Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An ancient Hawaiian temple.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A temple in traditional Hawaiian society.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Hawaiian, from hei, variant of hai, to worship, from Proto-Polynesian *fai, to worship.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Hawaiian heiau.

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Examples

  • This city of refuge was a "heiau," or heathen temple.

    Scenes in the Hawaiian Islands and California 1871

  • We were drinking on the mats by the beach at Waikiki, close to the old heiau "(temple)" that is not far from what is now the Wilders 'beach place.

    THE BONES OF KAHEKILI 2010

  • The Hawaiians, who, it seemed, had driven him to destroy himself in expiation for the destruction of their fishing _heiau_ -- who had prayed him to death -- packed their things and slipped away before the police sirens began.

    Beard 2010

  • Don't Miss: The heiau is on the grounds of the nearly 300-acre Kahanu Gardens, which are overseen by the nonprofit National Tropical Botanical Garden.

    Off the Grid 2009

  • Archaeologists believe the heiau, or temple, was constructed in four stages, beginning as early as the 12th century.

    Off the Grid 2009

  • These “amenities” will be adjacent to an ancient heiau.

    Is Nothing Sacred, Nothing Holy in Hawaii? 2008

  • The chief object of interest on this ride is the great heiau, which stands on a bare steep hill above the sea, not easy of access.

    The Hawaiian Archipelago Isabella Lucy 2004

  • Christianized, only now in middle life, was, he said, “a big boy when the first teachers came,” and may very likely have witnessed horrors in the heiau, or temple, close by, of which little is left now.

    The Hawaiian Archipelago Isabella Lucy 2004

  • I have explored the country pretty thoroughly for many miles round, but have not seen anything striking, except the remains of an immense heiau in the centre of the desert tableland, said to have been built in a day by the compulsory labour of 25,000 people:

    The Hawaiian Archipelago Isabella Lucy 2004

  • The only dwellings within the heiau were those of the priests, and the “sacred house” of the king, in which he resided during the seasons of strict Tabu.

    The Hawaiian Archipelago Isabella Lucy 2004

Comments

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  • A heiau is a Hawaiian temple.

    February 19, 2008