amokura
1. (noun) red-tailed tropicbird, Phaethon rubricauda, red-tailed tropicbird feather - rare tropical bird with white feathers, a red bill, black feet and long thin red streamers. Breeds in the Kermadec Islands and sometimes seen at sea in northern Aotearoa/New Zealand. Red tail feathers were highly prized in traditional Māori society.
Ka titia te amokura o tana tāne ki ngā makawe o tōna mātenga (M 2004:160). / She then stuck her husband's red-tailed tropicbird feather plume on the hair of her head.
2. (noun) chief, leader - a figurative term.
I Hānuere o 1869, ka haere tahi ngā amokura tokotoru nei a Mete Kīngi, a Tāmihana Te Rauparaha, a Wī Tako Ngātata i te taha o Kāwana G. F. Bowen ki Ōtautahi (TTR 1990:264). / The three leaders, Mete Kīngi, Tāmihana Te Rauparaha and Wī Tako Ngātata accompanied Governor G. F. Bowen to Christchurch in January 1869.
Synonyms: manu taupua, kaitaki, kaitātaki, kaiārahi, kākākura, pouwhenua, kaiwhakataki, wheao, tumuaki, tumu whakarae, kaiarataki, kaikākāriki, ngārahu, tētēkura, uru, kaihautū, kaitakitaki, kaingārahu, manukura, kaiwhakanekeneke, tātāriki, amokapua, ariki, ihorei, kahika, tātarariki, poutoko, whakataka, amorangi, hautū
