Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A ban or restriction, especially one associated with the traditional Hawaiian religious system; taboo.
  • adjective Forbidden or restricted; taboo.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An adz used in New Zealand.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Taboo, especially in Hawaiian contexts.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Hawaiian, from Proto-Polynesian *tapu.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Hawaiian kapu.

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Examples

  • That the US armed forces are an imperial instrument is also as obvious as the nose on our collective face to anyone who can find it in themselves to confront the facts; but again, the kapu against speaking ill of the military -- like the kapu against naming patriarchy for what it is -- is controversial because it questions the status quo.

    Stan Goff: Rape & the Weekly Standard 2008

  • When the fans were watching the film a dalit boy happened to hit a kapu with handin a drunken state during a group dance of the fans.

    Archive 2007-05-01 kesav 2007

  • When the fans were watching the film a dalit boy happened to hit a kapu with handin a drunken state during a group dance of the fans.

    Untouchable Spring .... అంటరాని వసంతం kesav 2007

  • After the Tsundur massacre, against Dalits all upper caste people formed as a group, named, 'Sarvajanabhyudaya samithi' includes all upper castes-kamma, kapu„ Reddy, Brahmans and some B.C. caste groups and campaign that dalits were harassing women.

    Untouchable Spring .... అంటరాని వసంతం kesav 2007

  • After the Tsundur massacre, against Dalits all upper caste people formed as a group, named, 'Sarvajanabhyudaya samithi' includes all upper castes-kamma, kapu„ Reddy, Brahmans and some B.C. caste groups and campaign that dalits were harassing women.

    Archive 2007-05-01 kesav 2007

  • This is a apparently an ancient tradition in the music of the islands spanning back to the times when it was kapu, or forbidden, for women to sing. at The Record Robot.

    Archive 2006-01-01 HTMPL Prod. 2006

  • This is a apparently an ancient tradition in the music of the islands spanning back to the times when it was kapu, or forbidden, for women to sing. at The Record Robot.

    We Share Our Mother's MP3s mrdantefontana 2006

  • On her right walked the handmaiden Kalani-kapuai-kala-ninui, five feet tall and two hundred and fifteen pounds, while on the left puffed Manono - kaua-kapu-kulani, five feet six inches and two hundred and eighty pounds.

    Hawaii Michener, James 1959

  • You mustn't sleep with a woman who is having her period, it is kapu.

    Hawaii Michener, James 1959

  • Abner preached a moving graveside sermon, and the towering alii, standing beside the first Christian grave that many of them had ever seen, thought: "This is a better way to bury a woman than the old way," but the common people, not allowed onto the kapu island, stood on the shores of the river and wept piteously in the old fashion.

    Hawaii Michener, James 1959

Comments

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  • Hawaiian term for taboo/forbidden.

    February 6, 2007