kuku, (-a, -‘ia).
1. Gather, draw or bunch together, turn up or roll up (sleeves), ruck up, form a tight tangle (rope). Kua
kuku maira te aronga mataiapo tutara ra.
The chief elders were gathered together (Neh. 8.13);
ko tei kuku i te au rā katoa nei i te tamaki,
who are continuously gathered together for war (Ps. 140.2);
Kua kuku au i tōku vaevae piripou nō te varivari i te mataara.
I turned my trouser-legs up because the road was muddy;
kia oti tōna rimā pona i te kuku,
when he’d rolled his sleeves up;
Kua kuku te taura.
The rope is all tangled up.
2. Grab (the throat) and squeeze, throttle.
Kua kuku ‘aia i tōku kakī kia pukurena‘ia au.
He grabbed me by the throat in order to choke me;
Kua tautau tōna arero i te kuku‘anga te keikeiā i tōna kakī
. His tongue hung out when the thief squeezed him round the neck. (See kukukuku.) [Pn. *kuku1.]