tūpono
1. (verb) (-hia,-tia) to come upon accidentally, happen, happen by chance, come about, chance upon.
Ka pakeke te tamaiti rā, he tāne, ka haere mai ki te kimi i te pāpā, ka tūpono ki ētahi o Ngāti Porou i Pōneke (M 2006:100). / When that child, a male, grew up he came to look for his father and he came upon some of Ngāti Porou in Wellington.
kei tūpono
1. in case, just in case, lest perhaps.
Ka pai tonu te kohikohi i ngā kupu pēnei i te wā e whakamahia tonuhia ana, ka tāpiri atu ki ngā kupu e noho mai ana i rō papakupu Māori. Kei tūpono ka ngaro haere i roto i ngā tau, ā, mate ā-moa tonu atu (HM 2/1998:4). / It's quite good to collect words like this at the time they are still being used and add them to the words contained in Māori dictionaries, just in case they become lost over the years and die like the moa.
Synonyms: me/mai/mei kore (noa) (rā) e ..., me kore noa e tūpono
me kore noa e tūpono
1. on the off chance, just in case, to see whether - an idiom.
Hone: Ha! Kei hea aku kī mō tōku waka? Hine: E hoki koe ki tō tāua whare me kore noa e tūpono ka kitea i reira. / John: Huh! Where are my car keys? Hine: Go back to the house on the off chance that they'll be found there.
Synonyms: me/mai/mei kore (noa) (rā) e ..., kei tūpono
