Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A member of a people of New Zealand, of Polynesian-Melanesian ancestry.
- noun The Austronesian language of the Maori.
- adjective Of or relating to the Maori or their language or culture.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun One of the primitive inhabitants of New Zealand, a Polynesian race of the Malay family, distinguished for their natural capacity and vigor. Most of them now profess Christianity, but they have vigorously though unsuccessfully resisted English dominion.
- noun The language of the Maoris.
- Of or belonging to the primitive inhabitants of New Zealand, or to their language.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- proper noun (Ethnol.) One of the aboriginal inhabitants of New Zealand; also, the original language of New Zealand.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Of, from, or pertaining to the Maori.
- noun Language of the Maori.
- noun Indigenous people of
Aotearoa New Zealand . - noun Member of the people of
New Zealand .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the Oceanic language spoken by the Maori in New Zealand
- noun an ethnic minority of Polynesian and Melanesian descent who speak Maori and live in New Zealand
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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And the people he hung out with were no better … they started calling my friend Serek a cannibal (because cannibalism was a regular practice in Maori wars), after he mentioned in history class that he is of Maori heritage.
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Whare Kea means "house of the kea" in Maori -- the kea being the world's only alpine parrot.
Dream Hideaways: The World's Top Microboutique Hotels Forbes Life Staff 2010
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I remember taking classes in Maori in New Zealand, where each lesson began with the recital of a ‘karakia’ or prayer, the meaning of which was often fairly opaque, but not only were we uttering ‘real’ Maori, the recital had a pleasing ritual effect.
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Even science and math and English are taught in Maori language.
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The eligibility process governing those who can play for Maori is thorough.
Archive 2005-06-01 2005
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Harper offers some particular possible precedents for Tamarian in SF and Japanese literature, but I wonder if Maori is a better example.
Archive 2004-04-01 Ray Girvan 2004
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Harper offers some particular possible precedents for Tamarian in SF and Japanese literature, but I wonder if Maori is a better example.
Darmok and other allusions Ray Girvan 2004
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The present work is, at all events, continuous and sustained; it does not pretend to be a dictionary of Polynesian, but to present to the reader those Polynesian words which are related to the Maori dialect; using the word Maori i.e., Polynesian, native, indigenous in the restricted sense familiar to Europeans, as applying to the Maori people of New Zealand...
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He soon made friends with the Maoris and learnt their language well enough to compile a primer in pidgin-Maori, 'A Korao no New Zealand; or, the New Zealander's First
The Poems of Henry Kendall With Biographical Note by Bertram Stevens Henry Kendall 1860
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And those who believe the mistakes of the past 170 years entitle Maori to receive special treatment and to act outside the law.
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