patun.

c1771 W. B. Monkhouse in J. Cook Jrnls. (1955) I. 567 A short hand weapon which was fastned by a string round the wrist, was about 18 inches long, had a rounded handle and thence formed into a flat, elliptic shape: this weapon, we afterwards learnt, was called Pattoo.

1814 S. Marsden Lett. & Jrnls. (1932) 91 Some of his officers stood up and regulated all their movements both by word of command and signal made by their large pattoes ornamented with feathers.

1878 J. Buller Forty Years N.Z. 249 They used a variety of manual weapons, such as the mere, the hani, the hoeroa, the patu..[etc.].

1882 T. H. Potts Out in Open 82 It [sc. fern-root] was soaked, roasted, and repeatedly beaten with a small club (patu) on a large smooth stone, till it was supple.

1921 H. Guthrie-Smith Tutira x. 77 Tua Kiaki pulled out a patu concealed beneath his mat, and with it there and then slew Te Mautaranui.

1974 National Geographic Dec. 760 (caption) This Tahitian war club is older than the similar patu of the New Zealand Maori.

1998 Waikato Times (Hamilton, N.Z.) (Nexis) 5 Aug. 13 Te Awamutu Museum director David Woodings, pictured with a collection of pre-European Maori patu (used for pounding food and flax).

2002 N.Z. Herald (Nexis) 28 Sept. (Entertainment section) When a talented craftsman attempts to copy a whalebone patu, the patu shows its power.