potapota
1. (verb) to be broken into pieces, smashed into pieces.
Potapota noa ana ngā whare i taua hau, hikitia ana kāhakina haeretia ana i runga i te rangi, ka taea te koata māero te pāmamao, ka tukua whakareretia ki raro ki te whenua, potapota noa ana tēnā (TWMNT 30/8/1879:522). / The buildings were completely smashed by that wind having been lifted up and carried away into the sky for a quarter of a mile and then dashed down on the ground and smashed to pieces.
2. (modifier) roundabout, surrounding.
He tangata tino whakarae a ia nō roto o Ngāti Kahungunu ki te takiwā ki Te Wairoa, i te pito whakararo o Te Matau-a-Māui, i ngā tau potapotae o te tīmatanga o te rau tau rua ngahuru (TTR 1996:193). / He was a very prominent figure among Ngāti Kahungunu in the Wairoa district, at the northern end of Hawke's Bay, around the beginning of the twentieth century.
Synonyms: kopipio, āwheo, āwhio, porowhawhe, takaāwhio, takawhawhe, autaki
