tere
1. (verb) to be quick, swift, fast.
Ina pania te parāoa ki te tiamu kia tere tonu te whawhao i te parāoa ki roto o te waha; ki te kore ka kapi katoa te parāoa i te rango (TTT 1/9/1931:39). / When the bread is spread with jam quickly put it into your mouth; if you don't the bread will be covered with blowflies.
Ko te teina, ko Tūrongo, i tere te whiwhi manu (NIT 1995:63). / The younger brother, Tūrongo, was quick to obtain birds.
Synonyms: teretere, whitawhita, hihiko, horo, pekepeke, horohoro, hohoro, tūkawikawi, wawewawe, whiwhita, kakama, pepeke, kama, māngi, naho, kamakama
2. (adjective) be quick, swift, fast.
He tere tonu hoki ia ki te oma (HP 1991:192). / And he was quite fast at running.
3. (modifier) quickly, swiftly, rapidly, fast, quick - despite the example below tere does not usually follow immediately after a verb.
Kua kitea e te Pākehā he huarahi patu tere i te wēra, hāunga anō te pū (TTT 1/8/1929:1045). / The Pākehā have found a way of killing whales quickly, apart from with a gun.
He hōiho tere tonu a Maraea ki te toi, ahakoa tōna āhua kaumātua (HP 1991:45). / Maraea was a fast horse at trotting, despite being somewhat old.
4. (modifier) quickly, promptly, readily, speedily, rapidly - sometimes used before another base, usually a verb, to indicate that something is done speedily in a short space of time.
(Te Māhuri Textbook (Ed. 2): 65-66;)
I tere haurangi ia nā tana tere inu i te wāina. / She rapidly became drunk because she drank the wine too quickly.
Synonyms: wawe, rere, tangetange, kimonga kanohi, tipitipi ana, tonu, ake
5. (noun) speed, swiftness, velocity, alacrity, tempo, quickness, rapidity, promptness.
E kore pea te tangata e whakapono ki te kīia atu e 640 māero te tere o taua whetū i te hēkene kotahi (TP 1/6/1901:11). / A person would probably never believe it if it was said that the speed of that comet was 640 miles per second.
Synonyms: moata, kakama, parahutihuti
tere
1. (loan) (noun) cherry.
E takatū ana mātau ki te hoko mai i ngā Māori i ngā huarākau katoa, arā, paramu, tere, pea, pītiti, āporo, kuini, wāina, me ērā atu tini huarākau (TJ 18/1/1898:9). / We are preparing to buy from Māori all kinds of fruit, that is, plums, cherries, pears, peaches, apples, quinces, grapes and the many other kinds of fruit.
2. (verb) to travel, sail.
I te mutunga o āna mahi manawa kai tūtae e tere ana i ngā moana o te ao, ka noho ia ki uta i te tau 1830, ki te teihana hopu pakake a Jacky Guard i Te Awaiti (TTR 1994:23). / After his adventurous occupation sailing the oceans of the world, in 1830 he lived ashore at Jacky Guard's Te Awaiti shore whaling station.
ngutu tere
1. (verb) to be untrustworthy, unreliable (of people).
Ko ngā tāngata e whai moni ana hei utu mō te rūritanga, e kaha ana, e ngutu tere ana hoki ki te kōrero i roto i te Kōti, ko ngā mea ēnā e riro ai ngā karauna karāti, ā mate ana te tangata kūare, te tangata tika (TWMNT 29/10/1873:134). / The people who have money to pay for the survey have the power but are untrustworthy when speaking in the Court, those are the ones who obtain the crown grants, and the person who is uneducated but the right person is defeated.
2. (modifier) untrustworthy, unreliable.
Ko te kaiwhakaatu ngutu tere e kōrero rūpahu ana (Ng 1993:145). / The unreliable witness is telling lies.
3. (noun) rumour monger.
Ka hoki tā mātou kōrero ki te whai kupu atu ki ngā hoa Māori kia kaua e whakaponohia ngā tini kōrero horihori noa iho e tae noa ake ana ki a rātou i ēnei takiwā. Tōna wāhi i hua mai ai, tōna tīmatanga i tupu mai ēnei kōrero, e kore rawa e āhei te rapu; puta kau ana te kōrero, nāwai ā, te hohoro o te ngutu tere ki te kawekawe haere, āpiti hoki ko tā tēnā ko tā tēnā i whakaaro noa ake ai, hei whakanui kau i taua kōrero (TMT 1/3/1861:4). / Our discussion returns to advise our Māori friends to not give credence to the many false tales that reach them from time to time. Where these rumours originate, it is difficult to find but after a time the rumour mongers circulate and embellish them.
waka tere
1. (noun) ferry.
Nō te 19 o Tīhema i te tau 1981 i hinga ai a Pāora, kua tae noa ōna tau ki te 90, nuku atu rānei; i tika tonu, mā runga waka tere ia whakawhiti ai i te koko o te Whitianga ki te urupā o Tokatā, nehua ai (TTR 1998:27). / Pāora died on 19 December 1981, aged in his 90s, and fittingly was taken by ferry across the bay of Whitianga to Tokatā cemetery to be buried.
ahi tere
1. (noun) flickering fire, unstable fire - a term used when members of a whānau have not returned to their tribal lands to 'keep the fires burning' for three or four generations and their rights have almost been extinguished.
Ki te whakarērea te whenua ka mātao te ahi, ka ngaro ngā tika ki te whenua. Hei te tīmatanga ka iti te ahi, kīia ai he ahi tere. Ka tae ana ki te wā ka weto te ahi, ko te ahi mātaotao tērā (Te Ara 2013). / The legitimacy of any claim diminished over time if the land was abandoned and the fire allowed to die out. Initially, the right started to wane and became ahi tere (unstable fire). Eventually the fire was extinguished which was ahi mātaotao (cold fire).
See also ahi tahutahu
Synonyms: ahi teretere
Ika-tere
1. (personal name) son of Punga and grandchild of the atua, Tangaroa. He fled to the sea with his children, the fish, to escape the wrath of Tāwhiri-mātea.
Nā Tangaroa tonu hoki ko Punga, nā Punga tokorua o āna, ko Ika-tere, ko Tū-te-wehiwehi, ko tētahi ingoa ōna ko Tū-te-wanawana, e rua ōna ingoa (NM 1928:2). / From Tangaroa came Punga and Punga had two children, Ika-tere and Tū-te-wehiwehi, also called Tū-te-wanawana. He had two names.
See also atua
2. (noun) Prefix used for names of measuring equipment, e.g. ine-tere speedometer, ine-mahana thermometer, ine-rū seismograph. Sometimes written as separate words, e.g. ine tere.
See also ine-tere, ine-mahana, ine-rū
3. (noun) meter.
(Te Kōhure Textbook (Ed. 2): 113-114;)
