kamu
1. (noun) hook sedge, hook grass, bastard grass, Uncinia uncinata - a grasslike hooked sedge native to Aotearoa/New Zealand, the Society Islands, and Hawai‘i. Its natural habitat is from the coast up to 1000 metres, and is found in areas ranging from native forest to shrubland. Forms dense mounds of orange-red, or green, arching leaves about 50 cm high.
Synonyms: matau a Māui
kamu
1. (verb) (-a) to eat, munch, close (the mouth), shut (the mouth).
Āta kamua te ika nā, mō te tūpono he poroiwi kei roto (PK 2008:203). / Eat that fish carefully in case you come across bones in it.
Synonyms: kaikai
2. (noun) taking of the pigment (of moko).
He pai nō ngā wai whakataerangi i tere ai te kamu; arā, te mau atu ki te kiri (JPS 1904:169). / Because the sap was good the uptake of the pigment was rapid; that is the permanency on the skin.
