pākaha
1. (verb) to be energetic, firm, bold, forceful, vigorous, aggressive.
Ki te mea ka pākaha te mahi, ka whakakotahi te tikanga, e kore pea e wheau ka mimiti ngā puna o tēnei kino (TWMNT 25/5/1875:110). / If we set to work in earnest, and if we act unitedly, perhaps it won't be long before the springs of this evil will be dried up.
2. (modifier) violent, severe, firm, bold, strict.
Heoti, mēnā ki te whakaaro o te rangatahi i ētehi wā he wahine pākaha a Te Puea, i mōhio anō hoki rātou ki te hōhonu o tōna pūaroha ki a rātou katoa (TTR 1996:52). / However, if the young people in these times thought that Te Puea was a strict woman, they also knew the depth of her concern for them all.
3. (noun) strictness, severity, rigour, sternness.
Ahakoa te pākaha o Te Riri ki ana mokopuna, he pākaha tōkeke tonu nei tōna (TTR 1998:84). / Despite Te Riri's strictness with his grandchildren, his sternness was fair.
Synonyms: taikaha
