Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A name in Polynesia of several nettle-like plants which yield fiber used in making fishinglines and nets: as, fau-songā, Pipturus argentens (Samoa).
  • noun A Polynesian name for Pariti tiliaceum, a tree belonging to the mallow family, with tough bark yielding cordage and very light wood used by the natives for making outriggers of canoes and for kindling fire by friction. Also hau. See balibago, corkwood, and mahoe, 1.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • "I was at the school wi 'him, and never saw onything to fin' fau't wi '."

    Alec Forbes of Howglen George MacDonald 1864

  • "Haith! it's no for me to fin 'fau't, though," he added, "sittin 'readin' buiks like a gowk

    Sir Gibbie George MacDonald 1864

  • Tommy the Englishman lived in Germany for over three months and managed to have fewer cultural fau paxs than you have had in what, four days?

    Observations on D-Land: I Steal a Euro, and Meet a Cool Cop 2009

  • Not to mention that what he said wasn't even right and now he wants to make money from his massive fau paux???

    Defiant Wilson raises more than $200,000 after outburst 2009

  • Since the "f" sign was an Etruscan innovation, it could have been identical in name to Latin ef, or another possibility is *fau a rhyme with the digamma *vau, cf. waw.

    An online Etruscan Dictionary has arrived 2010

  • Christian Madsen, of La Canada, Calif., covered both faucet and towel territory but took two coinages to do it: “How about the movements derived from ancient Asian fighting techniques, fau-cetsu and drykwondo?”

    Word Fugitives 2007

  • Christian Madsen, of La Canada, Calif., covered both faucet and towel territory but took two coinages to do it: “How about the movements derived from ancient Asian fighting techniques, fau-cetsu and drykwondo?”

    Word Fugitives 2007

  • Chemical weapons found in Iraq... and it's our fau...

    02/22/2007 2007

  • There is a fort of some size close to this town, built of mud; the ditch is unfinished, and not deep, it has a fau-se-braie, with bastions like those at Peshawur and Jumrood.

    Journals of Travels in Assam, Burma, Bhootan, Afghanistan and the Neighbouring Countries William Griffith

  • "E tupu te fau, et toro te farero, e mou te taata!"

    Mystic Isles of the South Seas. Frederick O'Brien 1900

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