3. (noun) insect, beetle.
Ko te kupu ‘pepeke’, mō te kakama o te nekeneke haere. Mō ngā ngārara katoa te karangatanga nei (Te Ara 2012). / The word 'pepeke' means to move quickly, and this term is used for all insects.
See also aitanga pepeke, aitanga-a-pēpeke
4. (noun) branch, limb.
6. (noun) prickly dogfish, Oxynotus bruniensis - has a deep humpbacked body, triangular in cross-section and a trunk snout. Widespread in Aotearoa/New Zealand waters at depths of 45-1120 m.
pēpeke
1. (verb) to draw up the legs or arms.
Ki tāu ia, me tahatahi tonu te moe; kaua e huri ki tētahi taha, kaua e whārōrō, kaua e tīraha, kaua e pēpeke (TWMNT 4/4/1876:81). / But in your opinion, a man must sleep on one side continually; he must not turn on the other side, nor stretch out at full length, nor lie on his back, nor draw up his legs.
moe pēpeke
1. (verb) to sleep curled up (with the knees bent).
Nā, e hoa mā, rite ana tātou ināianei ki te kupu o te waiata e mea nei, 'Moe tūturi, moe pēpeke, moe tūpoupou.' (TWMA 18/7/1884:4). / So, my friends, we are now just like what the words of the song say, 'Sleeping kneeling, sleeping with the legs bent, and sleeping swaying to and fro.'
