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1820 S. Marsden Lett. & Jrnls. (1932) 277 He informed me that when he was at the Thames on a former occasion a chief had given him a maree, one of their war instruments, to sell for him for an axe.

1830 J. D. Lang Poems (1873) 116 Beneath his shaggy flaxen mat The dreadful marree hangs concealed.

1833 in R. McNab Old Whaling Days (1913) 48 An instrument made of a beautiful blue or green marble stone, which they call a Mary.

1851 E. Wilson New Zealand 48 The old man has broken my head with his meri.

1874 A. Bathgate Colonial Experiences xviii. 258 The Maories used them [sc. stone implements] to kill the Moriories rather than..degrade their own meres.

1905 W. Baucke Where White Man Treads 134 He yearned to take the taiha and mere from his hand, and substitute the axe and spade.

1921 Outward Bound June 46/2 The valuable greenstone from which the Maoris fashion all their meres, their tikis, canoe-chisels, brooches and other articles.

1938 R. Finlayson Brown Man's Burden 10 In the clear space by the flagpole old Tamarua is delivering a speech of welcome, mere in hand.

1977 G. Clark World Prehist. (ed. 3) xi. 506 Large quantities of these fine greenstones found their way to the..North Island where they were used notably for adze- and chisel-blades, mere clubs, [etc.].