was that Edward might only work intermittently.

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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.

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mahi huna

1. (verb) to snoop, pry, spy, secretive activity.

taupuni mahi

1. (noun) workstation, studio.

hunga mahi

1. (noun) labour force.

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.

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See also mahia atu/e mahi ([koe]) i [tō] mahi

mahi rata

1. (noun) medicine (profession).

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