Wehewehe Wikiwiki Hawaiian language dictionaries

1. vt. To place, put, hang, suspend, affix, gird on; to set, settle, perch, alight, rest, pose; to enact, impose, or pass, as a law; to levy, as a tax; to ride on or mount, as on a horse or in a car; to board, mount, get in or on; to rise up, appear, as the moon; to place in sacrifice, as a pig; to come to rest, as the setting sun; to arrive, come to pass; to hang up, as a telephone receiver.

• Examples:
  • Kau ka maka, to set the eyes upon, as with desire or affection; to feast the eyes upon, to yearn to see Ka-lei-kau-maka (name), beloved child to be looked upon with pride and love.
  • Kau ka manaʻo, to have an idea or thought, set the mind on.
  • Ka mea hoʻi a kuʻu manaʻo i kau nui ai a hālāwai maka (Laie 413), the one on whom my heart is set so keenly to meet face to face.
  • Pula kau maka ʻino loa, a very bad mote in the eye [of a disliked person].
  • Kau ʻino, to slam or bang down [a telephone receiver].
  • Nā kānāwai e kau nei, existing statutes.
  • Kānāwai i kau ʻia, laws passed.
  • Kau i ka uku pohō, to assess damages.
  • E kau ʻia maluna ona ka hoʻopaʻi, ʻaʻole e ʻoi aku mamua o hoʻokahi kaukani kālā, liable to [literally, set upon him] punishment not in excess of one thousand dollars.
  • Mai ka lā hiki a ka lā kau, from the rising sun to its setting.
  • Kau ka makani, the wind blows.
  • ʻOi kau ka lā, while the sun is up, i.e., while there is still time.
  • Ua kau ka waiū o Pōʻipe, Phoebe's breasts contain milk.
  • Kau ka pilikia maluna o lākou, they are in trouble.
  • Kau mai i luna, to appear above.
  • Ua kau ka mālie, the calm has settled.
  • Kau ka weli (FS 93), full of fear.
• Related:
  • hoʻokau Caus/sim.; To put on, place on, lay on, as responsibility; to happen, come to pass.
    • Hoʻokau hiamoe, to fall asleep.
• References:
  • PPN tau .

2. n. Period of time, lifetime; any season, especially summer; session of a legislature; term, semester; time of late night before dawn (Kep. 97).

• Examples:
  • I ke kau i ke aliʻi o Ka-mehameha, in the time of the chief, Kamehameha.
  • Moe kau ā hoʻoilo, sleep summers and winters [a poetic expression of death].
  • Kau ā kau, season after season; figuratively, always and forever.
• Related:
  • Kau ʻahaʻōlelo, legislative session.
• References:
  • PPN taʻu .

3. nvt. A sacred chant, as Hiʻiaka's chants of affectionate greeting to persons, hills, and landmarks; a chant of sacrifice to a deity; to chant thus.

• Examples:
  • Kau akula ia i kēia kau ma ke oli (FS 275), he offered this sacred chant in the chanted song.
• References:
  • See kaukau #1.
  • PPN tau .

4. n. Wooden handle, as on stone chisels; perch; pole raised longitudinally over a canoe in stormy weather, on which mats were placed for protection.

5. nvi. A method of feeding children or high-born persons as a special honor; the recipient held back his head and opened his mouth; the morsel of poi was dropped into his mouth; much enjoyed by children as a game.

• Examples:
  • ʻAi kau, to eat in this way.

6. n. Center tapa under which the stone was hidden in the game of pūhenehene.

7. n. Middle finger of the hand.

8. n. Reason, cause.

• Examples:
  • ʻAʻohe kau e make ai, no reason or cause to die.
  • Ua haʻalulu au i kau mea o ka makaʻu i ka ʻino, I trembled because of fear of the storm.

9. Variant of kākau #1.

• Rare
• Examples:
  • Lālā kau (KL. line 133), streaked fin.

10. (Cap.) n., Name of a star in the northern sky that served as guide to mariners.

11. (Cap.) n., The Milky Way.

12. n. Depression between collarbone and neck.

• Rare

13. Particle indicating plural, much less used than nā and mau except in the compounds kauhale, kaukolu, kauwahi.

• Examples:
  • Ua ʻike anei ʻoe i kau puaʻa a mākou? Have you seen our pigs?
• References:
  • See ex., pā ipu #1, Gram. 10.4.
  • PCP tau .

14. Particle expressing superlative, preceded by hoʻi or mai hoʻi.

• Examples:
  • (Gram. 7.5.) He nani mai hoʻi kau! Oh, so beautiful!
  • He ʻono hoʻi kau! How very delicious!
  • E lohe mai auaneʻi kau i ka leo o ka makua, won't listen at all to the parent's request.
  • Kau is sometimes replaced by tau. He uʻi hoʻi tau! How beautiful!

15. vt. To discuss.

• References:
  • See kaukau #1; kauoha.

kikino Season.

• Existing dictionary word
• Related:
  • Kau hoʻopūnana. Nesting season.

• Related:
  • ʻĀlikelike kau. Translation symmetry, in math. See kaha kau, ʻaoʻao kau, ʻālikelike.
  • ʻŌmaka kau peʻa. Universal fitting, for putting pipes together.

• Related:
  • Me ke kau i ka hano. Cum laude, with distinction, with honors, as in academics.
  • Me ke kau i ka hano hoʻonani. Magna cum laude, with high honors.
  • Me ke kau i ka hano hāweo. Summa cum laude, with highest honors.

1. v., In an active sense, to hang; to hang up; to suspend, as an article to be out of the way; to crucify or hang, as a criminal.Kin. 40:22.

2. To hang, tie or gird on, as a sword; kau i ka pahi kaua. Puk. 32:27.

3. To put upon or place a thing in some designated place; to put inan elevated situation; to mount a horse; to go on board a ship or canoe.

4. To overhang, as the heavens over the earth.

5. To fall upon; to embrace affectionately, with ai. Kin. 46:29.

6. To put upon one, as a heavy burden. Nah.11:11.

7. To set or fix the boundries of a land or country.

8. To put down, as words on paper. See kakau. To write; to dot; hence,

9. To give publicity to a thing; to promulgate, as a law; i kau aku oukou i kanawai maikai, that you may establish good laws.

10. To set before one, as food.

11. To tempt, as in taking birds with a snare.

12. In a neuter sense, to light down upon, as a bird; as the spirit or divine influence upon one. Nah.11:26.

13. To come down upon one unexpectedly.

14. Kau pono kona maka, to set or direct one's face or desire.

15. To rest upon; to stretch out or over.

16. To come upon one, as a suffering or calamity.

17. To rehearse in the hearing of another that he may learn.

18. A kau ka hamere ma kekahi lima, he took the hammer in one hand. Lunk. 4:21. To lay or place the hand upon one for evil.

19. Hookau. To set against; to resist. Lunk. 7:22.

20. To appoint against; to come upon. Ier. 15:3.

21. To bring upon; to cause to fall upon.

22. To rest; to place. Kanl. 7:23.

23. Kau aku i kau hale, to go about from house to house; to go about idly. See definition 11.

1. s., Season. Kin. 1:14.

2. The summer or warm season, in distinction from hooilo, the winter months. NOTE.—The Hawaiians had but two seasons in a year, viz.: the kau summer, and hooilo winter; hence,

3. A period of time when one lives. Eset. 1:1. A specified time. Lunk. 10:8. A i ke kau i ke alii, ia Kamehameha, in the life time of Kamehameha.

4. A time for a particular purpose.

5. Time of indefinite length; kau ai, a fruitful season; kau wi, a time of famine.

6. Midnight; so called from the game called puhenehene, in which were five puu or places to conceal the noa: the first called kihi, second pili, third kau, fourth pilipuka (i.e., applied to night, 3 o'clock, A. M.), fifth kihipuka. Dr. Baldwin.

s., A place; kau kanaka laha ole, place where men go not; kau kanaka, a place where men live; kau kanaka ole ai, where there are no people.

s., A canoe; kaukahi, a single canoe; kaulua, a double-canoe.

1. adj., A setting of the sun; a resting; mai ka la hiki a ka la kau, from the rising to the setting sun. D. Malo #5:11.

2. A sitting place, as a roost for fowls; kau ka moa i ke kau, the fowl sits upon its roost.

s., Name of puukapu in the game of noa.

personal pronoun, An oblique case of oe, second person. Of thee; of thine. Gram.§ 132, 133. Also a prefix pronoun, thy; thine. Gram.§ 149, 150.

1. n., The summer season, as dist. from hooilo, the winter. (The Hawaiians had only the two seasons.)

2. n., A period of time when one lives; a lifetime: a i ke kau i ke alii, ia Kamehameha, in the lifetime of Kamehameha.

3. n., A time for any particular purpose; a specified time.

4. n., A time of indefinite length: kau ai, a fruitful season; kau wi, a time of famine.

5. n., The Milky Way.

6. n., The center piece in the game of puhenehene, also called puukapu.

7. n., The middle finger of the hand.

8. n., A setting of the sun, derived from the kau in the game of puhenehene: mai ka la hiki a ka la kau, from the rising to the setting sun. D. Malo, chap. 5, verse 11.

9. n., A frame or place fitted for setting or placing things.

10. n., A perch.

11. n., A pole raised longitudinally over a canoe like the ridge pole of a tent, over which the ahu or mat was spread in stormy weather.

pronoun, Yours: kau keia; this is yours.

1. v., To hang; to hang up; to suspend.

2. v., To hang, tie or gird on: kau i ka pahi kaua; gird on the sword.

3. v., To place or put upon.

4. v., To promulgate; to make known.

5. v., To overhang, as the heavens over the earth.

6. v., To hover.

7. v., To rest.

8. v., To descend and rest; to alight.

9. v., To embrace.

10. v., To appear; to be up.

11. v., To cease.

the breast. District, Hawaii.