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Idioms

Phrases

Proverbs

Loan words

Historical loan words

piripiri

1. (verb) (-ngia) to keep close, close together, stick, cling, adhere.

I pōuri tonu te rangi me te whenua i mua: ko Rangi rāua ko Papa e piripiri tonu ana, kāore anō i wehea noatia (KO 16/9/1886:4). / Formerly the sky and the land were still in darkness: Rangi and Papa still clung together and were not yet separated.

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Synonyms: rūnā, whakapiri, piri


2. (noun) burr, biddy-bid, Acaena anserinifolia - a common creeping native plant with toothed leaves, white flowers like a spiky ball and fruit of green burrs, turning reddish brown.


3. (noun) drooping filmy fern, Hymenophyllum demissum - the commonest of all filmy ferns, especially on the ground in wetter parts of the country. Has large smooth fronds.


4. (noun) filmy fern, Hymenophyllum sanguinolentum - a terrestrial or epiphytic native fern forming dense patches. Rhizomes long-creeping, slender, fronds dark green, strongly aromatic and was used as a scent. Stipes 20-90 mm long and slender. A very common and widespread species of closed or open forest and shrub-land from coastal to subalpine areas. Also a common species of shaded canyon walls, cliff faces, rock tors, boulder-field and talus slopes.


5. (noun) pygmy tree orchid, Ichthyostomum pygmaeum - a tiny orchid that forms tangled mats of rhizomes and pseudobulbs.One leaf grows from each pseudobulb. Leaves are pointed, green to dark green, 4-10 mm long and 2-4 mm wide with a slightly rough upper surface. Often epiphytic on bumpy bark and outer limbs of trees in coastal and montane forest.


6. (noun) Gonocarpus incanus​ - wiry, erect or diffusely branched endemic herb up to 40 cm. tall.


7. (noun) Gonocarpus micranthus subsp. micranthus - a slender native herb up to 10 cm. tall, rooting from lowest nodes and having many stems.


8. (noun) rifleman, Acanthisitta chloris - Aotearoa/New Zealand's smallest bird, distinguished by its rounded wings, a very short stumpy tail and a fine, slightly upturned bill. The male is bright yellow-green above while the female is streaked dark and light brown and both have whitish underparts. Found in native forests and scrub.

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