| 119 | ʻAno lani; ʻano honua. | A heavenly nature; an earthly nature. |
| | [Said of some ʻaumākua who make themselves visible to loved ones by assuming an earthly form, such as fish, fowl, or animal, yet retain the nature of a god.] |
| 282 | E hiolo ana nā kapu kahiko; e hina ana nā heiau me nā lele; e hui ana nā moku; he iho mai ana ka lani a e piʻi ana ka honua. | The ancient kapu will be abolished; the heiau and altars willfall; the islands will be united; the heavens will descend and the earth ascend. |
| | [A prophecy uttered by Kapihe, a kahuna in Kamehameha’s time. The last part of the saying means that chiefs will come down to humble positions and commoners rise to positions of honor.] |
| 308 | Eia ua lani a Hāloa i pili ai ka hanu i ke kapu. | Here is a chief descended from Hāloa, whose kapu makes one hold his breath in dread. |
| | [A compliment to a chief. To be able to trace descent from Hāloa, an ancient chief, was to be of very high rank from remote antiquity.] |
| 343 | ʻElo ke kuāua o Ualoa; puaʻi i ka lani, kū kele ke one. | Drenching is the shower of Ualoa; the heavens overflow to soak the sands. |
| | [Very wet weather. A play on ua (rain) and loa (very much). Ualoa is a place name.] |
| 359 | E niʻaupiʻo ka lani. | May the chief remain of highest rank. |
| | [A blessing on a high chief: may he and his descendants live on in purity of rank.] |
| 639 | He ʻio au, he manu i ka lewa lani. | I am an ʻio, the bird that soars in the heavenly space. |
| | [A boast. The highest chiefs were often called ʻio (hawk), king of the Hawaiian birds.] |
| 718 | He lani i luna, he honua i lalo. | Heaven above, earth beneath. |
| | [Said of a person who owns his own property, or of one who is sure of his security. The sky above him and the earth beneath his feet are his.] |
| 719 | He lani ke keiki, he milimili na ka makua. | The child is a chief to be fondled by the parents. |
| | [A child requires as much care as a chief.] |
| 926 | He puhi ka iʻa ʻoni i ka lani. | The eel is a fish that moves skyward. |
| | [Niuloahiki, god of coconut trees, had three forms — eel, man, and coconut tree, which reaches skyward. This expression can refer to Niuloahiki or to any influence that rises and becomes overwhelming. When used in hana aloha sorcery, it means that the squirming of love is like the movement of an eel. Also used as a warning — “Beware of that ambitious person who will let nothing stand in his way.”] |
| 1180 | I ka holo nō i ke alahao a piʻi i ka lani. | While going along the railroad one suddenly goes up to the sky. |
| | [A drinker soon finds himself “up in the clouds.” An expression used by the sweet-potato beer drinkers of Lahaina, Maui.] |
| 1311 | Ka hiku o nā lani. | The seventh of the heavenly ones. |
| | [A term of affection for Kalākaua, who was the seventh ruler of united Hawai’i.] |
| 1375 | Ka iʻa nānā i ka lani ke ola. | The fish that looks to the sky for life. |
| | [Any vegetable, a food depending on sunshine and rain for subsistence.] |
| 1421 | Kalaʻihi ka lani, kūpilikiʻi ka honua. | When the day is stormy, the earth is distressed. |
| | [When the chief is angry, the people are unhappy.] |
| 1431 | Ka lani kaʻapuni honua. | The chief who went around the world. |
| | [Kalākaua, who traveled to many lands.] |
| 1607 | Kau i ka lani ka holowaʻa ua o Hilo. | Placed high in heaven is the rain trough of Hilo. |
| | [An expression of admiration for a person of regal bearing.] |
| 1671 | Ke akua liʻiliʻi hana ʻole i ka lani me ke honua. | Little god who did not create heaven and earth. |
| | [A saying used by Christian Hawaiians to express scorn for any god of old Hawaiʻi.] |
| 1786 | Kiʻekiʻe ka lele a ke ao i ka lani, i hāpai ʻia e ka makani i luna. | High flies the cloud in the sky, lifted by the wind. |
| | [Said of one whose position is elevated by a chief.] |
| 2021 | Lona kau lani. | A block on which the royal [canoe] rested. |
| | [A chief whose sire was higher than that of his mother.] |
| 2129 | Maloʻo ka lani, wela ka honua. | When the sky is dry, the earth is parched. |
| 2303 | Nā waimaka o ka lani. | The tears of heaven. |
| | [Rain at someone’s death or during his funeral is declared to be the affectionate tears of the gods, who weep in sympathy with the mourners.] |
| 2419 | ʻO ka lani kēlā, ʻo ka lani kēia. | That one a chief this one a chief. |
| | [Said of two persons well matched for a contest.] |
| 2437 | ʻO ka pono ke hana ʻia a iho mai nā lani. | Continue to do good until the heavens come down to you. |
| | [Blessings come to those who persist in doing good.] |
| 2513 | ʻO nā hōkū nō nā kiu o ka lani. | The stars are the spies of heaven. |
| | [The stars look down on everyone and everything.] |
| 2514 | ʻO nā hōkū o ka lani kai ʻike iā Pae. Aia a loaʻa ka pūnana o ke kōlea, loaʻa ʻo ia iā ʻoe. | Only the stars of heaven know where Pae is. When you find a plover’s nest, then you will find him. |
| | [Said of something so well hidden that it will not be found. Pae was a priest in the reign of ʻUmi. He was so lucky in fishing that the chief desired his bones for fishhooks after his death. When Pae died, his sons hid his bones so well that none of the chiefs and priests could find them. The sons would say, “When you find the nest of the plover, then will you find him.” But ʻUmi enlisted the help of a noted priest of Kauaʻi, who saw the ghost of Pae drinking from a spring in Waimanu Valley. Thus were the bones of Pae found and made into fishhooks for the chief. The sons of Pae were reminded that the chief was using their father’s bones for hooks by his constant cry, “O Pae, hold fast to our fish!”] |
| 2515 | ʻO nā hōkū o ka lani luna, ʻo Paʻaiea ko lalo. | The stars are above, Paʻaiea helow. |
| | [Refers to Kamehameha’s great fish-pond, Paʻaiea, in Kona, Hawaiʻi. Its great size led to this saying — the small islets that dotted its interior were compared to the stars that dot the sky. The pond was destroyed during a volcanic eruption.] |
| 2522 | ʻŌnohi ʻula i ka lani. | A red eyeball in the sky. |
| | [A fragment of rainbow.] |
| 2553 | Paʻa aku i ka lani o kā ke akua ia, a hāʻule mai i lalo o kā Laiana ia. | What is held up in heaven is Godʻs, and what falls below is Lyonsʻs. |
| | [A reply made by the Reverend Lorenzo Lyons (Makua Laiana) when he was charged with being careless in accepting people as members of his church. He loved and accepted them and did not adhere rigidly to certain rules before allowing them to become members.] |
| 2565 | Pāʻele kū lani. | The chiefy blackening. |
| | [This expression, used in chants and songs, refers to the tattooing of Kahekili, ruler of Maui. Because he was named for the god of thunder, who was believed to be black on one side of his body, Kahekili had himself tattooed on one side from head to foot.] |
| 2612 | Pāuli hiwa ka lani o Hilo. | Black with rain clouds is the sky of Hilo. |
| | [Sometimes said in humor when a dark-skinned person is seen.] |
| 2858 | Uhi mai ka lani pō. | Darkness from the sky spreads out. |
| | [Ignorance grows.] |
| 2888 | Uē ka lani, ola ka honua. | When the sky weeps, the earth lives. |
| | [When it rains the earth revives.] |
| 2894 | Wae aku i ka lani. | Let the selecting be done in heaven. |
| | [Take life as it comes.] |