2. (noun) greenstone, nephrite, jade.
Ko ā rātou rākau patu tangata, he koikoi, he huata, he taiaha, he tewhatewha, he hoeroa; he mea tārai ki te toki pounamu, ki te toki kōhatu (JPS 1899:179). / Their man-killing weapons were spears, lances, taiaha, tewhatewha and long whale-bone weapons fashioned with greenstone and stone adzes.
See also pounemu
Synonyms: waipounamu
3. (noun) glass bottle - named because early bottles were green like greenstone.
Kaua e tuhatuha haere, engari me tuha ki roto i tētahi ipu, pounamu rānei (TKO 11/1920:6). / Don't spit all over the place, but expectorate into a container or a bottle.
taha pounamu
1. (noun) blue shark, Prionace glauca - sometimes as taha-pounamu or tahapounamu. Light-bodied with long pectoral fins. Body slender, tapering from the snout. The top of the body is deep blue, lighter on the sides, and the underside is white. The male blue shark commonly grows to 1.82 to 2.82 m at maturity, whereas the larger females commonly grow to 2.2 to 3.3 m. They feed primarily on small fish and squid, although they can take larger prey. Common throughout Aotearoa/New Zealand.
See also aupounamu
Synonyms: matawhā, mangō au pounamu, mangō pounamu, ngengero, aupounamu
tatau pounamu
1. (noun) enduring peace, making of peace, peacemaking - literally ' greenstone door', a metaphor for lasting peace. When peace was made a precious gift was often made to symbolise the event.
Nā te mea he tama mōrehu, ka hoatu ko Huriwhenua tōna ingoa hei whakamaumaharatanga ki te tatau pounamu i waenganui i a Ngāi Tahu me Te Āti Awa i te tau 1844 (TTR 1994:100). / Because he was a surviving son, he was given the name Huriwhenua in commemoration of the making of peace between Ngāi Tahu and Te Āti Awa in 1844.
Synonyms: rongo taketake, houhanga rongo
kuru pounamu
1. (noun) ornament of greenstone.
Ka rawe te iwi rangatira e noho rā, ka oti te whakakākahu ki ngā kākahu rangatira, he aurei katoa te here o ngā kākahu. Ko Tapuae, he paepaeroa, ko te māhiti ki waho. Kitea te nui o te aurei, o te kuru pounamu ki runga ki te pakihiwi o Tapuae, te here o ngā kākahu o te māhiti, me te wahine a Tapuae, he wahine rangatira hoki, he kākahu kiwi te kākahu, me ngā kōtore huia te rākai ki tahi taha, ki tahi taha, o te māhuna, ko te tiki ki te poho, ko ngā tautau tongarerewa ki tahi pakihiwi, ki tahi (TP 9/1908:3). / The aristocratic folk were gorgeous as they sat decked out in their grand clothes all fastened with ivory pins. There was Tapuae with a paepaeroa and a māhiti over it. An abundance of ivory pins and greenstone ornaments could be seen on Tapuae's shoulder, fastening his garments and his māhiti. His wife too, a well-born woman, was wearing a kiwi cloak, with tail feathers of the huia adorning both sides of her head, a tiki on her breast, and quite a cluster of greenstone drops on each shoulder.
mangō pounamu
1. (noun) blue shark, Prionace glauca - light-bodied with long pectoral fins. Body slender, tapering from the snout. The top of the body is deep blue, lighter on the sides, and the underside is white. The male blue shark commonly grows to 1.82 to 2.82 m at maturity, whereas the larger females commonly grow to 2.2 to 3.3 m. They feed primarily on small fish and squid, although they can take larger prey. Common throughout Aotearoa/New Zealand.
See also aupounamu
Synonyms: matawhā, mangō au pounamu, taha pounamu, ngengero, aupounamu
whakapapa pounamu
1. (verb) to cause to be like a smooth slab of greenstone, calm, smooth.
Arā anō ngā kōrero mō tētahi taniwha ka whakapapa pounamu i ngā ngaru nui mō te waka o Tainui (Te Ara 2017). / There is another story of a taniwha that calmed the great waves for the canoe of the Tainui people.
Kia hora te marino, kia whakapapa pounamu te moana, kia tere te kārohirohi i mua i tō huarahi (NP 2001:210). / May the calm be widespread, may the sea lie smooth as a slab of greenstone, may the shimmer of light guide you on your way. (A blessing for travellers.)
mangō au pounamu
1. (noun) blue shark, Prionace glauca - light-bodied with long pectoral fins. Body slender, tapering from the snout. The top of the body is deep blue, lighter on the sides, and the underside is white. The male blue shark commonly grows to 1.82 to 2.82 m at maturity, whereas the larger females commonly grow to 2.2 to 3.3 m. They feed primarily on small fish and squid, although they can take larger prey. Common throughout Aotearoa/New Zealand.
See also aupounamu
Synonyms: matawhā, mangō pounamu, taha pounamu, ngengero, aupounamu
2. (noun) variety of pounamu.
2. (noun) young unexpanded leaves (of plants such as the kiekie).
Ko te tāwhara ko te hua tēnei, ko te kōrito o te kiekie e tupu ana i runga i ngā rākau pūwharawhara (TWK 43:17). / The edible flower bracts and the young leaves of the kiekie grow on clumps of trees.
3. (noun) cooked raupō roots.
4. (noun) soft outer part of the shoulder-blade.
5. (noun) dark-green opaque variety of pounamu.
Waipounamu, Te
1. (location) South Island - sometimes written as Te Wai Pounamu, Te Wāhi Pounamu or Te Wāi Pounamu.
Ko tētehi o aua keke i waiho hei tukutuku ki ngā whanaunga, i ia wāhi, i ia wāhi o Aotearoa, o Te Waipounamu (TW 21/2/1876:72). / One of those cakes was left to be sent to relatives in each part of the North and South Islands.
See also Waka-o-Māui, Te, Waka-o-Aoraki, Te
2. (location) Greenstone Valley.
