Also canaker, kanaker, kanacka. [Hawaiian kanaka = Samoan, Tongan and Maori tangata man.] A native of the South Sea Islands, esp. one employed in Queensland as a laborer on the sugar plantations. Also attrib.
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xx. 59. The Catalina had several Kanakas on board.
1857. R. Tomes, Amer. in Japan, vi. 140. The Sandwich Islanders—or Kanakas, as they are now familiarly known to the sailors and traders.
1890. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Col. Reformer, xv. 175. You must get a Kanaka crew that can’t be drowned.
1893. R. Kipling, Banjo Song. We’ve shouted on seven-ounce nuggets, We’ve starved on a kanaka’s pay.
