ri name for spirits,--
literally, stinking water, from <i>piro</i>, stinking,
and <i>wai</i>, water. In New Zealand geography, the word
<i>Wai</i> is very common as the first part of many names
of harbours, lakes, etc. Compare North-American Indian
<i>Fire-water</i>.

1845. W. Brown, `New Zealand and its Inhabitants,' p. 132:

"Another native keeps a grog-shop, and sells his
<i>waipero</i>, as he says, to <i>Hourangi</i> drunken
pakehas."

1863. F. Maning (Pakeha Maori), `Old New Zealand,' p. 169:

"He would go on shore, in spite of every warning, to get some
water to mix with his <i>waipiro</i>, and was not his canoe
found next day floating about with his paddle and two empty
case bottles in it?"

1873. Lt.-col. St. John, `Pakeha Rambles through Maori
Lands,' p. 167:

"When we see a chance of getting at waipiro, we don't stick at
trifles."

1887. The Warrigal, `Picturesque New Zealand,' `Canterbury
Weekly Press,' March 11:

"The priest was more than epigrammatic when he said that the
Maoris' love for `waipiro' (strong waters) was stronger than
their morals."

<hw>Wairepo</hw>, <i>n</i>. Maori name for the fish called
<i>Stingray</i>.

<hw>Wait-a-while</hw>, <i>n</i>. also called
<i>Stay-a-while</i>: a thicket tree.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 306:

"<i>Acacia colletioides</i>, A. Cunn., <i>N.O. Leguminosae</i>,
`Wait-a-while' (a delicate allusion to the predicament of a
traveller desirous of penetrating a belt of it)."

<hw>Waka</hw>, <i>n</i>. Maori word for canoe. <i>Waka
huia</i> is a box for keeping feathers, originally the
feathers of the <i>huia</i> (q.v.).

1874. W. M. Baynes, `Narrative of Edward Crewe,' p. 81:

"`Whaka' is the native name, or rather the native genetic term,
for all canoes, of which there are many different kinds, as
tete, pekatu, kopapa, and others answering in variety to our
several descriptions of boats, as a `gig,' a `whaleboat,' a
`skiff,' a `dingy,' etc."

1878. R. C. Barstow, `On the Maori Canoe,' `Transactions
of the New Zealand Institute,' vol. xi. art. iv. p. 72:

"Canoes may be divided into four classes; <i>Waka-taua</i>
or <i>Waka-hitau</i> were canoes, fully carved; the
<i>Waka-tetee</i>, which, generally smaller, had a plain
figure-head and stern; <i>Waka-tiwai</i>, an ordinary canoe
of one piece, and the <i>kopapa</i> or small canoe, usually
used for fishing, travelling to cultivation, etc."

<hw>Wakiki</hw>, <i>n</i>.