ʻōpū
1. v. To expand, as an opening flower. seeopuu. 2. To grow, as a fetus. Hal. 139:16. 3. To swell up; to be full, as the belly of a fat person; opu mai ka opu. 4. To rise up, as water; opu ka wai. 5. To sit with the knees gathered up. 6. To live idly; lazily; ke opu wale ae nei no, ka noho wale; noho wale iho no, loaa ole. 7. The name of a heap upon which a god stands; a bunch or bundle of small wood, grass, weeds, &c.; a hill or bunch of kalo growing together. seeopuu. 8. To leap off or over, as a horse; e opu aku mao. 9. adj. Skillful at diving into the water, so as not to spatter; opu ia wahi kanaka; opu i na kea ka pan ai ole, fisherman's phrase. 10. The disposition of a person; state of mind. see the compounds opuao, opuino, opukopekope, &c. Opu is here syn. with naau. NOTE.—The Hawaiians suppose the seat of thought, intelligence, &c., and also the seat of moral powers, as the choice and practice of good and evil, to be seated in the small intestines; hence, naau or opu (the small intestines) is used for what we should call the heart, i. e., the seat of the moral powers. seenaauao, naaupo, naauino, compared with opuao, opuino, &c. seenaau. 11. s. A protuberance with an enclosure, as the belly, stomach, bladder, &c.; as, opu o ke kai, the heart, belly (midst) of the sea; the crop of a bird. Oihk. 1:16. The maw of animals. Kanl. 18:3. The womb. Lunk. 16:17. A round, liver-like substance in the hog and other animals. 12. n. • belly, stomach, abdomen,
• tripe, giblet; gizzard, bladder
• bag, as of a net;
• crop of a bird (Oihk. 1.16),
• maw of an animal,
• womb;
• disposition.
13. n. body, as of an ʻukulele, guitar, etc. Niʻihau. 14. n. ventricle, of the mammalian heart.
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362
E noho ma lalo o ka lāʻau maka, iho mai ka huihui, māʻona ka ʻōpū.
Sit under a green tree. When the cluster comes down, the stomach is filled.
[Serve a worthy person. When your reward comes you will never be hungry.]
369
E ʻōpū aliʻi.
Have the heart of a chief.
[Have the kindness, generosity, and even temper of a chief.]
865
He ʻoʻopu-hue, ka iʻa ʻōpū kēkē.
An ʻoʻopu-hue, the fish with a distended belly.
[A term of derision for a pot-bellied person.]
869
He ʻōpū hālau.
A house-like stomach.
[A heart as big as a house. Said of a person who is kind, gracious, and hospitable.]
870
He ʻōpū lepo ko ka mahiʻai.
A farmer has a dirty stomach.
[A farmer is not always able to keep his hands and fingemails perfectly clean, even if he washes them. Because he eats with his fingers he is said to have a dirty stomach.]
1246
I ola nō ke kino i ka māʻona o ka ʻōpū.
The body enjoys health when the stomach is well filled.
2443
ʻO Kaulua ka malama, ʻolo ka ʻōpū mālolo a ka lawaiʻa.
Kaulua is the month when the bag nets of the fishermen sag with flying fish.
2537
ʻŌpū palaʻai.
Pumpkin stomach.
[Said in ridicule of one with a large, protruding abdomen.]
2538
ʻŌpū palula.
Stomach full of sweet-potato greens.
[Said of an ignorant person who can only grow sweet potatoes.]
2789
Ua hoʻi ka ʻōpū o ka honua.
Returned to the womb of the earth.
[Dead.]
2915
Wai ʻōpū nui.
Big stomach water.
[A humorous term applied to the water of a brackish pool. A stranger, unaccustomed to brackish water, often drank too much of it in attempting to quench his thirst.]