tohorā
1. (noun) whale - often used as a general term, particularly for baleen whales.
Nāwai ā, ka kitea e te iwi o te kāinga; ka kīia he tohorā, ā, nō te tatanga atu ka mātauria mai he wahine (JPS 1911:87). / After a while she was seen by the people of the place, who said she was a whale, but when they were near to her they found it was a woman.
2. (noun) southern right whale, Eubalaena australis - a baleen whale with a large head and curved jaw found in temperate waters.
(Te Māhuri Textbook (Ed. 2): 2; Te Māhuri Audio Tapes/CDs (Ed. 2): exercises 1-3;)
Ka ahiahi ka kite rāua i tētahi tohorā, ko te upoko i mā, e mānu haere ana i te taha o tō rāua poti, mōhio tonu ake rāua he raiti wēra (TP 10/1902:10). / When it was evening they saw a whale and its head was white and it was floating along beside their boat, so they knew that it was a right whale.
See also kewa
kaipatu tohorā
1. (noun) whaler.
Heoi noa pea tāna, he whakaae, atu kia noho mai tētahi kāwana hei whakatikatika i ngā kaipatu tohorā, ngā nihoniho me ngā Pākehā noho mai i reira (TTR 1990:267). / All he could probably do was agree that a governor should stay to keep the whalers, the antagonists and the Pākehā who lived there in check.
patu tohorā
1. (verb) to hunt whales, whaling.
Ko Kaikōura Whakatau te kaingārahu o Ngāi Tahu i te takiwā o Kaikōura puta noa i ngā 25 tau o te tīmatanga o te taetae mai o te Pākehā ki te patu tohorā, me te tīmatanga o te mahi ahu whenua i te tekau tau atu i 1840 (TTR 1994:37). / Kaikōura Whakatau was the leader of Ngāi Tahu in the Kaikōura district throughout the first 25 years of the Pākehā arrival to hunt whales, and the commencement of farming in the 1840s.
