Wehewehe Wikiwiki Hawaiian language dictionaries

1. n., Hawaiian short-eared owl (Asio flammeus sandwichensis), regarded often as a benevolent ʻaumakua (HM 124). Keiki a ka pueo, child of an owl [one whose father is not known].

2. vs., Short (perhaps so called because the owl's neck was short).

• Examples:
  • ʻOki pueo ʻia ka lauoho, hair cut short.
• References:
  • Cf. hue nuku pueo.

3. Same as ʻaho pueo, main purlin of a house.

• Examples:
  • Kuʻu manu noho pū me ke kanaka: pueo (riddle), my bird living with people: owl [pun on ʻaho pueo].

4. vt., To rock a child on the foot; while doing this one amused the child by chanting pūeoeo.

5. n., Shroud of a ship or canoe.

6. See papapueo, a taro.

• Related:
  • Other names recorded (HP 34) are pueo hālenalena and pueo keʻokeʻo.

7. n., House lashing.

• References:
  • Kam. 76:97.

1. n., An owl. he manu lele hihiu. (The pueo was formerly worshiped as a god, one of the poe akua mana.)

2. n., A shroud of a ship.

3. n., The pole to which the uppermost ends of the rafters of the early Hawaiian house were lashed.