A Maori folk song — a form of traditional Maori vocal music that encompasses a wide range of purposes: lament, celebration, greeting, and storytelling. Waiata are performed at powhiri and other formal occasions, sung in support of a speaker after an address, and preserved as part of iwi (tribal) cultural heritage. The word is used freely in New Zealand English and the practice is central to living Maori culture.
After the elder's speech, the group supported him with a waiata that silenced the whole room.
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(New Zealand) A Māori folk song.
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Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
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