mole
1. n. • tap root, main root;
• bottom, as of a pit or of a glass;
• ancestral root;
• foundation, source, cause.
2. s. The principal root of a tree that runs straight downwards; also the large roots of a tree generally. (The small ones that branch out from them are called aa.) 3. The bottom of a pit; the bottom of the sea. Habak. 3:13. 4. fig. A root, i.e., offspring; descendants from a root. Rom. 15:12. 5. One belonging to a family. Oihk. 25:47. 6. A cause; a means. 1 Tim. 6:10. A root; a foundation; aole i loaa ia'u ka mole o ka naauao, I have not obtained the principles of knowledge. 7. vs. smooth, round, bald. 8. n. name of the smooth, uncarved side of a tapa beater, as used at the end of the beating to smooth out the cloth. 9. to linger, loiter, lag; backward. 10. v. To linger; to lag behind; to be slow. 11. n. bag in the pākuʻikuʻi net. 12. n. mole.
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40
Aia i ka mole kamaliʻi, ʻaʻohe i oʻo ka iwi.
Still rooted in childhood when the bones have not matured.
[Said of a person who is still a child, either physically or mentally.]
41
Aia i ka mole o Lehua.
At the taproot of Lehua.
[Said of one who is out of sight for a long time, neither seen nor heard of. Lehua is an island beyond Niʻihau.]
253
E akahele i ka mamo a ʻĪ, o kolo mai ka mole uaua.
Beware the descendant of ʻĪ, lest the tough roots crawl forth.
[A warning uttered by Palena, a chief of Kohala, who saw Kuaʻana-a-ʻĪ cruelly treated by the chiefs of Kona. Kuaʻana later went to see the people of his mother, Hoʻoleialiʻi, in Hāna, and to help the chiefs of Hilo in fighting those of Kona.]
888
He pāpaʻi niho mole.
A crab minus a claw.
[Said of a person with a missing tooth.]
1025
Hoʻi hou i ka mole.
Return to the taproot.
[The return to love and loyalty for kith and kin after a severing of relationship.]
1768
Ke momole nei no ka mole ʻo ʻĪ.
The ʻĪ chiefs still adhere to their taproots.
[The descendants of ʻĪ hold fast.]
2063
Mai ka lā ʻōʻili i Haʻehaʻe a hāliʻi i ka mole o Lehua.
From the appearance of the sun at Haʻehaʻe till it spreads its light to the foundation of Lehua.
[Haʻehaʻe is a place at Kumukahi, Puna, Hawaiʻi, often referred to in poetry as the gateway of the sun.]
2064
Mai ka ʻōʻili ʻana a ka lā i Kumukahi a ka lā iho aku i ka mole ʻolu o Lehua.
From the appearance of the sun at Kumukahi till its descent beyond the pleasant base of Lehua.
[From the sunrise at Kumukahi, in Puna, Hawaiʻi, to the sunset beyond the islet of Lehua.]