kūī
1. (verb) to be short of food.
Arā i te mea hoki e kai tonu ana i tana kai nei i te tangata i ngā tau katoa, kāore hoki ana tau e kūī, kāore ana tau kotipū, kāore he takurua (MM.TKM 2/1/1851:4). / And that was because it was always eating its diet of people every year, it had no years of food shortages, no early winters and no winter.
2. (modifier) food shortage.
3. (noun) cold.
I runga anō i te maumahara ki te kaha o te kūī, i te tiko mai o hukāpapa, i te tau o hukāpunga, i te hū o Ruapehu i te tau ka hori ka whakatauhia me neke paku whakamua mai te kura ki Hīrangi ki te wā e āhua pūāhuru tonu ana (HM 2/1997:5). / Remembering how cold it was and how the frost settled, the snow fell and the eruption of Ruapehu last year, it has been decided that the learning gathering at Hīrangi be moved forward to a time when it is still a little warmer.
