Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The Maori name of the mutton-fish: also used as the name for Maori fish-hooks, made of the paua-shell, the same word being adopted for fish, shell, and hook.

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

  • noun A large, edible abalone, Haliotis iris, native to New Zealand, whose shell is used to make jewelry.
  • noun The shell of this mollusc.
  • noun A fish hook made from this shell.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • That was then and now is now, when younger and more-tender farmed abalones are almost invariably what you are likely to get, unless you consort with poachers in New Zealand and they give you some of the paua they pry from the ocean floor with stealth and special iron tools.

    A New Shell Game 2008

  • May 21, 2008 at 11:52 pm btw paua shells mek great eshtrays but not soo nommable IMHO whitebait also quite scarey nom – now kumera – drollxxxxxx

    Cat Graph From Our Sister Site, GraphJam - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger? 2008

  • That was then and now is now, when younger and more tender farmed abalones are almost invariably what you are likely to get, unless you consort with poachers in New Zealand and they give you some of the paua they pry from the ocean floor with stealth and special iron tools.

    Abalone delicious 2008

  • Sammon in paua shud get fishes foar teh whole grouper cheezfrends ohn here.

    Hooman gets in, goes away, returns with fishez - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger? 2008

  • Debra gave me a couple of belated birthday presents -- a large bar of kiwi chocolate and a lovely lovely pendant made of pewter inlaid with paua shell -- and showed me her gifty for cleanskies -- a doll with moving legs which she'd covered with more paua shell on top, and a Louise Brooks bob haircut apparently synthetic hair is difficult to cut so good on you cos it was a great haircut.

    Mysti/Misty: separated at birth? maybe not. mzdt 2003

  • Down came the tightly knotted golden hair, all its pins put into a paua shell on the bureau.

    The Thorn Birds McCullough, Colleen 1977

  • Stretching, Padraic closed his book and put his pipe into the huge iridescent paua shell which served him as an ashtray.

    The Thorn Birds McCullough, Colleen 1977

  • Club (_patu_) of wood, inlaid with _paua_ shell and carved.

    John Rutherford, the White Chief George Lillie Craik 1832

  • 'MTV's Guide to New Zealand' sees Scribe taking MTV to his favourite restaurant in Christchurch before paua diving up the coast in Kaikoura and cooking for the crew.

    NZ On Screen 2010

  • Growing oysters, mussels and paua sets up this region to provide high quality, high value product to markets around the world.

    NZ On Screen 2010

Comments

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  • A kind of abalone from New Zealand. Maori chieftains used to exchange the paua shells with the ritual words maora paua tuya, which is the origin of the phrase "more power to you", a mishearing by the British colonists.

    November 8, 2007

  • This is one of those etymologies (more power to you) that's too good to be true. I want, want to believe it, but I'm not sure I can.

    November 8, 2007

  • I know, yarb. My first thought was that this was uselessness in disguise trying to put over one of his madeupical etymologies.

    Still...

    November 8, 2007

  • I'm uselessness and I approve this message. ;-)

    November 8, 2007

  • My first thought was that this was uselessness in disguise trying to put over one of his madeupical etymologies.

    People make stuff up on Wordie?! I am shocked, shocked... :-)

    November 8, 2007

  • Busted! Should I apologize, when I retro-etymologize? ; )

    November 9, 2007

  • Heavens no! The trick is to make your etymologies more subtly plausible, so no one but you knows what a filthy rotten liar you are. ;-)

    (See also: archerent)

    November 9, 2007

  • Mollusque: Apologize? Heavens no--this is a mark of honor on Wordie.

    November 9, 2007

  • Hey, U: One of us should list "heavens no," it seems.

    November 9, 2007

  • Heavens yes! We totally should. :-P

    November 9, 2007

  • Uh huh. I see what's happening here. Uselessness is training ninja madeupical etymologists for his own Useless Secret Service, and mollusque is applying for a position.

    Hey, we weren't born yesterday.

    November 9, 2007

  • Quick, grasshopper. We've been discovered. Strike swiftly!

    November 9, 2007

  • No worries, master. The world is our oyster.

    November 9, 2007

  • Mollusque, you should be aware that many of us believe that uselessness himself (herself? itself?) is entirely madeupical as well.

    November 9, 2007

  • I think, therefore I am madeupical. So much for pleading my case.

    November 9, 2007

  • But of course he's madeupical. He's the product of our own fevered minds. That's what makes this so darn much fun!

    Right, uselessness?

    Right.

    November 9, 2007

  • Nothing like mass hallucinations to brighten up a web site.

    November 9, 2007