whakahakahaka
1. (verb) (-tia) to threaten, menace, intimidate, bully.
I te tekau tau atu i 1880, ka whakahakahakatia tēnei motu e Rūhia (i te wā e whakahakahaka ana a Rūhia i ngā pānga o Piripitānia ki te taha raki o Īnia) (Te Ara 2015). / In the 1880s this country was threatened by Russia (at the time when Russia was threatening British interests in North India).
2. (verb) to cower, cringe, creep.
Ka pōwhiriwhiri te waero o te kurī rā, ka whakahakahaka haere atu, ka tae ki a Kuharoa (JPS 1906:132). / The dog wagged its tail and crept up to Kuharoa.
3. (verb) to descend upon.
Ka eke ki runga, ka whakahakahaka iho ngā manu rā, ka piki anō whakarunga ngā manu rā, aua tonu ake, ka tiu anō ki runga ki te pā (JPS 1905:76). / Those kites ascended to a height, and then descended, then climbed upwards again until they were a long way up, and swooped again over the pā.
4. (modifier) threatening, bullying, intimidatory, menacing.
Nō taua wiki tonu i tae atu ai tētahi reta whakahakahaka e whakahau ana kia mātua hoko raihana ngā tāngata whai pouaka whakaata, ki te kore, ka mau i roto i te wā, ā, ka whiua (HM 4/1993:5). / On that very same week a threatening letter arrived ordering that people owning televisions must buy a licence, and if they don't they will eventually be caught and punished.
Synonyms: kaioraora, pōrukuruku
