monkey
See also: Monkey
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle Dutch monnekijn, or (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle Low German Moneke, name of the son of Martin the Ape in Reynard the Fox, a diminutive based off Old Spanish mona (“mona monkey”), shortening of mamona, variant of maimón, perhaps through Turkish maymun (“monkey”), from Arabic مَيْمُون (maymūn, “baboon”). Compare Old French Monequin.
Pronunciation
Noun
monkey (plural monkeys)
- Any member of the clade Simiiformes not also of the clade Hominoidea containing humans and apes, from which they are usually, but not universally, distinguished by smaller size, a tail, and cheek pouches.
- He had been visiting an area zoo when a monkey swung from its tree perch, swiped his glasses and hurled them into a hippo hole.
- (informal) Any nonhuman primate, including apes.
- Chimpanzees are known to form bands to hunt and kill other monkeys.
- (informal) A mischievous child.
- Stop misbehaving, you little monkey!
- She's a cheeky monkey.
- 1909, Algernon Blackwood, You May Telephone From Here
- "Yes. He gets to Paris at seven in the morning. He promised to telephone the first thing."
"You expensive little monkey!"
"Why?"
"It's ten shillings for three minutes, or something like that, and you have to go to the G.P.O. or the Mansion House or some such place, I believe."
- "Yes. He gets to Paris at seven in the morning. He promised to telephone the first thing."
- A dance move popular in the 1960s.
- (British, slang) Five hundred pounds sterling; (US, dated) five hundred dollars.
- (slang) A person or the role of the person on the sidecar platform of a motorcycle involved in sidecar racing.
- (slang) A person with minimal intelligence and/or an unattractive appearance
- (blackjack) A face card.
- (slang) A menial employee who does a repetitive job, as in code monkey, grease monkey, phone monkey, powder monkey.
- The weight or hammer of a pile driver; a heavy mass of iron, which, being raised high, falls on the head of the pile, and drives it into the earth; the falling weight of a drop hammer used in forging.
- (historical) A small trading vessel of the sixteenth century.
- (slang) A drug habit; an addiction; a compulsion.
- 1938, Alfred R. Lindesmith, "Argot of the Underworld Drug Addict", Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Vol. 29, Issue 2 (July-August):
- Monkey: a habit, as in "I have a monkey on my back." Usually used when one is sick from lack of drugs.
- 1949, Nelson Algren, The Man with The Golden Arm:
- "Man, I wasn't hooked, I was crucified. The monkey got so big he was carryin' me. […] When I hear a junkie tell me he wants to kick the habit but he just can't I know he lies even if he don't know he does. He wants to carry the monkey, he's punishin' hisself for somethin' 'n don't even know it. […] Then I got forty grains 'n went up to the room 'n went from monkey to nothin' in twenny-eight days 'n that's nine-ten years ago 'n the monkey's dead."
"The monkey's never dead, Fixer," Frankie told him knowingly.
- "Man, I wasn't hooked, I was crucified. The monkey got so big he was carryin' me. […] When I hear a junkie tell me he wants to kick the habit but he just can't I know he lies even if he don't know he does. He wants to carry the monkey, he's punishin' hisself for somethin' 'n don't even know it. […] Then I got forty grains 'n went up to the room 'n went from monkey to nothin' in twenny-eight days 'n that's nine-ten years ago 'n the monkey's dead."
- 1938, Alfred R. Lindesmith, "Argot of the Underworld Drug Addict", Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Vol. 29, Issue 2 (July-August):
- A fluid consisting of hydrochloric acid and zinc, used in the process of soldering.
- (ethnic slur) (offensive) A black person.
Derived terms
Terms derived from monkey (noun)
- brass monkey
- Burmese snub-nosed monkey
- capuchin monkey
- code monkey
- grease monkey
- green monkey
- green monkey disease
- if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys
- I'll be a monkey's uncle
- leaf monkey
- make a monkey out of
- monkey apple(Please check if this is already defined at target. Replace
{{vern}}
with a regular link if already defined. Add novern=1 if not defined.) - monkey bag
- monkey barge
- monkey bars
- monkey bike
- monkey block
- monkey boat
- monkey boot
- monkey boy
- monkey bread
- monkey business
- monkey cup
- monkey dance
- monkey drill
- monkey engine
- monkey-faced owl
- monkey flip
- monkey flower
- monkey gaff
- monkey grass
- monkey hammer
- monkey humping a football
- monkey in the middle
- monkey jacket
- monkey man
- monkey meat
- monkey motion
- monkey nut
- monkey orange
- monkey orchid(Please check if this is already defined at target. Replace
{{vern}}
with a regular link if already defined. Add novern=1 if not defined.) - monkey pistol
- monkey pod(Please check if this is already defined at target. Replace
{{vern}}
with a regular link if already defined. Add novern=1 if not defined.) - monkey pole
- monkey pot(Please check if this is already defined at target. Replace
{{vern}}
with a regular link if already defined. Add novern=1 if not defined.) - monkey press
- monkey pump
- monkey puzzle
- monkey rum
- monkey script
- monkey see, monkey do
- monkeyshine
- monkey show
- monkey spar
- monkey spoon
- monkey squirrel(Please check if this is already defined at target. Replace
{{vern}}
with a regular link if already defined. Add novern=1 if not defined.) - monkey stove
- monkey tail
- monkey thorn(Please check if this is already defined at target. Replace
{{vern}}
with a regular link if already defined. Add novern=1 if not defined.) - monkey trial
- Monkey Ward's
- monkey wheel
- monkey wrench
- Myanmar snub-nosed monkey
- New World monkey
- not give a monkey's
- not your circus, not your monkeys
- Old World monkey
- phone monkey
- porch monkey
- powder monkey
- snow monkey
- spank the monkey
- the organ grinder, not the monkey
Descendants
- → Chukchi: маӈкы (maṇky)
- → Coeur d'Alene: moonki
- → Irish: moncaí
- → Navajo: mágí
- → Scottish Gaelic: muncaidh
- → Tumbuka: munkhwele
- → Welsh: mwnci
Translations
primate
|
mischievous child
|
Verb
monkey (third-person singular simple present monkeys, present participle monkeying, simple past and past participle monkeyed or monkied)
- (intransitive, informal) To meddle; to mess (with).
- Please don't monkey with the controls if you don't know what you're doing.
- 1920, Peter B. Kyne, The Understanding Heart, Chapter XII
- “As an inventor,” Bob Mason suggested, “you're a howling success at shooting craps! […] Why monkey with weak imitations when you can come close to the original?”
- (transitive) To mimic; to ape.
- 2011, Elizabeth Mosier, The Playgroup (page 83)
- He winked at Liza, who monkeyed him, holding her own eye shut.
- 2011, Elizabeth Mosier, The Playgroup (page 83)
Derived terms
Translations
to meddle, mess with
|
See also
Categories:
- English terms borrowed from Middle Dutch
- English terms derived from Middle Dutch
- English terms derived from Middle Low German
- English terms derived from Old Spanish
- English terms derived from Turkish
- English terms derived from Arabic
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ʌŋki
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English informal terms
- English terms with usage examples
- British English
- English slang
- American English
- English dated terms
- English terms with historical senses
- English ethnic slurs
- English offensive terms
- Hakka terms with redundant script codes
- Eastern Min terms with redundant script codes
- Min Nan terms with redundant script codes
- Min Nan terms with non-redundant manual script codes
- Hakka terms with non-redundant manual script codes
- English verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English basic words
- en:Dances
- en:Monkeys