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Idioms

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Proverbs

Loan words

Historical loan words

Filters

Idioms

Phrases

Proverbs

Loan words

Historical loan words

kanohi

1. (noun) face, countenance.

Kauaka taua tamaiti e whakaaetia kia tauera i tōna kanohi ki te tauera o te katoa (TTT 1/11/1927:686). / That child should not be allowed to dry his face with the towel used by everybody.

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See also ā-kanohi, konohe, konohi


2. (noun) eye, eyesight, sight.

He wahine hae a Hiro, kāore rawa ia i pai kia ngaro tana tāne i ōna kanohi (TP 1/1/1902:8). / Hiro was a jealous woman, she didn't like her husband being out of her sight.

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kanohi ki te kanohi

1. (stative) face to face, in person, in the flesh.

kimonga kanohi

1. in the blink of an eye, very quickly.

Ahakoa i kimonga kanohi noa iho te roa o te rū, pēnei tonu au ka hinga te whare. / Even though the earthquake was over in the blink of any eye, I thought the house was going to topple over.

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whakapai kanohi

1. (intransitive verb) to favour one over the other, treat differently, discriminate.

Nō te pānuitanga tuarua i te tau 1882, ka whakawhiua e ia te kāwanatanga, he whakapai kanohi nōna ki te iwi Māori, he whēnako whenua (TTR 1990:338). / On the second reading in 1882, he accused the government of discrimination against the Māori people and of stealing land.

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kanohi wera

1. (noun) worker in the kitchen and dining room - a figurative term for people who work in the kitchen on the marae and their hot faces from the fires and ovens.

Me uaua ka haere ngā kanohi wera ki mua, ka noho tonu ki te hereumu taka kai ai mā ngā manuhiri. / The kitchen workers are rarely seen out the front, they remain in the kitchen preparing food for the visitors.

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See also ringa wera

kanohi kitea

1. (verb) to have a physical presence, be seen, represent.

Kāti rā, nō te tau 1926 i pōtitia ia ki te kaunihera ā-rohe o Te Wairoa, hei kanohi mō te takiwā o Waiau. I aua rā, kāore e kanohi kitea ana te Māori i ēnei momo rōpū (TTR 1998:12). / Well, in 1926 he was elected to the Wairoa County Council to represent the Waiau Riding. In those days Māori were not represented in these types of organisations.

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2. (noun) seen face, physical presence - a term to express the importance of meeting people face to face, and to also be a face that is known to and seen within a community and at important gatherings, such as tangihanga.

He tamaiti pai, he kanohi kitea i ngā tangihanga me ngā huihui (EM 2002:60). / He was a good boy, a face seen at tangihanga and gatherings.

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3. (noun) raid, incursion - applied to a chief who raids the lands of another tribe. His face is seen where he has no business to be, at least in arms.

Ka ea te kanohi kitea o Taihakoa ki roto o Ruatāhuna (JPS 1902:132). / Taihakoa's incursion into Ruatāhuna was avenged.

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kanohi mōwhiti

1. (noun) silvereye, waxeye, white-eye, Zosterops lateralis lateralis - a small, common, green bird with a conspicuous white eye-ring, olive-green head and upperparts, a grey back and creamy-white underparts with pinkish-brown flanks.

See also pihipihi

rekanga kanohi

1. (noun) vision, pleasant dream.

Nā ka haere ia ki waho, ka aru i a ia; ā, kīhai ia i mahara he pono tā te anahera i mea ai; hua noa he rekanga kanohi tāna i kite ai (PT Nga Mahi 12:9). / And he went out, and followed him; and wist not that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision.

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kanohi moana

1. (noun) sea-gooseberry, Pleurobrachia pileus - a free-swimming transparent animal resembling a jelly-fish, but with eight external bands of short comb-like structures which run from top to bottom of the oval or pear-shaped animal. The body is 15-50 mm long.

kanohi kāhu

1. (adjective) be long-sighted, hawk-eyed.

kanohi taiaha

1. (noun) one who tries to keep on good term with both sides in a quarrel.

He kanohi taiaha (W 1971:362). / A person trying to keep on good term with both sides in a quarrel.

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2. (noun) two-faced person.

Kātahi nā te kanohi taiaha ko tērā, he kōrero kē i tēnei rangi, he kōrero kē anō i rangi kē, ki tangata kē (HJ 2017:51). / What a two-faced person that one is, he says something one day and something quite different the next day, to someone else.

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kanohi hōmiromiro

1. (noun) someone with an eye for detail, someone with keen eyesight, sharp sighted, sharp-eye, eagle-eye - a saying based on the observation that the hōmiromiro (tomtit) has keen eyesight and watches for its food on the ground and on trunks of trees, etc.

Kīia ai te tangata karu tore, ‘he kanohi hōmiromiro’ (Te Ara 2015). / A sharp-eyed person is called a 'kanohi hōmiromiro’ (tomtit eyes).

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kanohi kē

1. (noun) mask.

Ko ngā kanohi kē a taua iwi, he kanohi kararehe (RTA 2014:97). / The masks of that ethnic group are animal faces.

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kāinga kanohi

1. (noun) part that is seen, facade, frontage, view.

Kia pai te mahi i tēnei taha o te pā, koinei hoki te kāinga kanohi (W 1971:94). / Do this side of the pā well as it is the part that is seen.

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ā-kanohi

1. with one's own eyes, see in person.

Ka noho, ka roa, ka tutuki i a Pōtatau tana hiahia kia kite ā-kanohi tonu ia i te kauhanga riri (TTR 2000:161). / Eventually Pōtatau got his wish to see the front line with his own eyes.

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kanohi kai mātārae

1. (noun) one whose gaze or focus remains fixed on what matters.

He kanohi kai mātārae, he tangata ka mau tonu te titiro ki ngā āhuatanga e whakatata haere mai ana (HJ 2017:36). / A determined person, someone who maintains focus on the matters ahead.

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kanohi o Tāwhaki

1. (noun) flower of the rātā.

tā te kanohi

1. (noun) facial expression.

Ko te hiki noa i tōna tukemata tā te kanohi hei whakaatu i tōna mate kanehe ki tuahangata (RMR 2017). / The lifting of her eyebrow was the only facial expression to show her ardour for the principal male character.

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kau o te kanohi

1. (noun) pupil of the eye.

Kia pōuri haere, ka rahi haere te kau o te kanohi (PK 2008:232). / When it gets dark the pupil of the eye enlarges.

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kite ā-kanohi

1. (verb) to see in person.

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