Maori, n. (a.)
(‖ ˈmɑːɔri, ˈmaʊərɪ)
Pl. Maori, Maori(e)s.
[The native name: said to mean ‘of the usual kind’ (Morris Austral Eng.)]
1. a. A member of the Polynesian people inhabiting New Zealand. Also attrib. or adj. pertaining to this people or their language; absol. the language.
| 1843 Penny Cycl. XXVII. 752/1 The natives call themselves maori (aborigines), in contradistinction to the foreigners, or pakea. 1845 E. J. Wakefield Advent. N. Zealand I. vi. 174 The Maori language..possesses..but few words which express abstract ideas... The Maori, as made a written language, is pronounced in the same way as German or Spanish. 1854 Golder Pigeons Parlt. 34 Through bush and clearing searching for ye Full of the thoughts of shooting Maori. 1884 Century Mag. XXVII. 919 Crowds of Maoris..thronged the streets. |
b. Comb., in names of plants and animals (see Morris
Austral Eng. 1898):
Maori bug (see
quot. 1966);
Maori cabbage, the wild cabbage of New Zealand;
Maori-chief, a New Zealand Flathead fish,
Notothenia;
Maori dog, a type of dog, which is now extinct, first introduced to New Zealand by the Maoris; also in
fig. use,
cunning as a Maori dog, a phrase of vulgar abuse;
cf. kuri;
Maori-head, a kind of sedge;
Maori-hen, the Weka or Wood-hen of New Zealand,
Ocydromus.
| 1944 Mod. Jun. Dict. (Whitcombe & Tombs) 251 Maori bug, a strong-smelling, dark-coloured beetle. 1959 Numbers IX. 8 We..shook Maori bugs out of the blankets. 1966 Encycl. N.Z. I. 269/1 Bug, Maori (Platyzosteria novae-zelandiae). Maori bug is the commonly accepted name for the largest endemic cockroach of New Zealand... This species is capable of liberating a characteristic, unpleasant odour when disturbed. |
| 1947 D. M. Davin For Rest of our Lives 103 Cunning as a Maori dog, you know him. 1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Feb. 136/1 Pastoralists..[in the early days] had their problems, too. Maori dogs were troublesome. 1953 M. Scott Breakfast at Six iii. 30 ‘The professional charmer,’ jeered Larry... ‘Cunning as a Maori dog,’ supplemented Sam vulgarly. 1966 Encycl. N.Z. I. 491/2 The Maori dog (kuri)..was probably introduced during the period of the Great Migration (c. 1350 a.d.)...It became extinct some years after the arrival of the European settlers. |
c. Special
Comb. Maori oven = copper Maori;
Maori P.T.
N.Z. slang, taking it easy and doing nothing.
| 1849 Maori oven [see go-ashore s.v. go v. VIII]. 1905 [see copper Maori]. |
| 1961 Partridge Dict. Slang Suppl. 1179/1 Maori P.T., ‘taking it as easily as possible, i.e. resting when one should be undertaking physical training’..: New Zealand soldiers': 1939–45. 1966 G. W. Turner Eng. Lang. Austral. & N.Z. vi. 135 In New Zealand the word Maori sometimes enters into slang with contemptuous connotation, but there is a good-natured tolerance, even tinged with envy for an admirable adjustment to life's problems, in a term like Maori P.T...to mean lying down and doing nothing. 1967 Listener 2 Mar. 299/3 Maori P.T. is New Zealand dolce far niente. 1969 Pocket Oxf. Dict. (ed. 5) 1035/2 Maori P.T., (sl.) loafing, doing nothing. |
2. A New South Wales fish,
Coris lineolatus.
| 1882 J. E. Tenison-Woods Fish & Fisheries N. S. Wales 74. 1883 E. P. Ramsay Food Fishes N.S. Wales 25 (Fish. Exhib. Publ.) The ‘Maori’ (Coris lineolatus), a most varied and beautifully marked fish, of a rich vermilion. |
3. black Maori,
white Maori (
N.Z.) (see
quots.).
| 1883 Illustr. Guide Dunedin 169 (Morris), Tungstate of lime occurs plentifully in the Wakatipu district, where from its weight and colour it is called White Maori by the miners. 1965 G. J. Williams Econ. Geol. N.Z. xiii. 190/2 This hard ferro-manganese material forms the pebbles known to the early alluvial miners as ‘black Maori’ (as contrasted with ‘white Maori’—scheelite). |