Hawaiʻi
1. s. Name of the largest island of the Hawaiian group, and gives name to the group. From time immemorial the people have called themselves "ko Hawaii," and the islands "ka pae aina o Hawaii," "na moku Hawaii," &c.
2. nvs. Hawaiʻi (both the island  and the group of islands ); Hawaiian person; Hawaiian. Elsewhere in Polynesia, Hawaiʻi or a cognate is the name of the underworld or of the ancestral home, but in Hawaiʻi the name has no meaning; see PN. see saying, kuauli.
3. n. Hawaiʻi; Hawaiian.
4. placename. largest island in the Hawaiian group, 76 miles wide, 93 miles long, with an area of 4,038 square miles and a population in 1970 of 63,468. Hilo is the major town and county seat. County and collective name for the entire island group (1970 population 769,913). This name occurs in many parts of Polynesia (Havaiki: New Zealand, North Marquesas; ʻAvaiki: Cook Islands; Savaiʻi: Samoa). In some areas, but not in Hawaiʻi, it is the name of the homeland, or of the underworld to which the dead went. Epithets for the island of Hawaiʻi: Hawaiʻi nui a Keawe, great Hawaiʻi of Keawe (a chief); Hawaiʻi kua uli (PH 222), green-backed Hawaiʻi. |
| 321 | E kipi ana lākou nei. ʻAʻole naʻe ʻo lākou ponoʻī akā ʻo kā lākou mau keiki me nā moʻopuna. ʻO ke aliʻi e ola ana i ia wā e kū ʻōlohelohe ana ia, a ʻo ke aupuni e kūkulu ʻia aku ana, ʻo ia ke aupuni paʻa o Hawaiʻi nei. | These people [the missionaries] are going to rebel; not they themselves, but their children and grandchildren. The ruler at that time will be stripped of power, and the government established then will be the permanent government of Hawaiʻi. |
| | [Prophesied by David Malo.] |
| 501 | Hawaiʻi kuauli. | Hawaiʻi with the verdant country. |
| 502 | Hawaiʻi nui a Keawe. | Hawaiʻi, great island of Keawe. |
| | [Keawe (Keawe-i-kekahi-aliʻi-o-ka-moku) was a ruler of Hawaiʻi.] |
| 503 | Hawaiʻi palu lāʻī. | Ti-leaf lickers of Hawaii. |
| | [This saying originated after Kamehameha conquered the island of Oʻahu. The people of Kailua, Oʻahu, gave a great feast for him, not expecting him to bring such a crowd of people. The first to arrive ate up the meat, so the second group had to be content with licking and nibbling at the bits of meat that adhered to the ti leaves. In derision, the people of Oʻahu called them “ti-leaf lickers.”] |
| 548 | He ʻauhau kōʻele na ka Hawaiʻi. | A taxing of small fields by the Hawaii chiefs. |
| | [After Kamehameha united the islands, even the smallest food patch was taxed.] |
| 570 | He Hawaiʻi ʻuala Kahiki. | An Irish-potato Hawaiian. |
| | [A term of derision applied to a native Hawaiian who apes the ways of the whites instead of appreciating the culture of his own people. Also said to one who is absolutely ignorant of his own culture.] |
| 1179 | I Kahiki nō ka hao, ʻo ke kiʻo ʻana i Hawaiʻi nei. | In Kahiki was the iron; in Hawaiʻi, the rusting. |
| | [Perhaps the foreigner was a good person while he was at home, but here he grows careless with his behavior.] |
| 1885 | Kū kaʻapā ia Hawaiʻi, he moku nui. | [It is well for] Hawaiʻi to show activity; it is the largest of the islands. |
| | [Hawaiʻi should lead forth for she is the largest.] |
| 1960 | Lawe liʻiliʻi ka make a ka Hawaiʻi, lawe nui ka make a ka haole. | Death by Hawaiians takes a few at a time; death by foreigners takes many. |
| | [The diseases that were known in the islands before the advent of foreigners caused fewer deaths than those that were introduced.] |
| 2435 | ʻO ka poʻe e ʻai ana i ka loaʻa o ka ʻāina he lohe ʻōlelo wale aʻe nō i ka ua o Hawaiʻi. | Those who eat of the product of the land merely hear of the rains in Hawaiʻi. |
| | [Said of absentee royal landlords who reap the gain but know nothing of the difficulties in the land where the toilers work.] |
| 2613 | Pau ʻole ka ʻepa iā Hawaiʻi. | Endless is the strange behavior of those of Hawaii. |
| | [An expression of humor or annoyance used in old newspapers whenever Hawaiians criticized one another.] |
| 2773 | Ua aʻo Hawaiʻi ke ʻōlino nei mālamalama. | Hawaiʻi is enlightened, for the brightness of day is here. |
| | [Hawaiʻi is in an era of education.] |
| 2814 | Ua lehulehu a manomano ka ʻikena a ka Hawaiʻi. | Great and numerous is the knowledge of the Hawaiians. |