or Meri
(pronounced merry)
a Maori war-club; a casse-tête, or awar-axe, from a foot to eighteen inches in length, and made ofany suitable hard material – – stone, hard wood, whalebone. Tomany people out of New Zealand the word is only known as thename of a little trinket of greenstone (q.v.) made inimitation of the New Zealand weapon in miniature, mounted ingold or silver, and used as a brooch, locket, ear-ring, orother article of jewelry.
1830. J. D. Lang, `Poems' (edition 1873), p. 116:
«Beneath his shaggy flaxen mat
The dreadful marree hangs concealed.»
1851. Mrs. Wilson, `New Zealand,' p. 48:
«The old man has broken my head with his meri.»
1859. A. S. Thomson, `Story of New Zealand,' p. 140:
«Of these the greenstone meri was the most esteemed. It weighssix pounds, is thirteen inches long, and in shape resembles asoda-water bottle flattened. In its handle is a hole for aloop of flax, which is twisted round the wrist. Meris arecarried occasionally in the girdle, like Malay knives. Inconflicts the left hand grasped the enemy's hair, and one blowfrom the meri on the head produced death.»
188]. J. Bonwick, `Romance of Wool Trade,' p. 229:
«A land of musket and meri-armed warriors, unprovided witha meat supply, even of kangaroo.»
1889. Jessie Mackay, `The Spirit of the Rangatira,' p. 16:
«He brandished his greenstone mere high,
And shouted a Maori battle-cry.»
1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Miner's Right,' c. iii. p. 33:
«`No, no, my peg; I thrust it in with this meri,'yells Maori Jack, brandishing his war-club.»