The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Kauri \Ka"u*ri\, n. [Native name.] (Bot.)
   A tall coniferous tree of New Zealand Agathis australis, or
   Dammara australis), having white straight-grained wood
   furnishing valuable timber and also yielding one kind of
   dammar resin. [Written also kaudi, kaury, cowdie, and
   cowrie.]
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Cowrie \Cow"rie\ (-r[y^]), n. (Bot.)
   Same as Kauri.
   [1913 Webster] Cowrie

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Cowrie \Cow"rie\ Cowry \Cow"ry\(kou"r[y^]), n.; pl. Cowries
   (-r[i^]z). [Hind. kaur[imac].] (Zool.)
   A marine shell of the genus Cypr[ae]a.
   [1913 Webster]

   Note: There are numerous species, many of them ornamental.
         Formerly Cypr[ae]a moneta and several other species
         were largely used as money in Africa and some other
         countries, and they are still so used to some extent.
         The value is always trifling, and varies at different
         places.
         [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

cowrie
    n 1: any of numerous tropical marine gastropods of the genus
         Cypraea having highly polished usually brightly marked
         shells [syn: cowrie, cowry]