Wehewehe Wikiwiki Hawaiian language dictionaries

1. vs., Wet, moist, soaked, saturated.

• Examples:
  • Pulu au i ka huna kai, I am soaked by spray.
• Related:
  • hoʻopulu Caus/sim.; To wet, soak, moisten, saturate.
    • Nā paipu hoʻopulu pāka, park sprinkler system.
• References:
  • PCP pulu.

2. n., A soft, glossy, yellow wool on the base of tree-fern leaf stalks (Cibotium spp. 🌐). It was used to stuff mattresses and pillows and at one time was exported to California. Hawaiians stuffed bodies of their dead with pulu after removing vital organs.

3. nvt., Any greenery or underbrush cut to be used as mulch, as well as the mulch itself; coconut husk, coconut fiber, raw cotton, tapa pulp; cushion; fine linen; tinder, kindling; soft, padded; to kindle, as fire (preceded by ke).

• Examples:
  • Pau pulu, ʻaʻole lau kanu (saying), mulch is gone, no [taro] leaves to plant [all is destroyed].
• Related:
  • Kapa pulu, quilt.
  • hoʻopulu Caus/sim.; To mulch, fertilize with compost.
• References:
  • See ex., ʻē #1.
  • PPN pulu.

4. n., Low branch, as of certain trees such as ʻohai, koa, ʻōhiʻa.

5. n., Bull.

• Source:
  • English.
• Examples:
  • Keoni Pulu, John Bull.
  • Ua holo ʻo Hanalē, komo mai ʻo Keoni Pulu, Henry has run off, John Bull has come in [said when one is full: hungry (which sounds like “Henry”) has gone, and John Bull (which sounds like “full”) has come].
• Related:
  • Also: bulu.

6. nvt., nvs., To fool; fooled; fool.

• Source:
  • English.
• Related:
  • hoʻopulu Caus/sim.; To act the fool.
• References:
  • Cf. kamipulu.

Poloka pulu. Bullfrog.

Soft matter of which kapa was made, so called when made soft by soaking it.

Material that grows on and is collected from species of large ferns (Cibotium spp.) from the base of the stalks. The pulu resembles that of the ʻamaʻu and has been similarly used to stuff pillows and mattresses. Hawaiians also stuffed the bodies of their dead after removing the vital organs. Young fronds were used to make hats. Tree trunks were made into fences. (NEAL 10.) See Plants: Uses, hāpuʻu.

Soft, yellow “wool” found at the base of the leaf stalks of the large tree fern (Cibotium spp.). The plant is most common in the area of the upper part of the Hilo-Kīlauea highway on Hawaiʻi. Pulu is collected and exported to California where it is still used to stuff pillows and mattresses.

wet, as clothes.