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Loan words

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Idioms

Phrases

Proverbs

Loan words

Historical loan words

kōura

1. (noun) salt-water crayfish, the southern rock lobster, red rock lobster, spiny rock lobster, Jasus edwardsii - a species of spiny lobster found throughout coastal waters of southern Australia and New Zealand including the Chatham Islands.

Ka nui te whaikōrero, ka tukua te kai, arā, te tuna, te inanga, te kōura, te toitoi (JPS 1901:74). / After a lot of speech-making, food was presented, that is eels, whitebait, crayfish and giant bully.

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Synonyms: matapara, kōura papatea


2. (noun) packhorse rock lobster, Jasus verreauxi - found in the north and east of the North Island, live around rocky reefs at depths of 5 to 275m. Larger and have a slightly greener colour than rock lobster (crayfish). Distinguished by its much larger body size, smoother tail and its very broad carapace.

Synonyms: pawharu


3. (noun) North Island freshwater crayfish, Paranephrops planifrons, South Island freshwater crayfish, Paranephrops zealandicus - found in native forest, exotic forest, and pastoral waterways, but very rarely in urban streams because of chemical pollution, increased flood flows from stormwater inputs, and degradation of habitat.

Synonyms: koeke, kēkēwai, kēwai

kōura

1. (loan) (noun) gold (Au).

E rua tonu ngā hāora e mahi ana aua koroke, riro rawa ana i a rāua ngā kōura rite ki te £750 pāuna moni! (TWM 14/5/1864:3). / In just two hours work those two fellows had obtained gold equivalent to £750!

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kōura

1. (loan) (noun) goal.

Kotahi tā rātau koura, kāore ā mātau (HP 1991:250). / They scored one goal, we scored none.

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Upoko koura

1. Crayfish head: within the head of the crayfish is the yellow substance likened to excrement, so 'a shit for brains'.

Kei whakarongo ki te upoko koura / Don't listen to that shit-for-brains.

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kōura rangi

1. (noun) whale-feed, shrimp, krill, Munida gregaria.

Synonyms: uraura

kōura mara

1. (noun) crayfish fermented in fresh water.

Kakū ana tana ngao i ngā kai papai a te Pākehā, engari ko tēhea atu hoki i te kānga kōpiro, i te toroī, i te kōura mara, i te kina i rāua ki te wai māori mō ngā rā e toru, i te kōuka, i te mangō me te kererū huahua, he mea kōtutu katoa i roto anō i ōna hinu (TTR 1998:206). / He enjoyed the finest of Pākehā foods but relished fermented corn, pickled pūhā and mussels, crayfish fermented in fresh water, sea-urchins steeped in fresh water for three days, inner baby fronds of the cabbage tree, shark, and wild pigeons preserved entirely in their own fat.

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kōura papatea

1. (noun) rock lobster, spiny rock lobster, red rock lobster, spiny crayfish, Jasus edwardsii - reddish orange to purple crayfish with spines on the tail.

Synonyms: matapara, kōura

pāpapa-kōura

1. (noun) willowherb, Epilobium microphyllum - an endemic tufted, creeping herb with woody bases, and numerous ascending, wiry, purple-black or black stems. White petals and flowers from December - February. Found from about Kāwhia and East Cape south, locally abundant around the Cook Strait region, thence mainly easterly in the South Island in gravelly or shingly riverbeds, flats and outwash plains from sea level to 1,200 m.

papa-kōura

1. (noun) willowherb, Epilobium microphyllum - an endemic tufted, creeping herb with woody bases, and numerous ascending, wiry, purple-black or black stems. White petals and flowers from December - February. Found from about Kāwhia and East Cape south, locally abundant around the Cook Strait region, thence mainly easterly in the South Island in gravelly or shingly riverbeds, flats and outwash plains from sea level to 1,200 m.

See also pāpapa-kōura

He manako te koura i kore ai

1. Wishful thinking.

A wish for crayfish amounted to nothing. /

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