Green’s Dictionary of Slang

Māori adj.

(N.Z.) not a sl. term as such, Māori has been stereotyped as an all-purpose shorthand for stupid, lazy, or primitive. It is used as such in the combs. that follow.

1933
1940195019601970198019902000
2003
[NZ] (ref. to 1890–1910) L.G.D. Acland Early Canterbury Runs (1951) 386: Māori – Used as an adjective synonymous with native, except that it seems slightly contemptuous.
[NZ]McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 132: Māori Dismissive adjective in non-Māori use for anything perceived as below strength or poorly performed.

In compounds

Māori cannon (n.)

(N.Z.) a badly played shot in billiards or snooker.

1948
195019601970198019902000
2003
[NZ]R. Mason postcard (1953) in DNZE (1998) 475/1: A Māori cannon is where the striker’s white hits (say) the red and knocks it against the other white, or where, in making a cannon, one opponent’s white is sunk.
[NZ]McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 132: Māori cannon A billiards, snooker or pool shot that has gone astray and cannoned into the balls not being aimed at.
Māori car (n.)

(N.Z.) an old or broken-down vehicle.

[UK]Listener (NZ) 24 Sept. 59: The complaint to the [Race Relations Conciliator] was in one sense rightly made because ‘Māori time’ belongs to a whole genre of derogatory sayings which include such negative ones as ‘Māori day off’, ‘Māori PT’, ‘Māori car’, etc [DNZE].
Māori day off (n.) (also MDO)

(N.Z.) unauthorized absence from the workplace.

1988
199019952000
2003
[NZ]McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 72: MDO Māori day off; a sickie, or a day absent from work with pretended illness; offensive.
[NZ]McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].
Māori express (n.)

(N.Z. prison) a cheque that is not honoured by the bank.

[NZ]D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 113/2: Māori Express n. a false cheque.
Māori half-crown (n.) [the half-crown (12.5p) was worth 30 pennies]

(N.Z.) a penny.

1899
1900191019201930194019501960
1966
[Aus]Bulletin (Sydney) 14 Jan. (Red Page) [Letter from Loafer, Tauranga.] Following are other local moneynames... Id. – Māori half-crown, brownie or copper.
B.J. Cameron Collection TS July n.p.: Māori halfcrown (n) A penny.
[Aus]Baker Aus. Lang (2nd edn).
Māori holiday (n.)

(N.Z.) the day after payday.

1980
19801981198219831984
1985
[NZ]L. Leland Kiwi-Yankee Dict. 62: Māori holiday: Like other socioeconomically disadvantaged groups, the Māori is the butt of a number of jokes... A Māori holiday is the day after payday.
Gordon & Deverson N.Z. Eng. 42: Similar [derogatory] expressions include Māori holiday = the day after pay-day [DNZE].
Māoriland (n.)

(Aus.) New Zealand, thus Māorilander, a New Zealander.

1884
189019001910
1920
United Steamship Co. of N.Z. [book title] Māoriland: An Illustrated Handbook to New Zealand.
[Aus]Truth (Sydney) 4 Mar. 1/4: The male article didn’t appear, but has slid to Māoriland.
[Aus]Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 3 Oct. 3/3-4: THE much talked of contest between the unbeaten Moariland lightweight, Otto Cribb, and the clever fighter. Mirk Dunn, came off at the Gaiety Athletic Club [...] The Māorilander then reached Dunn’s chin with a nasty left stab.
[Aus]Lone Hand (Sydney) Oct. 650/2: ‘He might a’ been a Māorilander by the way he picked up the game’.
[Aus]Truth (Melbourne) 17 Jan. 5/6: Māoriland has for a long time held an unenviable reputation as a land where doping the racehorse is flagrantly carried on [...] In New Zealand [...] no trainer’s outfit is complete without a bottle or two of drugs.
[Aus]Bulletin (Sydney) 19 Feb. 15/2: One Maorilander [...] ran a show [...] out of which he took over two tons of gold.
[Aus]Bulletin (Sydney) 26 Feb. 22/3: There were 11 other Australian regiments in Palestine without counting the [...] Maoriland Mounted Rifle Brigade.
Māori mustang (n.) [the Mustang is a much sought-after sports car; the Ford is definitely not]

(N.Z.) the Mark II Ford Zephyr.

[UK]Listener (N.Z.) 13 Aug. 14: The Mk 1 Zephyr [corrected later to Mk 2] (once commonly referred to as the Māori Mustang) has a special place in local mythology.
Māori overdrive (n.)

(N.Z.) sliding one’s car downhill with the engine off and the gears in neutral.

1981
19902000
2003
Avondale College Sl. Words in Use (Auckland) (Goldie Brown Collection) Feb. n.p.: Māori overdrive: neutral [DNZE].
[NZ]McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 72/1: Māori overdrive sliding your car in neutral downhill; offensive.
[NZ]McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].
Māori roast (n.)

(N.Z.) fish and chips or some form of fast food.

1984
1985199019952000
2003
[NZ] informant from Pakuranga College in DNZE (1998).
[UK]Metro (Auckland) Aug. 194: This delicacy of the English-speaking world is referred to in other circles as ‘shark and taties’, ‘Māori roast’, or ‘greasies’.
[NZ]McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 72: Māori roast a pie and a jug; offensive.
[NZ]McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].
Māori weed (n.)

(N.Z.) a wild horse.

1873
19001950
1974
[Wanganui Eve. Post (NZ) 8 Feb. 1: The match betwen Shamrock and Māori Weed for $20, was won easily by the former].
[NZ]N.Z. Observer (Auckland) 6 Feb. 7: They say [...] That a lot of ‘Māori weeds’ and other horseflesh are wide-eyed with surprise at the extra feeds they are getting. Japan wants remounts [DNZE].
N.Z. Dept. Agriculture Report 15 338: In the northern district no draughts are bred to any extent, the Māori- weed type being most in evidence.
Chronicle NZEF 5 July 251: It takes Bill and I two hours to catch that old roany Māori weed we used for packing tucker [DNZE].
Kai Tiaki XIII. 176: The horse looked very sad, and I had my doubts about it reaching the settlement, but one can never tell what these Māori ‘weeds’ are capable of [DNZE].
I. Coster Friends in Aspic 139: My first pony, a Māori weed, tried to paw my brains out — one of the few signs of intelligence I have ever noticed in a horse.
J.T. Scrymgeour Memories of Māoriland 165: Once at a horse sale at Palmerston North, Mr. Bob Waller was selling a draft of what might be termed ‘Māori Weeds’, or rather stunted, but nice condition nags, from the Sandy Country towards Foxton.
[NZ]Dominion (Wellington) 31 Aug. 7: Undoubtedly there was good blood among these horses [on Kaingaroa Plain, c 1910], though the great majority would come into the somewhat elastic classification of ‘Māori weed.’ In actual fact, there was no reproach in the term. Born and reared on the inhospitable plains, a horse developed a stamina that no finely-bred animal possessed [DNZE].
F. Sargeson I Saw in My Dream 208: A half-cut Māori weed trying to jump a broken-down pakeha hack, spavined no doubt — and getting its legs tangled round the waist of a female deacon.