mohimohi
1. (noun) pilchard, Sardinops sagax - a cigar-shaped silvery fish with a short dorsal fin and forked tail. Blue to blue-green on back, green on the sides and silver below. 8-14 black spots along the side of the body. Found in dense schools at the surface and down to 60 m, usually in the open sea. Maximum size 225 mm.
Pare: He aha te māunu tino pai mō ēnei takiwā? Rangi: Kāore i tua atu i te mohimohi (HKK 1999:21). / Pare: What's the best bait for these parts? Rangi: You can't beat pilchard.
Synonyms: mohi
2. (noun) kōaro, Galaxias brevipinnis, whitebait - a small spotted freshwater fish dark greenish-brown to grey-brown in colour. The juvenile form is one of the five species called whitebait. Widespread throughout Aotearoa/New Zealand in clear, fast-flowing, cobble to boulder streams and rivers with forest cover.
mohimohi
1. (verb) to tend, nurse, care for, take care of.
Ki ngā tangata o Taitoko, ko 'Granny Retter' tā rātou karanga i a ia, te wahine nāna i mohimohi ngā tīpuna whāea, ngā tamariki hoki o taua tāone, ā, ko ia anō hoki te tauhere atu ki ngā rā o nehe o te ao Māori, Pākehā anō hoki (TTR 1996:163). / To the people of Levin, their name for her was 'Granny Retter', the woman who had cared for their first generation of mothers and babies, and who was a link with the past of the Māori and Pākehā worlds.
Synonyms: nāhi, tapuhi, morimori, tiaki, nēhi, nānā, whakatapuhi, hiki
2. (verb) to be smooth, sleek, silky.
Kia kori te manu, ā, kia mohimohi rānei ngā huruhuru, he tohu kino (W 1971:205). / Should the bird wriggle about or the feathers be sleek, that was a bad sign.
