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Idioms

Phrases

Proverbs

Loan words

Historical loan words

kawa

1. (verb) (-ia,-ina) to perform the kawa ceremony, open a new house.

Nō te 23 o ngā rā o Ākuhata ka kawaia te whare nei (TTT 1/10/1922:7). / On 23 August the kawa ceremony was performed to open this house.

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2. (noun) a ceremony to remove tapu from a new house or canoe.

(Te Pihinga Textbook (Ed. 2): 170-171;)

Ko te tikanga o tēnei mea, o te kawa, e pure ana i te kawa tapu o Tāne kia noa (TTT 1/5/1930:2055). / The purpose of the kawa ceremony is to ritually remove the tapu of Tāne so that it becomes free of tapu.

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See also tānga o te kawa


3. (noun) karakia (ritual chants) and customs for the opening of new houses, canoes and other events.

Nā ngā kaumātua o Te Arawa i wewete ngā tapu o ōna whakairo, i karakia te karakia o te waere, te kawa, te toki, te takapou (TTT 1/10/1922:8). / The elders of Te Arawa removed the tapu from its carvings, recited the incantations of the waere (clearing the tapu of the building), of the kawa (calling on the powers to ruruku, or bind together, the uprights and rafters of the building), the toki (incantation addressed to the tree from which the carvings were made using the toki, or axe) and the takapou (incantation lifting the tapu to enable the entry of women into the house and spreading the mat of occupation and use).

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4. (noun) marae protocol - customs of the marae and wharenui, particularly those related to formal activities such as pōhiri, speeches and mihimihi. This seems to be a modern extension of the word.

Kāti, nō te taenga mai o Kuīni Irihāpeti Te Tuarua ki Rotorua i te 2 o Hānuere 1954, takahia ana e Heke te kawa, he ruarua nei ngā miniti e hauoraora ake ana tana kōrero ki te Kuīni mō te takoha roera, arā, mō te tokotoko hiriwa (TTR 2000:27). / Well, when Queen Elizabeth II arrived at Rotorua on 2 January 1954, Heke broke protocol by speaking animately to the Queen for several minutes about the royal gift of the silver cane.

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Synonyms: tikanga o te marae

kawa

1. (stative) be bitter, sour, have an unpleasant taste.

Nō taku kainga atu, kāore i pai ki a au, he kawa rawa. Hai aha, kai tonu au (HP 1991:156). / When I ate them I didn't like them, they were too sour. Despite that, I still ate them.

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2. (stative) be unpalatable, acidic.

Nā te mahi a te ua kawa, ka pūnguru ētahi rawa hanga whare, ka māngeongeo te kiri o te tangata, ka kawa hoki ngā awa me ngā roto (TKI 7/2011). / Because of the action of the acid rain, some equipment for house building corrodes, a person's skin becomes itchy and the rivers and lakes are acidic.

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Synonyms: hīmoemoe, mangeo


3. (noun) acid.

Synonyms: waikawa, atiti


4. (noun) bitterness, sour taste, bitter taste, acidity.

Me horopū ngā pire, kia kore ai koe e rongo i te kawa (PK 2008:136). / The pills should be swallowed whole so that you don't taste the bitterness.

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kawa ora

1. (noun) house opening karakia - the most important karakia which imbues life into the new house. It follows te kawa ahoahonga.

manawa kawa

1. (intransitive verb) to be displeased, discontented.

Kua manawa kawa a Rewa ki te kaipūrongo i whakakotiti rā i āna kōrero (HJ 2017:68). / Rewa is displeased with the reporter who misquoted what she had said.

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ngākau kawa

1. (noun) bad attitude, sour disposition.

Ki hea noa iho tātou raruraru ai ki te rite tonu tō tātou ngākau kawa ki te reo o iwi kē. Kia mau tonu tātou ki ō tātou reo ā-iwi, engari kia kaua tērā e noho mai hei tīwatawata e raru ai tā tātou haere kōtui e ora tonu ai tō tātou reo Māori (HM 2/1996:2). / We will be in trouble if we have a sour attitude towards the language of other tribes. We should retain our dialects, but let's not let it be an obstacle obstructing our united progress whereby our Māori language thrives.

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Synonyms: ngākaukawa

kawa whakaara

1. (noun) karakia performed at the entrance to the marae for house openings. This karakia invokes Rangi, Papa and Whiro.

kawa waere

1. (noun) clearing karakia uttered to clear the marae upon which the house being opened stands. The ruanuku advances towards the house intoning the karakia waere.

kawa whakahoro

1. (noun) house opening karakia - this is a generic term for a set of 6 karakia intoned in sequence to free the carvers and their tools of tapu.

kawa tuainuku

1. (noun) karakia dedicated to Tāne for the trees to build houses.

kawa ahoahonga

1. (noun) house opening karakia performed directly in front of the house just prior to naming the house and is then followed by other karakia.

kawa whakaotinga

1. (noun) house opening karakia that brings the ritual outside to a close and the ruahine opens the door of the new house.

kiri kawa

1. (modifier) short-tempered, quick-tempered, irritable, irascible, cranky, crotchety.

He wā he kiri kawa tōna wairua; he wā anō he tangata marae, he tangata nohopuku (TTR 1990:237). / Sometimes he was very short-tempered, and at other times he was generous or reclusive.

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ua kawa

1. (noun) acid rain.

Ko Uropi te wāhi e kaha ana te heke o te ua kawa, nā runga i te nui o ngā wheketere me ngā motukā o reira (RP 2009:423). / Europe is the place where acid rain falls the most, because there are so many factories and motor vehicles there.

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tānga o te kawa

1. tapu removal ceremony, striking with a branch of kawakawa, performing the kawa ceremony - when dedicating a new building or canoe.

Nāna i whakahaere ngā mahi taka kai mō te whakatuwheratanga o te whare nui i Waitangi i Pēpuere o te tau 1940, ā, tomokia ana hoki e ia te paepae, i te tānga o te kawa o taua whare (TTR 2000:41). / She organised catering for the opening of the meeting house at Waitangi in February 1940 and crossed the threshold first in the tapu removal ceremony of that house.

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Synonyms: tāinga o te kawa

tāinga o te kawa

1. (noun) tapu removal ceremony, striking with a branch of kawakawa, performing the kawa ceremony - when dedicating a new building or canoe.

Ā te Poutū-te-rangi o tērā tau te tāinga o te kawa o tō tātou tipuna whare (HKK 1999:14). / The tapu removal ceremony of our ancestral meeting house will be in March next year.

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See also tā i te kawa

Synonyms: tānga o te kawa

tā i te kawa

1. (verb) to strike with a branch of kawakawa, perform the kawa ceremony - when dedicating a new building or canoe.

Ko ia tētahi o ngā tohunga i tonoa kia haere ki te tā i te kawa o Rauru, he whare whakairo i Te Whakarewarewa (TTR 1994:89-90). / He was one of the tohunga invited to open the carved house, Rauru, at Whakarewarewa.

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See also tānga o te kawa, kawa, kawa, kawanga whare,

Kawa a Māui, Te

1. (noun) name of a Tūhoe house of learning at Maungapōhatu which is now used as the name of the School of Māori Studies at Victoria University of Wellington.

Motu-kawa-nui

1. (location) Cavalli Islands.

Haurua

1. (location) The location of a large hui in 1857 in the Ngāti Maniapoto territory where confirmation of the selection of Pōtatau Te Wherowhero as the first Māori King. It was also affirmed that the Kingship was to be hereditary in his family. Pōtatau had been selected as King at Pūkawa on the western shore of Lake Taupō in November 1856.

(Te Kōhure Textbook (Ed. 2): 1-34; Te Kōhure Video Tapes (Ed. 1): 1;)

wahakawa

1. (adjective) be a fussy eater, having a distast for ordinary food - sometimes as two words, i.e. waha kawa.

Nā Hotunui au i ngare mai ki tētahi ika māna, he wahakawa nōna (NM 1928:118). / Hotunui sent me to fetch a fish for him, because he doesn't like ordinary food.

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2. (personal noun) fussy eater, person who doesn't like ordinary food.

Haere ana a Manawareka, noho ana a Wahakawa (TP 6/1908:7). / 'Well-pleased' goes off, 'Fussy-eater' remains. (A whakataukī for people who are never happy with the food they are given.)

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