moʻa
1. n. chicken, red jungle chicken (Gallus gallus), fowl, as brought to Hawaiʻi by Polynesians; for some people, an ʻaumakua. 2. s. A fowl of the hen species; moa kane, a cock; moa wahine, a hen. 3. n. a native banana fruit with large and plump skin and flesh yellow, edible raw or cooked, growing in a small bunch. 4. A kind of banana or plantain. 5. n. tufted, green, leafless plants (Psilotum nudum and P. complanatum), about 30 cm long, with many slender branches, growing in most tropical countries, both on trees and on the ground. Hawaiians used them medicinally (the spore powder as a purge), and their children played a game with them.Sometimes called moa nahele, pipi. 6. Name of a plant, the leaves of which made into a tea are cathartic. 7. Name of a moss-like plant growing in the forests. 8. n. children's game played with moa twigs; the tiny branches were interlocked, and the players pulled on the ends; the loser's twigs broke and the winner crowed like a rooster (moa). 9. The name of a stick used in play. 10. n. a dart, tapering at one end, usually 25 to 60 cm long, used in a sliding game on which bets were made. 11. Name of a piece of wood made to slide down hill on; so called perhaps from its shape; the practice of using it was attended with gambling; ka hooholo moa, he mea pili waiwai ia. 12. trunkfish (Ostracion meleagris).
13. n. stone fastened to rope, used as a war weapon, said to be triangular in shape. 14. n. a small gastropod mollusk. 15. v. To dry; to roast; i mai la kela, aole i moa ka baka, that person said, the tobacco leaf is not dry; to bake. Oihk. 6:17. To be cooked in an oven or pan. Oihk. 7:9. Hoo. To be thoroughly cooked or baked. Oihk. 23:17. To cook food generally, vegetable or animal. 16. adj. Done, that is, cooked thoroughly in any way; ai moa, cooked vegetable food; ia moa, cooked flesh. &c.; moa lea, fully cooked; berena moa ole, dough. 17. nvi. • cooked; cooking,
• cooked food;
• burned, as by sun;
• made brittle, as tobacco leaves over a fire.
(13)
83
ʻAi nō i kalo moʻa.
One can eat cooked taro.
[The work is done; one can sit at ease and enjoy himself.]
215
ʻAʻohe umu moʻa i ka makani.
No umu can be made to cook anything by the wind.
[Talk will not get the umu lighted and the food cooked. This saying originated in Olowalu, Maui, where it was very windy and hard to light an umu.]
611
He iʻa moʻa ʻole i kālua.
A fish that can never he cooked.
[Said of a person of low rank. Nothing can change his genealogy.]
820
He moʻa no ka ʻai i ka pūlehu ʻia; he ahi nui aha ia e hoʻā ai?
Food can be cooked in the embers; why should a big fire be lighted?
[A small love affair will do; why assume the responsibilities of a permanent mating? Said by those who prefer to love and leave.]
892
He pili kauawe paha ke kumu i moʻa ʻole ai ke kalo.
Perhaps the reason for the partly cooked condition of the taro is because it is the one closest to the leaves that cover over the imu.
[Said of an imperfect or defective task, or of a person whose ideas are “half-baked.”]
1487
Ka moe no kau a Mele Wile, ala aʻe ua moʻa i ke kuke.
You sleep the sleep of Mary [wife of] Willie; when you awake, the food is cooked.
[A common saying on Hawaiʻi applied to any sleepy-head. Mary, wife of William Shipman, was annoyed with a servant who constantly overslept. One morning she looked into the servant’s room and loudly uttered this condemnation. The other servants laughed, and the sleeping servant was so ashamed that she rose bright and early thereafter.]
1505
Ka nui e moʻa ai ka pūlehu.
The size when one is old enough to broil food.
[Old enough to have a mate.]
2159
Moʻa aʻela nō kā ka ʻalae huapī.
The red-headed mudhen has finished cooking her own.
[Said of a selfish person who does only for himself with no regard for others. A play on pī (stingy) in huapī. From the legend of Māui.]
2160
Moʻa i kapuahi a Uli.
Cooked in Uli’s fireplace.
[Destroyed by sorcery.]
2164
Moʻa nopu ka lā i ke kula o Hoʻolehua.
The sun scorches the plain of Hoʻolehua.
[Refers to Hoʻolehua, Molokaʻi.]
2165
Moʻa nopu o ke kau.
Summer’s first parched product.
[The first sweet potato of the summer or the first from one’s field.]
2754
Pupuhi ka umu, moʻa pala ka ʻai.
When the umu smokes, the food is underdone.
[Not enough steam remains inside to cook the food. Said of one who does a lot of enthusiastic talking but canʻt knuckle down to business.]
2830
Ua moʻa ka maiʻa, he keiki māmā ka Hina.
The bananas are cooked, [and remember that] Hina has a swift son.
[Let’s finish this before we are caught. This saying comes from the legend of Māui and the mudhens. For a long time he tried to catch them in order to learn the secret of making fire. One day he overheard one of them saying these words. He caught them before they could hide and forced them to yield the secret of fire.]