2. (modifier) rotten, decayed, worm-eaten, decomposed.
Ko te tai o tō rātou oranga, kua roa nei e kato ana, e heke ana, ka hāngai tēnei te rere o te ia ki uta; mea ake paea ai te kaipuke pirau, kurupopo nei, o te Kāwanatanga ki runga ki ngā toka o te ākau (TWMNT 16/10/1878:76). / The tide of their prosperity, so long flowing and ebbing, is like the flow of the current to the shore and soon the decaying rotten ship of the Government will strand on the rocks of the coast.
3. (noun) rot, decay.
Nō te mahinga hou e ngā Pākehā i te wāpu i Pōneke, i kitea ai te tino pai o tēnei rākau, a te tōtara, tekau mā whitu tau o te tōtara i tū ai i roto i te moana, ā, kāhore kau ōna kurupopo (TW 1/12/1877:472). / When the Pākehā rebuilt the wharf at Wellington it was seen how really good this timber, tōtara, is as it stood in the sea for seventeen years and it had no rot.
Synonyms: kurupōpopo, pirau, hanehane, koropungapunga, whakapirau
