mai, mai
1. for ages, from way back, long standing, it goes way back - an idiom to indicate a long length of time. Less commonly each mai is followed by a phrase.
Kua mōhio noa atu te Māori, mai, mai, mai rā anō, ko te hinengaro o te tamaiti kua tīmata kē te hikohiko, te ohooho i te wā tonu o te tōhuatanga (Rewi 2005:43). / Māori have known for a long time that the mind of a child has already begun to be active at the time of foetal development.
Koinā tō rātou āhua mai, mai, he noho noa iho i konā kore noa iho ai. / That’s what they’ve been like for ages, sitting there doing sweet nothing.
Kāore rawa i wareware i a au tēnei aituā, mai i muri mai, mai i muri mai (HP 1991:38). / I have never forgotten this accident from so long ago.
Synonyms: tāukiuki
