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.

• References:
  • See lapalapa.
  • NEAL 652.