koneke

English

Alternative forms

• konaki

Etymology

Borrowed from Maori kōneke.

Noun

koneke (plural konekes or koneke)

1. A farm vehicle used in New Zealand that has wheels in the back like a cart and runners in front like a sledge.
   • 1931, New Zealand Railways Magazine - Volume 6:

     There are the tracks of sledge runners on the narrowing road; that lonely farmhouse around the next bend, a dairy farm twelve hundred feet or more above the harbour level, sends its milk-cans down to the bay by the old-style bush koneke that is the only means of conveyance on some of these lofty roads.

   • 1965, New Zealand Parliament, Parliamentary Debates: House of Representatives, page 2835:

     I have been shocked to see young children put on a koneke loaded with hay, with the tractor in crawler gear moving down a hill and the farmer pitching off bales of hay.

   • 1967, James Sanders, The time of my life: an autobiography, page 47:

     He used to blow his stack properly when he had his three-horse team hitched up to a koneke load of fertiliser.

Usage notes

While koneke is the original form of this word, modern speakers more commonly use konaki.

Anagrams

• konkee