He Aniani — Combined Hawaiian Dictionary Mirror

updated: 5/27/2020

ʻŌlelo Noʻeau - Concordance

lele

lele
1. nvi.
• to fly, jump, leap, hop, skip, swing, bounce, burst forth;
• to sail through the air, as a meteor;
• to rush out, as to attack;
• to get out of, as from a car;
• to dismount, as from a horse;
• to land, disembark, as from a canoe;
• to undertake;
• to move, as stars in the sky;
• to move, as in checkers;
• a jump, leap, attack.
(For lele with emotional words, see ex., hauli, kūpilikiʻi; also cf. haʻalele.)

2. v. To fly; to jump; to leap; to fly, as a bird; a ike aku la au i ka lele ana o ka manu.
3. To burst forth, as fire in a conflagration.
4. To move, as a meteor through the air.
5. To depart from one, as the spirit of a dying person; lele ke aho.
6. To come upon, as an officer upon a criminal; to fly or rush upon one, as an enemy. Lunk. 20:37.
7. To land or go ashore from a canoe or ship; a lele iuka lakou e makaikai, they came ashore to look about.
8. To brandish, as a sword.
9. Haa. for hoo. To leave; to forsake; to leave one place of residence or business for another.
10. To reject as not fit for use; lele liilii, to scatter; to disperse; to scatter entirely.
11. vs. contagious, as of disease.
12. vi. wind-blown, of the rain.
13. vs. separate, detached, as a leaf separated from a plant for ceremonials.
14. n. a detached part or lot of land belonging to one ʻili, but located in another ʻili.
15. nvi. hula step: the dancer walks forward, lifting up the rear heel with each step, with slight inward movement; sometimes with the ʻuwehe step with each foot forward. This can also be done backwards; to dance thus.
16. n. an interval of music, the difference in pitch between two tones, always followed by a number from one to six, especially lele kolu, an interval of a third, as from C to E, or lele lima, an interval of a fifth. Minor intervals are followed by hapa, as lele kolu hapa, an interval of a minor third. Lele may also be followed by pā- and a number, to skip that number of notes. Lele in this sense also occurs as a verb, to sing thus.
17. vi.
• to dry up,
• to have passed the menopause;
• to evaporate.
18. vi. to shrink, as clothes.
19. n. sacrificial altar or stand.
20. s. An altar for sacrifice; he wahi e kau ai i ka mohai kuni i ke kuahu.
21. n. a tall variety of wild banana (Musa xparadisiaca), formerly planted near the altar (lele). It was offered to the gods and used for love magic. Its essence was thought to fly (lele) to the gods. It was used (for weaning (cf. lele₈): the banana was placed near the child with appropriate prayers in order to obtain the god's consent for weaning. This banana was taboo to women.
22. n. type of fish (no data).
23. vt. followed by hapa- + digit). To count by — (digit). see below.
24. vi. to log off, log out, as of a network or other computer system. see kī lele.
25. placename. land division near Hāʻupu, Kauaʻi, probably named for an event similar to that which resulted in the Oʻahu name Kohelepelepe. Old name for the Lahaina district, Maui, so called because of the short stay of chiefs there (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, 1857). see Maluʻulu-o-Lele. lit.: altar or flight.

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169	ʻAʻohe lele ka nalo i kamaliʻi.	A fly isn’t made to depart by children.
	[Said in derision of a person who has no more sense than a child.]
212	ʻAʻohe ʻuku lele nāna e ʻaki.	Not even flea to bite one.
	[Perfect comfort.]
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.]
679	He kawa ia naʻu i lele a ʻopu.	That is a diving place in which I dived without making a splash.
	[Said of something that is easy to do because one is accustomed to doing it.]
749	He lele pā iki kau ka manaʻo; ke aloha kamaliʻi he lālau nō.	[An adult] lets his fancy take fight and touches lightly while a child lover reaches out directly.
	[An adult lover dreams, plans, and gently woos; a child is clumsy in his lovemaking.]
750	He lele pā iki — ke aloha kamaliʻi.	A light touch — so is love among children.
	[Children may imagine themselves in love, but it is only a passing fancy — puppy love. Not so is the love of a mature person.]
762	He liʻiliʻi ka ʻuku lele, naue naʻe kino nui.	A flea may be small but it can make a big body squirm.
	[Never belittle anyone because of his small body; he may be able to do big things.]
775	He lupe lele a pulu i ka ua ʻawa.	A kite that flies till it is dampened by icy cold raindrops.
	[Said of a person whose station has risen very high.]
833	He naiʻa, he iʻa lele.	It is the naiʻa, a leaping fish.
	[Said of one who jumps to conclusions.]
879	He pali lele a koaʻe.	A cliff reached only by tropic birds.
	[Said of a high chief or of a hill too steep to climb.]
1056	Honokōhau ʻōpae lele.	Honokōhau’s leaping shrimp.
	[An epithet for the kauā of Honokōhau, Maui.]
1159	I hewa i ka lele mua, i ka hoʻoūlu i ka lā ʻino.	The fault lies in leaping first, in inspiring a bad day.
	[Said of a person who starts a fight or an argument, especially after he has been worsted.]
1226	I lele no ka lupe i ke pola.	It is the tail that makes the kite fly.
	[It is the number of followers that raises the prestige of the chief.]
1364	Ka iʻa lele me he manu.	The fish that flies like a bird.
	[The mālolo, or flying fish.]
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.]
1417	Kā! Ke lele mai nei ka pāoʻo.	Ha! The pāoʻo fish is leaping about.
	[A remark made about one who snuffles and does not blow his nose. The mucus of a runny nose darts in and out of the nostril like a pāoʻo fish in its sea pool.]
1527	Ka pali kahakō lele a koaʻe.	Sheer cliff reached only by the tropic bird.
	[A tall, inaccessible cliff.]
1669	Ke ahi lele o Kāmaile.	The soaring fire of Kāmaile.
	[This refers to the firebrands hurled off the cliffs at Nāpali, Kauaʻi.]
1742	Ke kawa lele ʻopu o Kaumaea.	The diving place of Kaumaea [where skill is shown].
	[Kaumaea, Kaʻū, Hawaiʻi, is famed in old chants because it was there that a unique game was played. Instead of leaping off into water, the players leaped off into a heap of dirt in a pit. Then they tried to slide down the mound with the least raising of dust. This game was usually followed by riding the surf of Kuaʻana at Paiahaʻa, thus washing off the dirt that clung to the perspiring skins of the players.]
1749	Ke koaʻe iho ia, he manu lele no ka pali kahakō.	That is the tropic hird, one that flies at the sheer cliffs.
	[Said of a person who is hard to catch.]
1750	Ke koaʻe lele kaha i ka pali o Līloa.	The tropic bird that soars to the cliff of Līloa.
	[Said of a chief of high rank.]
1779	Ke one lele o Moʻohelaia.	The flying sands of Moʻohelaia.
	[When the sands of Moʻohelaia, Molokaʻi, were blown about by the wind, it was believed that ghosts were present.]
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.]
1974	Lele ʻaʻau na manu o Kīwaʻa.	The birds of Kīwaʻa took flight in confusion.
	[Said of people fleeing in panic.]
1975	Lele au lā, hokahoka wale iho.	I fly away, leaving disappointment behind.
	[Said of one who is disillusioned after giving many gifts. Wakaʻina was a ghost of North Kohala who deceived people. He often flew to where people gathered and chanted. When he had their attention he would say, “I could chant better if I had a tapa cloth.” In this way he would name one thing after another, and when all had been given him he would fly away chanting these words.]
1976	Lele i Kona; lele i Koʻolau.	Flies to the leeward side of the island and flies to the windward.
	[Said of one who is hard to locate.]
1977	Lele kāhili, holo ka uhaʻi, uhi kapa.	Kāhili sway, the door covering is closed, the tapa is drawn up.
	[The chief sleeps.]
1978	Lele ka hoaka.	The spirit has flown away.
	[The glory of the land has departed. Also, the person is dead.]
1979	Lele ka ʻiwa mālie kai koʻo.	When the ʻiwa bird flies [out to sea] the rough sea will be calm.
1980	Lele ka makani o Makahūʻena, kuakea ka moana.	When the wind of Makahuena flies, the ocean is white with foam.
	[A play on maka (eyes), hū (overflow), and ʻena (red hot or wrath) in the name Makahūʻena (Eyes-spilling-wrath). Applied to one whose eyes and manner denote fury. First uttered by Pele in a chant about the winds of Kauaʻi.]
1981	Lele ka manu i Kahiki.	The bird has flown to Kahiki.
	[He has taken flight like the plover to a foreign country and is not to be found.]
1982	Lele kapu i kai.	The kapu has flown to the sea.
	[The kapu has been abolished.]
1983	Lele koaʻe.	Tropic bird flying.
	[A term of reproach applied to the kauā — flyers into space without a foothold.]
1984	Lele kōheoheo i ka pali o Kapaheo.	Plummeting from the cliff of Kapaheo.
	[A Kaʻū saying and a play on heo (quickly gone).]
1985	Lele Laukī i ka pali.	Laukī leaped off the cliff.
	[Said when one in desperation does harm to himself. Laukl was a native of Puna who was ashamed after being derided about his small penis, so he committed suicide by leaping off a cliff. Sometimes applied humorously to one who has lost his sexual potency.]
1986	Lele liʻiliʻi ka lehu o kapuahi.	The ashes of the fireplace are scattered.
	[Said of one whose wrath sends everybody going in all directions to get out of his way, or of a scattering of things helter-skelter. This saying came from the scattering of ashes at sea by the kahuna ʻanāʻanā on the night of Kāne or Lono, after he had prayed over and burnt the “bait” taken from the victim.]
1987	Lele nō ka ʻohe i kona lua.	The ʻohe taro leaps into its own hole.
	[Each person to his own place. From the legend of Kamiki, in whieh the hero called to the various taros by name, and each leaped into its own hole and stood there.]
1988	Lele o Kohala me he lupe lā.	Kohala soars as a kite.
	[An expression of admiration for Kohala, a district that has often been a leader in doing good works.]
2074	Mai kolohe i ka moʻo o lele i ka pali.	Do not bother lizards or youll fall off a cliff.
	[A warning not to bother lizards lest someday the moʻo cause a madness that makes one leap off a cliff and die.]
2076	Mai lele mua o pā auaneʻi.	Do not leap first lest you be hurt.
	[Don’t be the first to start a fight.]
2097	Makani luna ke lele ʻino maila ke ao.	There is wind from the upland, for the clouds are set a-flying.
	[Signs of trouble are seen. This saying originated shortly after the completion of the Puʻukoholā heiau by Kamehameha I. He sent Keaweaheulu to Kaʻū to invite Keouakuahuʻula to Kawaihae for a peace conference between them. Against the advice of his own high priest, Keouakuahuʻula went, taking his best warriors along with him. When outside of Māhukona, he saw canoes come out of Kawaihae and realized that treachery awaited him. It was then that he uttered the words of this saying. His navigator pleaded with him to go back, but he refused. Arriving in Kawaihae, Keouakuahuʻula stepped off the canoe while uttering a chant in honor of Kamehameha. One of the latter’s war leaders stepped up from behind and killed him. All of his followers were slaughtered except for Kuakahela, who hid and later found his way home, where he wailed the sad story.]
2209	Nahā ka mākāhā, lele ka ʻupena.	When the sluice gate breaks, the fishnets are lowered.
	[One’s loss may be another’s gain.]
2804	Ua kau ka mauli lele i ka muku.	Life is placed where it can take only a brief flight.
	[Said of a hopeless situation in which there is only a brief respite, then disaster or death.]
2815	Ua lele ka manu i Kahiki.	The bird has flown to Kahiki.
	[Said of a person who has gone somewhere and cannot be found.]

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