easures which to us are tapu."

<hw>Tapu</hw>, <i>n</i>. the state of being consecrated or
forbidden.

1845. E. J. Wakefield, `Adventures in New Zealand,' vol. i.
p. 25:

"We found no natives, the cove being under tapu, on account of
its being the burial-place of a daughter of Te Pehi, the late
chief of the Kapiti, or Entry Island, natives."

1847. A. Tennyson, `Princess,' canto iii. l. 261:

". . . Women up till this
Cramp'd under worse than South-Sea-Isle taboo,
Dwarfs of the gynaeceum."

1851. Mrs. Wilson, `New Zealand,' p. 24:

"But chiefly thou, mysterious Tapu,
From thy strange rites a hopeful sign we draw."

1852. G. C. Mundy, `Our Antipodes' (edition 1855), p. 281:

"The tapu, which either temporarily or permanently renders
sacred an object animate or inanimate, is the nearest approach
to the Hindoo religious exclusive-ism."

1872. A. Domett, `Ranolf,' p. 89:

"His sole `tapu' a far securer guard
Than lock and key of craftiest notch and ward."

Ibid. p. 100:

"Avenge each minor breach of this taboo."

<hw>Tapu</hw>, <i>v</i>. originally to mark as sacred,
and later to place under a ban. English, <i>taboo</i>.

1852. G. C. Mundy, `Our Antipodes' (edition 1855), p. 284:

"The tapued resting-place of departed chieftains."

1875. `Spectator' (Melbourne), May 29, p. 40, col. 2:

"I . . . found the telegraph office itself tabooed."

1893. R. L. Stevenson, `Island Nights' Entertainments,' p. 39:

"By Monday night I got it clearly in my head I must be
tabooed."

<hw>Tara</hw>, <i>n</i>. (1) Maori name for the birds
<i>Sterna caspia</i>, Pallas, and <i>S. frontalis</i>,
Gray, the Sea-Swallow, or <i>Tern</i> (q.v.).

(2) A Tasmanian aboriginal name for the fern <i>Pteris
aquilina</i>, L., <i>N.O. Polypodeae</i>.

1834. Ross, `Van Diemen's Land Annual,' p. 129:

"The most extensively diffused eatable roots of Van Diemen's
Land are those of the tara fern . . . greatly resembles
<i>Pteris aquilina</i>, the common fern, brake, breckon,
or brackin, of England . . . it is known among the aborigines
by the name of tara . . . the root of the tara fern possesses
much nutritive matter."

<hw>Taraire</hw>, <i>n</i>. Maori name for a New Zealand tree;
formerly <i>Nesodaphne tarairi</i>, Hook., now <i>Beilschmiedia
tarairi</i>, Benth. and Hook., <i>N.O. Laurineae</i>.

1873. `Catalogue of Vienna Exhibition':

"Tarairi. Used for most of the purposes for which sycamore is
applied