Green’s Dictionary of Slang

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

1948		R. Mason postcard (1953) in DNZE (1998) 475/1: A M?ori 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.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 132: M?ori cannon A billiards, snooker or pool shot that has gone astray and cannoned into the balls not being aimed at.

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

1983

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

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

1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 72: MDO M?ori day off; a sickie, or a day absent from work with pretended illness; offensive.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].

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

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 113/2: M?ori Express n. a false cheque.

(N.Z.) a lack of sexual foreplay.

2003

McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 132: M?ori foreplay Are you awake?

(N.Z.) a penny.

1899		Bulletin (Sydney) 14 Jan. (Red Page) [Letter from Loafer, Tauranga.] Following are other local moneynames... Id. – M?ori half-crown, brownie or copper.
1955		B.J. Cameron Collection TS July n.p.: M?ori halfcrown (n) A penny.
1966		Baker Aus. Lang (2nd edn).

(N.Z.) the day after payday.

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

(Aus.) New Zealand, thus M?orilander, a New Zealander.

1884		United Steamship Co. of N.Z. [book title] M?oriland: An Illustrated Handbook to New Zealand.
1894		Truth (Sydney) 4 Mar. 1/4: The male article didn’t appear, but has slid to M?oriland.
1900		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 M?orilander then reached Dunn’s chin with a nasty left stab.
1907		Lone Hand (Sydney) Oct. 650/2: ‘He might a’ been a M?orilander by the way he picked up the game’.
1914		Truth (Melbourne) 17 Jan. 5/6: M?oriland 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.
1920		Bulletin (Sydney) 19 Feb. 15/2: One Maorilander [...] ran a show [...] out of which he took over two tons of gold.

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

1990

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

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

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

(N.Z.) taking it easy and doing nothing.

1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].

(N.Z.) marijuana.

2003

McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl.

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

1984		informant from Pakuranga College in DNZE (1998).
1986		Metro (Auckland) Aug. 194: This delicacy of the English-speaking world is referred to in other circles as ‘shark and taties’, ‘M?ori roast’, or ‘greasies’.
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 72: M?ori roast a pie and a jug; offensive.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].

(N.Z.) a hammer used to drive in a screw.

2003

McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl.

(N.Z.) barging directly into someone, i.e. no sidestep at all.

2003

McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl.

(N.Z.) a flexible attitude to time-keeping.

1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 72/1: M?ori time as much time as desired; easygoing.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].

(N.Z.) a wild horse.

[1873		Wanganui Eve. Post (NZ) 8 Feb. 1: The match betwen Shamrock and M?ori Weed for $20, was won easily by the former].
1904		N.Z. Observer (Auckland) 6 Feb. 7: They say [...] That a lot of ‘M?ori weeds’ and other horseflesh are wide-eyed with surprise at the extra feeds they are getting. Japan wants remounts [DNZE].
1907		N.Z. Dept. Agriculture Report 15 338: In the northern district no draughts are bred to any extent, the M?ori- weed type being most in evidence.
1918		Chronicle NZEF 5 July 251: It takes Bill and I two hours to catch that old roany M?ori weed we used for packing tucker [DNZE].
1920		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 M?ori ‘weeds’ are capable of [DNZE].
1939		I. Coster Friends in Aspic 139: My first pony, a M?ori weed, tried to paw my brains out — one of the few signs of intelligence I have ever noticed in a horse.
1960		J.T. Scrymgeour Memories of M?oriland 165: Once at a horse sale at Palmerston North, Mr. Bob Waller was selling a draft of what might be termed ‘M?ori Weeds’, or rather stunted, but nice condition nags, from the Sandy Country towards Foxton.
1963		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 ‘M?ori 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].
1974		F. Sargeson I Saw in My Dream 208: A half-cut M?ori weed trying to jump a broken-down pakeha hack, spavined no doubt — and getting its legs tangled round the waist of a female deacon.