Citations:monkey paw

English citations of monkey paw and monkey-paw

Noun: "(idiomatic, usually attributive) alternative form of monkey's paw"

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• 1995, Marcia Golub, Wish-bone‎^[1], page 334:

  "Seems we were all living bad dreams," he said. "Wishes coming true in a monkey-paw way."

• 2003, Darren Greer, Tyler's Cape‎^[2], page 120:

  It was Tom's monkey paw, that wish that he could be the provider in the family. Suddenly my father was dead and the gauntlet was passed to my oldest brother.

• 2010, Ann Aguirre, Hell Fire‎^[3], page 304:

  For obvious reasons, I didn't trust demon favors. I had to think quickly, something that wouldn't backfire. There was a lesson to be learned from that whole monkey paw deal.

• 2015, J. R. Southall, editor, You and Who Else: A History of British Television as Written by the People Who Watched It‎^[4], page 567:

  Furthermore, for an awkward, unpopular, uncomely child with strange hair the first episode, in which our four protagonists wish for themselves and their infant sibling to be made beautiful with monkey paw style consequences, was gratifying. They were better off being plain, a heart-warming message for a spud-faced, friendless kid ... with a lisp. Did I mention the lisp?

• 2017, Angela Pepper, Wisteria Witches‎^[5], pages 251-252:

  "I guess the spell needs specific instructions, so there aren't any mistakes of interpretation. That's how you avoid the monkey-paw irony, like that old story about someone who wishes for money and then gets it, but only because someone they care about was killed and they got the inheritance.

• January 2021, “Debrief”, in Penthouse‎^[6], page 15:

  Can whoever's holding the cursed monkey paw, please put it down.