| 23 | Aia a kau ka iʻa i ka waʻa, manaʻo ke ola. | One can think of life after the fish is in the canoe. |
| | [Before one feels elated and makes plans he should first secure his “fish.”] |
| 136 | ʻAʻohe e pulu, he waʻa nui. | One will not be wet on a large canoe. |
| | [One is safe in the protection of an important person.] |
| 139 | ʻAʻohe hana a Kauhikoa; ua kau ka waʻa i ke ʻaki. | Kauhikoa has nothing more to do; his canoe is resting on the block. |
| | [His work is all done.] |
| 216 | ʻAʻohe waʻa hoʻohoa o ka lā ʻino. | No canoe is defiant on a stormy day. |
| | [It doesn’t pay to venture into the face of danger.] |
| 229 | ʻAʻole make ka waʻa i ka ʻale o waho, aia no i ka ʻale o loko. | A canoe is not swamped by the billows of the ocean, but by the billows near the land. |
| | [Trouble often comes from one’s own people rather than from outsiders.] |
| 286 | E hoʻi ka waʻa; mai hoʻopaʻa aku i ka ʻino. | Make the canoe go back; do not insist on heading into a storm. |
| | [A plea not to do something or associate with someone that will lead to serious trouble.] |
| 327 | E lauhoe mai nā waʻa; i ke kā, i ka hoe; i ka hoe, i ke kā; pae aku i ka ʻāina. | Everybody paddle the canoes together; bail and paddle, paddle and bail, and the shore is reached. |
| | [Pitch in with a will, everybody, and the work is quickly done.] |
| 371 | E paneʻe ka waʻa ʻoi moe ka ʻale. | Set the canoes moving while the billows are at rest. |
| | [Said by Holowae, a kahuna, to suggest that Kalaniʻōpuʻu retum to Hawaiʻi while there was peace. Later used to stir one to action.] |
| 398 | Haʻalele koa waʻa i koa kanaka. | Thc koa canoe has departed leaving the warriors behind. |
| | [Said when a canoe goes off and leaves the people behind, either in the water or on land.] |
| 489 | Hāʻule i ka hope waʻa. | Left in the aft of the canoe. |
| | [Said of one who comes last or is tardy.] |
| 592 | He hoʻokele waʻa no ka lā ʻino. | A canoe steersman for a stormy day. |
| | [A courageous person.] |
| 602 | He hupo no ka waʻa pae. | A stupid one belonging to the canoe landing. |
| | [Little skill is required to get a canoe out of the water at a landing. Said of one whose knowledge is very shallow and whose skill is practically nil.] |
| 732 | Hele aku ʻoe ma ʻaneʻi, he waʻa kanaka; hoʻi mai ʻoe ma ʻō he waʻa akua. | When you go from here, the canoe will contain men; when you return, it will be a ghostly canoe. |
| | [Warning to Keouakuahuʻula by his kahuna not to go to meet Kamehameha at Kawaihae. He went anyway and was killed.] |
| 736 | Hele ʻē ka waʻa. | The speed of a canoe. |
| | [Said of a fast traveler.] |
| 823 | He moe waʻa. | A canoe dream. |
| | [When one dreams of a canoe there will be no luck the next day.] |
| 897 | He poʻe hoʻopiha waʻa. | Canoe fillers. |
| | [A derogatory remark pertaining to useless people who do nothing to help, like riders in a canoe who wield no paddle, no fishnet, and no pole.] |
| 901 | He pōhaku hekau waʻa. | The stone anchor of a canoe. |
| | [An indolent person.] |
| 962 | He unu ʻoe no ka waʻa pae. | You are a rock for beaching a canoe. |
| | [You are worth nothing but to be stepped on.] |
| 965 | He waʻa auaneʻi ka ipu e pau ai nā pipi me nā ʻōpae. | A gourd container is not a canoe to take all of the oysters and shrimps. |
| | [The container is not too large and cannot deplete the supply. A reply to one who views with suspicion another’s food container, or who balks at sharing what he has.] |
| 966 | He waʻa holo honua. | A land-sailing canoe. |
| | [A horse, mule, or donkey used for transportation.] |
| 967 | He waʻa holo nō ka hoʻi, kālai kāpulu ʻia iho. | After all, it is a worthy canoe, but you hewed it so carelessly. |
| | [He is a good worker but you have treated him with such thoughtlessness.] |
| 1240 | I nanea nō ka holo o ka waʻa i ke akamai o ke kū hoe. | One can enjoy a canoe ride when the paddler is skilled. |
| | [A sexual union is successful when the man knows how it is done.] |
| 1242 | I noho ʻoukou a i pae mai he waʻa o Kahiki-makolena, hopu ʻoukou a paʻa; o ke kahuna ia ʻaʻohe e ʻeha ka ʻili ʻoiai no Kahiki aku ana ka ʻāina. | If sometime in the future a canoe from Kahiki-makolena arrives, grasp and hold fast to it. There is the kahuna for you, and your skins will never more he hurt [in war],for the land will someday he owned hy Kahiki. |
| | [A prophecy uttered by Kaleikuahulu to Kaʻahumanu and her sisters as he was dying. Foreign priests (missionaries) will come. Accept their teachings.] |
| 1376 | Ka iʻa pā i ka ihu o ka waʻa a lele. | The fish that touches the prow of the canoe and leaps. |
| | [The mālolo, or flying fish.] |
| 1478 | Ka manu kāhea i ka waʻa e holo. | The bird that calls to the canoe - to sail. |
| | [Said of the kioea (stilt), whose early morning call was often a signal to canoemen to be ready to fish or travel.] |
| 1609 | Kau ʻino na waʻa o Kaʻaluʻalu. | The canoes hasten ashore at Kaʻalualu. |
| | [Said of those who hurry away from the scene of trouble. Kaʻaluʻalu is a beach in Kaʻū, Hawaiʻi, where fishermen hastened away from Halaʻea after unloading their fish onto his canoe.] |
| 1615 | Kau ka peʻa, holo ka waʻa! | Up go the sails; away goes the canoe! |
| | [Said humorously of one who dresses up and goes out for a gay time.] |
| 1690 | Ke ʻEka, makani hoʻolale waʻa o nā Kona. | The ʻEka breeze of Kona that calls to the canoemen to sally forth to fish. |
| | [Refers to Kona, Hawaiʻi.] |
| 1800 | Kīlua ka poʻe waʻa. | The canoe paddlers all paddle shoreward. |
| | [Said of no luck in fishing.] |
| 1806 | Kioea hoʻolale waʻa. | The kioea, who calls the canoes to sally forth [to fish]. |
| | [A Molokaʻi saying.] |
| 2131 | Ma luna mai nei au o ka waʻa kaulua, he ʻumi ihu. | I came on a double canoe with ten prows. |
| | [I walked. The “double canoes” are one’s two feet and the “ten prows” are his toes.] |
| 2227 | Nakaka ka puaʻa, nahā ka waʻa; aukahi ka puaʻa mānalo ka waʻa. | The pig cracks, the canoe breaks; perfect the pig, safe the canoe. |
| | [Whenever a new canoe was launched, a pig was baked as an offering to the gods. If the skin of the roasted pig cracked, misfortune would come to the canoe; but if it cooked to perfection the canoe would last a long time.] |
| 2564 | Pae ka waʻa i Kaʻena. | The canoe lands at Kaʻena. |
| | [Wrath. A play on ʻena (red-hot) in Kaʻena.] |
| 2566 | Pae maila ka waʻa i ka ʻāina. | The canoe has come ashore. |
| | [Hunger is satisfied; or, one has arrived hither.] |
| 2678 | Pohāpohā ka ihu o ka waʻa i ka ʻale o ka Mumuku. | The prow of the canoe is slapped by the billows in the Mumuku gale. |
| | [Said of a person buffeted by circumstances or of one who has received many blows by the fist.] |
| 2777 | Ua ʻelepaio ʻia ka waʻa. | The ʻelepaio has [marked] the canoe [log]. |
| | [There is an indication of failure. Canoe makers of old watched the movements of the ʻelepaio bird whenever a koa tree was hewed down to be made into a canoe. Should the bird peck at the wood, it was useless to work on that log, for it would not prove seaworthy.] |
| 2842 | Ua pae ka waʻa i Nānāwale. | The canoe landed at Nānāwale. |
| | [Said of disappointment. To dream of a canoe is a sign of bad luck. A play on nānā-wale (merely look [around at nothing]).] |