kauri
/ˈkaʊɹi/ noun
Also a form of cowrie
Forms kauris
- noun (New Zealand) A conifer of the genus Agathis, found in Australasia and Melanesia, especially Agathis australis.
- noun The wood of the kauri tree.
- noun A resinous product of the kauri tree, found in the form of yellow or brown lumps in the ground where the trees have grown. It is used for making varnish, and as a substitute for amber.
Synonyms
Etymology
Borrowed from Māori kauri from Proto-Polynesian *kauquli, from *kau (“tree”) + *quli (“black”), originally referring to Samoan ebony ("Diospyros samoensis").
Webster’s 1913
- noun A lofty coniferous tree of New Zealand Agathis, or Dammara, australis), furnishing valuable timber and yielding one kind of dammar resin. [Written also kaudi, cowdie, and cowrie.]
Etymology [Native name.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “kauri”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details