wiwi

Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris

I.


n. Maori name for a jointed rush.

1842. W. R. Wade, `A Journey in the Northern Island of NewZealand,' `New Zealand Reader,' p. 122:

«The roof is usually completed with a thick coating of wiwi(a small rush), and then the sides receive a second coatingof raupo, and sometimes of the wiwi over all.»

1845. E. J. Wakefield, `Adventures in New Zealand,' vol. i.p. 380:

«[The walls] were lined outside with the wiwi or fine grass.»

[See also Raupo, 1843 quotation.]

II.

n. slang name for a Frenchman,from « Oui, Oui

1845. E. J. Wakefield, `Adventures in New Zealand,' vol. i.p. 94:

«If I had sold the land to the white missionaries, might theynot have sold it again to the Wiwi (Frenchmen) or Americans.»

1857. C. Hursthouse, `New Zealand, the Britain of the South,'vol. i. p. 14:

«De Surville's painful mode of revenge, and the severechastisement which the retaliatory murder of Marion brought onthe natives, rendered the Wee-wees (Oui, oui), or people of thetribe of Marion, hateful to the New Zealanders for the nexthalf-century.»

1859. A. S. Thomson, `Story of New Zealand,' vol. i. p. 236:

«Before the Wewis, as the French are now called, departed.»

1873. H. Carleton, `Life of Henry Williams,' p. 92:

«The arrival of a French man-of-war was a sensational eventto the natives, who had always held the Oui-oui's in dislike.»

1881. Anon., `Percy Pomo,' p. 207:

«Has [sic] the Weewees puts it.»

III.

n.

aboriginal name for a native weapon.

1845. Charles Griffith, `Present State and Prospects of thePort Phillip District of New South Wales,' p. 155:

«The wiwi is an instrument not so well known. It is composedof a long straight withy, about two feet long, to which isattached a head, made of a piece of wood four inches long,in the shape of two cones joined together at the base . . .This they strike against the ground, at a little distance toone side of them, whence it rises at right angles to its firstdirection, and flies with the swiftness of an arrow for aboutone hundred yards, and at a height of about ten feet from theground.»