Motu
noun
a member of an aboriginal people of S Papua
Motu
1 British
/ ˈməʊtuː /
noun
-
a member of an aboriginal people of S Papua
-
the language of this people, belonging to the Malayo-Polynesian family
-
Also called: Hiri Motu. Police Motu. a pidgin version of this language, widely used in Papua-New Guinea Compare Neo-Melanesian
motu
2
British
/ məʊˈtuː /
noun
Etymology
Origin of motu
C21: Hindi
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Motu took the centre of ring and showed strong fundamentals and a willingness to trade, landing an impressive combination in the fourth.
From BBC ● Jan. 25, 2025
When, in 1628, William Harvey published “De Motu Cordis,” his theory of the circulation of blood, he relied on vivisections of dogs and sheep.
From New York Times ● Aug. 2, 2023
Before the lockdown, New Zealand appeared to be on a trajectory similar to Italy’s, said John McDermott, executive director at Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, who has been modeling the virus’s transmission.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 28, 2020
Four players — Hodge, Samoa’s Rey Lee-Lo and Motu Matu’u and the U.S. forward John Quill — have received three week bans for high tackles.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 29, 2019
As to the Motu and their Melanesian or Polynesian affinities, see Rev. W. Y. Turner, "The Ethnology of the Motu," Journal of the Anthropological Institute, vii.
From The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead, Volume I (of 3) The Belief Among the Aborigines of Australia, the Torres Straits Islands, New Guinea and Melanesia by Sir James George Frazer
Ours pointed out fluffy booby hatchlings in the low branches of trees on one motu, and showed us up close the massive coconut crabs whose kind is coming back from the vanishing point.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 20, 2024
He issued a motu proprio or letter of instruction to Roman Catholic Bishops.
From Time Magazine Archive
The motu proprio of the Supreme Pontiff permitted, for the first time in the recorded history of the Church, an alteration in the time of celebrating the High Mass usually performed at midnight Christmas Eve.
From Time Magazine Archive
In fact, Pope Paul's long-awaited motu proprio* on birth control was already rolling off the presses in a secret section of the Vatican's printing office.
From Time Magazine Archive
It is often said that William Harvey demonstrated that the heart is a pump; but in De motu cordis he never compared the heart to a pump—pumps are artificial, after all, and hearts are natural.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
