kuku
1. (verb) (-a,kūngia,-tia) to nip, hold in the breath or a feeling, hold back, draw together, clamp.
I le mutunga o tana kōrero mō tana tamaiti, ka kūkua tōna manawa i te 10 o ngā rā, pō noa te rā i te 11, ka riro ia (TW 2/3/1878:105). / When he ended his talk about his child, he had a heart attack on the 10th of the month, and at 11pm after the sun had set, he died.
Synonyms: kikini, kini, kinikini, timotimo, timo, kakati, kukuti, kuti, kati, nanapi, pakini, honi, hohoni
2. (verb) (kūkua,kūngia,-tia) to close, double up, clasp.
Ka tūturi aua rangatira, taua rua, ka kuku i ō raua ringa, ka whakatoro ki te rangi, ka whakawhetai atu ki te Atua (TWMNT 23/2/1875:43). / Those two chiefs knelt down, clasped their hands and stretch them to heaven, and praised God.
3. (verb) (kūkua,-ngia,-tia) to clench (the fist).
Ka kukua te ringaringa, ka motokia ake ki tōna ihu, ā, ka toto te ihu, ka pania ki te matau (TAH 38:48). / He clenched his fist, punched his nose and when his nose was bloody, he smeared it on the fish-hook.
4. (verb) (kūkua) to haunt.
Nāna i wete te kēhua kua roa kē nei e kuku ana i a Timi Kara, ā, noho māmā ana tōna ngākau (TTR 1994:15). / He shed the ghost that had long haunted James Carroll, who was relieved.
5. (noun) fear, nightmare, colic.
Ka moe koe, ā, e haere mai ana te wairua o tētahi tangata ki te patu i a koe, he kuku tēnā (W 1971:155). / When you sleep and the spirit of a person comes to kill you, that is a nightmare.
6. (modifier) fearful, dreadful, awful, horrible.
Kei te pēnei anō a Poihākena, ko ngā wāhi paru o te tāone e kaha ana te pāngia e te mate urutā hou nei. Nā reira, e te iwi, e tūmatatenga ana mātou, ki te whiti mai tēnei mate ki Niu Tīreni nei ko taua, ko te Māori, hei tipinga mā tēnei atua kuku (HKW 1/4/1900:2). / Sydney is in a similar position with the dirty parts of the city being hit hardest by this new epidemic. So, people, we are concerned that if this disease crosses to Aotearoa/New Zealand we, the Māori, will be decimated by this fearful disease.
7. (noun) haunting.
Waiho ērā kia noho tapu ki te whānau, ngā āhuatanga tapu nei, ngā āhuatanga o te kuku o te tangata e te kēhua (Milroy 2015). / Let those things remain sacred to the family, these matters of tapu, the ways a person is haunted by a ghost.
8. (noun) pincers, tweezers, forceps.
Puritia te paepae mā te kuku i a au e whaiuru ana (Ng 993:339). / Hold the bar with the pincers while I file it.
