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Filters

Idioms

Phrases

Proverbs

Loan words

Historical loan words

weka

1. (noun) weka, woodhen, Gallirallus australis greyi, Gallirallus australis australis - a brown-feathered endemic bird streaked with black with a short bill and legs, able to run fast but flightless.

(Te Pihinga Textbook (Ed. 2): 1, 10;)

He mahira te manu nei te weka (Te Ara 2011). / The weka is an inquisitive bird.

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karanga weka

1. (noun) flute for calling weka.

(Te Māhuri Textbook (Ed. 2): 165;)

Ko te karanga weka he kakau poto tōna, ā, ko tētahi pito ka piko whakarunga. Kotahi noa te wenewene (TWK 41:15). / The flute for calling weka has a short stem and one end curves upwards. It has just one fingerhole.

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Kōhanga weka

1. The weka nest: said of something that is disheveled.

Kuua kōhanga weka katoa te whare nei, kātahi rā! / The place is in a shambles, geez!

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maukoroa

1. (noun) red paint - made by mixing a certain kind of red clay with weka or shark oil.

Mirimiria ai te tūpāpaku ki te maukoroa i whakawhenumia ai e te tohunga. / The body was rubbed with red paint mixed by the tohunga.

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kōhangaweka

1. (stative) to be disordered, ragged, untidy, all over the place, muddled - a metaphor from the untidy nature of a weka nest.

Kua kōhangaweka ngā raupō i te hau (W 1971:124). / The raupō is wind-blown.

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Synonyms: hūkiki, parure, kanu, ruwha, kuha, kanukanu, pakaru, ruha, tāwekoweko, taretare, hīraurau

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