2. (modifier) intensely dark - usually follows pō. Sometimes written as one word, i.e. pōtangotango.
Ko te kōrero o te haerenga mai o Mahu i Nukutaurua ki a Taewha-a-rangi i Maungawharau (kei te taha moana o Heretaunga) ki te kimi i te ara e haere ai te tangata ki te pōuriuri, ki te pōtangotango, ki tua o Paerau, oti atu, mō te tāhaetanga i tā rāua kūmara ko tōna wahine (M 2004:360). / The account of the journey of Mahu from Nukutaurua to see Taewha-a-rangi at Maungawharau (on the coast of Hawke's Bay) to search for the pathway that mankind took on the way to the dark night, to the night of utter darkness, beyond Paerau, forever, because of the theft of his and his wife's kūmara.
See also pōtangotango
