malo
1. n. Malo, David (or Davida), Hawaiian Historian. He was in the first class at Lahainaluna High, graduated in 1834 and served as School Master until 1842. Wrote "Hawaiian Antiquities", a book on royal genealogies, and several other books, songs, poems, letters and newspaper articles. Translated parts of the Bible into Hawaiian. (1793, Keauhou, Hawaiʻi - October 25, 1853, Maui, Hawaiʻi). 2. n. male's loincloth; chant in praise of a chief's loincloth. 3. s. A strip of kapa or cloth girded about the loins of men; in former times the malo was the only dress worn by men when at work; a covering for the nakedness of men; ka wawae e paa'i ka mai. 4. fig. Ua loheia mamua ka olelo a kekahi alii, e kaohi a e moku ka ka malo. 5. n. leaf sheath that protects the young leaves of the breadfruit tree, sometimes called maloʻulu. 6. placename. land section, Honolua qd., Maui. lit.: loincloth. 7. adj. seemaloo.
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259
E ala, e hoa i ka malo.
Get up and gird your loincloth.
[A call to rise and get to work.]
299
E hume i ka malo, e hoʻokala i ka ihe.
Gird the loincloth, sharpen the spear.
[A call to prepare for war or to prepare for the project at hand.]
1497
Kani ka pola o ka malo.
The flap of the loincloth makes a snapping sound.
[The boast of an athlete so swift in movement that the flap of his loincloth snaps.]
1630
Kaʻū malo ʻeka, kua wehi.
Kaʻū of the dirty loincloth and black back.
[The farmers there squatted on their haunches and worked the soil with short digging sticks. The sun darkened the backs of the workers.]
2223
Na kahi ka malo, na kahi e hume.
The loincloth of one, the other can wear.
[A close relationship. As a general rule, Hawaiians would not wear the clothing of people other than blood relatives. In explaining genealogy to a young relative, this conveyed the idea that a relationship was near enough to warrant the wearing of each other’s clothing.]
2341
Nona ka malo, naʻu e hume; noʻu ka malo, nāna e hume.
His loincloth I could wear; my loincloth he could wear.
[Said of very close kin.]
2557
Paʻa kahi hope i ka malo.
The rear is covered with a malo.
[Said of a boy about five or six years old. Prior to this age, a boy ate with the women in their eating house and wore no clothing, but when he was old enough to join the men in theirs, he wore a malo, just as they did.]
2562
Paʻapaʻaʻina ka malo i loko o ʻIkuwā.
The [flap of the] loincloth [flutters and] snaps in the month of ʻIkuwā.
[ʻIkuwā is a month of rains, winds, and thunderstorms.]