Wehewehe Wikiwiki Hawaiian language dictionaries

1. vi., To flash, as lightning; to blaze suddenly, flare up; to rumble uneasily, as a queasy stomach.

• Examples:
  • ʻŌlapa ka hoe a ka lawaiʻa, he ʻino, the fisherman's paddle flashes, a storm [of haste].

2. n., Several native species and varieties of forest trees (Cheirodendron 🌐), with opposite leaves, each leaf divided palmately into three to five (rarely six or seven) leaflets, and with flowers borne in umbels.

• Related:
  • Also: ehu, kauila māhu (on Maui), lapalapa, māhu, ʻōlapalapa.
• References:
  • Neal 652.
  • Cf. hū ʻōlapa.

3. n., Dancer, as contrasted with the chanter or hoʻopaʻa (memorizer); now, any dance accompanied by chanting, and drumming on a gourd drum.

4. n., Name for the āholehole (fish) used as sacrifice for love sorcery (hana aloha), or for sorcery that sends a bad spirit to plague another (hoʻounauna), probably so called because of the desired rapidity of the spirit's actions.

5. Same as ʻōlapalapa #3.

hehele, Lift-off, as of a rocket or missile; to blast off.

• Source:
  • Existing dictionary word, Extended meaning
• References:
  • Cf. hoʻōlapa.
  • See helu ʻōlapa.

Any hula accompanied by chanting and the beat of a gourd drum. Also the name applied to the dancers, in contrast to the hoʻopaʻa who are the chanters and drummers.

The fish āholehole, used as a sacrifice in love sorcery; magic that sends an evil spirit to harass another. (PE.)

Member of the Panax family, native species of a Pacific genus (Cheirodendron). The opposite leaves of ʻōlapa and lapa-lapa flutter in the breeze. See lapalapa. (NEAL 652.)