wētā
1. (noun) wētā - large insects of various species found in trees and caves. There are five broad groups of wētā: tree wētā (pūtangatanga), ground wētā, cave wētā (tokoriro), giant wētā (wētā punga) and tusked wētā. They are active at night and all Aotearoa/New Zealand species are wingless. The females have a long, egg-laying spike at the back.
Ka toa ko Tāne. Whāia, nāna te tini o ngā tamariki a Whiro i kāhaki ki te whenua - te waeroa, te namupoto, te naonao, te wētā, te pepe, te rango, te kōwhitiwhiti (Te Ara 2013). / Tāne was victorious and took Whiro’s many birds and insects down to earth - mosquitoes, small sandflies, midges, stick insects and praying mantises, wētā, moths and butterflies, blowflies and grasshoppers.
See also pūtangatanga, tokoriro, wētā punga
wēta
1. (loan) (noun) wether.
Hipi - wēta e mou tonu ana ngā wūru, te 12/h ki te 13/h 3k; Hipi katikati, e 8/h me te 6k; Io, me ngā huruhuru anō, e 9/h me te 6k ki te 10/-h.... (TJ 8/12/1898:11). / Sheep - wethers still with their wool, 12 shillings to 13 shillings and threepence; Shorn sheep, 8s 6d; Ewes, unshorn, 9s 6d to 10s...
2. no way, never - an idiom to suggest that something wasn't, or won't be, achieved.
Pare: Ko wai kē te tangata māna e whaikōrero ngā manuhiri whakaeke? Rangi: Ko koe rā, e weta! (HKK 1999:87). / Pare: Who else can do the speech to thevisitors coming on? Rangi: You, never!
Pare: Māku tāua e mau atu ki te tauranga hī ika. Rangi: Tō weta e tā! Ka hia tāima e pakaru ana te mīhini o tō waka (HKK 1999:87). / Pare: I'll take us both to the fishing ground. Rangi: No way my friend! How many times has the engine of your boat broken down.
Synonyms: rawa, nōwhea, tōu ene, nōhea, hore kau, kāhore kau, hore rawa, e hawa (e hawa), i neki, auare ake, e, he aha hoki
wēta
1. (loan) (noun) west.
E kī atu ana ki te hiti o te wēta o Ākarana, kia whakatūria a Tā Hōri Kerei, mō te tūranga o Te Kirihi, me te whakapuaki, kāore te Kāwanatanga, e wehi i tēnei ki a Tā Hōri (TW 12/2/1875:9). / It advises Auckland City West to elect Sir George Grey to replace Mr Gillies, and declares that the Government do not in the least fear Sir George.
wētā punga
1. (noun) giant wētā, Deinacrida spp. - the nine different species are all endangered. They eat leaves and have five to seven pairs of big spines on their back legs and a saddle-like shield on the neck wider than its head.
See also wētā
2. (noun) Carpodetus serratus, a tree.
