monkey
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈmʌŋki/
ipa: /ˈmʊŋki/
rhymes: -ʌŋki
Forms: form: monkeys
form: monkies
Etymology: Uncertain. May be derived from monk + -ey (diminutive suffix), or borrowed from Middle Low German Moneke, the name of the son of Martin the Ape in Reynard the Fox (which may represent an unattested colloquial Middle Low German *moneke, *moneken), itself of uncertain origin. Possibly derived from a Romance term represented by Late Middle French monne (whence Modern French mone (“monkey”)) or earlier Old French monnekin (“monkey”), originally Monnekin, the name of a monkey in Li Dis d'Entendement. Compare also Old French and Middle French monin (“monkey”). The French terms may have been borrowed from Italian monna (“monkey”), from Old Spanish mona (“female monkey”), itself a shortening of mamona, variant of maimón, from Arabic مَيْمُون (maymūn, “baboon”)). However, Old French monnekin may alternatively be unrelated to the other terms, instead being a borrowing of Early Middle Dutch mannekin (a diminutive of a personal name or surname; hence, nickname, literally “miniature man”).
Senses: examples: text: 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.
text: They thought of, I don’t know, monkeys and caipirinhas and samba.”
ref: 2007 September 20, Eric Wilson, “Blame It on Rio and Gisele”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 18 Sep 2020:
text: Following monkeys, apes, and other creatures in their habitats, these scientists turned their notes and observations into voluminous, quantitative data. […] Other examples of nonhuman self-domestication in the wild exist—for instance, the Zanzibar red colobus monkey diverged from the mainland African red colobus in similar ways during its island isolation—but bonobos are the closest and most relevant to us.
ref: 2019 January 29, Melvin Konner, “A Bold New Theory Proposes That Humans Tamed Themselves”, in The Atlantic, →ISSN, archived from the original on 09 Jul 2019:
qualifier: strictly
glosses: A member of the clade Simiiformes other than those in the clade Hominoidea containing apes, generally (but not universally) distinguished by small size, tails, and cheek pouches.
glosses: Any simian including humans.
examples: text: Chimpanzees are known to form bands to hunt and kill other monkeys.
glosses: Any simian primate other than hominids, any monkey or ape.
examples: text: Stop misbehaving, you cheeky little monkey!
text: "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."
ref: 1909, Algernon Blackwood, You May Telephone From Here:
qualifier: generally derogatory
glosses: A human considered to resemble monkeys in some way, including:
A naughty or mischievous person, especially a child.
qualifier: generally derogatory
glosses: A human considered to resemble monkeys in some way, including:
The person in the motorcycle sidecar in sidecar racing.
qualifier: generally derogatory
glosses: A human considered to resemble monkeys in some way, including:
Synonym of idiot: a person of minimal intelligence.
synonyms: word: idiot
extra: a person of minimal intelligence
qualifier: generally derogatory
glosses: A human considered to resemble monkeys in some way, including:
Synonym of uggo: an unattractive person, especially one whose face supposedly resembles a monkey's.
synonyms: word: uggo
extra: an unattractive person, especially one whose face supposedly resembles a monkey's
examples: text: No, no, no, not you. I want to talk to the organ grinder, not the monkey.
qualifier: generally derogatory
glosses: A human considered to resemble monkeys in some way, including:
Synonym of puppet: a person dancing to another's tune, a person controlled or directed by another.
synonyms: word: puppet
extra: a person dancing to another's tune, a person controlled or directed by another
examples: text: code monkey
text: grease monkey
text: phone monkey
qualifier: generally derogatory
glosses: A human considered to resemble monkeys in some way, including:
A menial employee who does a repetitive job supposedly requiring minimal intelligence.
qualifier: generally derogatory; highly derogatory; highly derogatory
glosses: A human considered to resemble monkeys in some way, including:
A black person.
glosses: A penis.
glosses: A small trading vessel of the sixteenth century.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: The vessel in which a mess receives its full allowance of grog.
examples: text: Someone handed me a monkey of grog. I forced myself to sip it, not down it.
ref: 2007, Broos Campbell, No Quarter, page 111:
glosses: The weight of a pile driver or drop hammer.
glosses: A fluid consisting of hydrochloric acid and zinc, used in the process of soldering.
examples: text: [I] gave her a monkey — just half my last thou — and started to earn some more.
ref: 1918, Aleister Crowley, Robbing Miss Horniman:
text: A thousandth of a million squid or two monkeys
Or a whole fifty scores
ref: 2004, The Streets, “It Was Supposed to Be So Easy”, in A Grand Don’t Come for Free:
coordinate_terms: gorilla
glosses: Synonym of five hundred, especially (British) 500 pounds sterling or (US, dated) 500 dollars.
synonyms: word: five hundred
extra: especially (British) 500 pounds sterling or (US, dated) 500 dollars
topics: blackjack
games
glosses: Synonym of face card.
synonyms: word: face card
examples: text: I was out rather late one night, when the foreman of my department, who owed me a grudge, abused me like a dog, and told me I might consider myself dismissed, and that I should be paid my wages in the morning. I don't know how I kept my hands off him, for my monkey was up; […]
ref: 1864, Eneas Sweetland Dallas, Once a Week, volume 11, page 267:
text: Reminded me of running up that hill by the Marne – or was it the Morin? – in 1914 when Kearey had got his face ripped open by a bullet and Hedley had got his monkey up [Lost his temper, Ed.] over the Huns killing 8 of my platoon.
ref: 2019, John Hughes-Wilson, 1918 - Defeat into Victory: A Tommy Gunn Adventure, page 98:
glosses: A person's temper, said to be "up" when they are angry.
examples: text: Monkey: a habit, as in "I have a monkey on my back." Usually used when one is sick from lack of drugs.
ref: 1938, Alfred R. Lindesmith, "Argot of the Underworld Drug Addict", Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Vol. 29, Issue 2 (July-August)
text: "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.
ref: 1949, Nelson Algren, The Man with The Golden Arm:
text: I thought I would like to learn about the dope scene anyway, and the boy must have some character, you know, if he got the monkey off his back (as they used to say in our time) without outside help.
ref: 1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 431:
text: Everybody's got something to hide except for me and my monkey.
glosses: A drug habit; an addiction; a compulsion.
examples: text: Do the Monkey, yeah,
Do the Monkey, yeah,
Ah, twist them hips,
Let your backbone slip,
Now move your feet,
Get on the beat...
ref: 1963, Curtis Mayfield, "The Monkey Time" (video)
text: C'mon everybody! C'mon in!
Bobby's goin' to show you how to do the swim.
Kinda like the monkey, kinda like the twist
Pretend you're in the water and you go like this.
ref: 1964, “C'mon and Swim”, Thomas Coman and Sylvester Stewart (Sly Stone) (lyrics), performed by Bobby Freeman:
text: Do the monkey, do the pony / Do the slop, do the boogaloo twist.
ref: 1971, “Suicide Song”, in Loudon Wainwright III (lyrics), Album II, performed by Loudon Wainwright III:
text: ...Used to the do the monkey
But now it's not cool...
ref: 1989, Gary Holt, The Toxic Waltz:
topics: dance
dancing
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: A dance popularized by Major Lance in 1963, now usually only its upper-body dance move involving exaggerated drumming motions.
Synonyms: word: monkey
Hypernyms: word: primate
word: mammal
word: animal
Hyponyms: word: Old World monkey
word: New World monkey
word: aotid
word: athelid
word: callitrichid
word: cebid
word: pithechiid
Coordinate terms: word: ape
Derived terms: antimonkey
Azara's night monkey
bare-eared squirrel monkey
barrel of monkeys
bleeding-heart monkey
bleed the monkey
blue monkey
bonnet monkey
brass monkey
brown woolly monkey
Burmese snub-nosed monkey
butt monkey
capuchin monkey
cheeky monkey
cheese-eating surrender monkey
cheese monkey
chunky monkey
code monkey
cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey
common squirrel monkey
de Brazza's monkey
diademed monkey
diadem monkey
Diana monkey
dusky leaf monkey
get one's monkey up
give a monkey's
Goeldi's monkey
golden monkey
golden palace monkey
grease-monkey
grease monkey
green monkey
green monkey disease
Hamlyn's monkey
Hartlepool monkey
hog-monkey
hosemonkey
howler monkey
hundredth monkey
hybrid monkey
ice monkey
if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys
I'll be a monkey's uncle
infinite monkey theorem
inquisitive monkey
Japanese monkey
juice monkey
leaf monkey
left-handed monkey wrench
lesser spot-nosed monkey
like a monkey on a stick
like butter on a bald monkey
Madidi titi monkey
make a monkey of
make a monkey out of
monke
monkey about
monkey apple
monkey around
monkey-ass
monkey bag
monkey ball
monkey barge
monkey bars
monkey bike
monkey bite
monkey block
monkeyboard
monkey boat
monkey boot
monkey boy
monkey-branch
monkey-bread
monkey bread
monkey bridge
monkey business
monkey butt
monkey cap
monkeycide
monkey cup
monkey-cup
monkey dance
monkey dish
monkeydom
Monkeydonia
monkey drill
monkey dust
monkey-ear tree
monkey-eating eagle
monkey engine
monkeyess
monkeyface
monkey-faced owl
monkey-face tree
monkey fever
monkey flip
monkeyflower
monkey forecastle
monkey fruit
monkeyfy
monkey gaff
monkeygland
monkey glove
monkey grass
monkey guarding
monkey hammer
monkey hanger
monkeyhood
monkey hour
monkey house
monkey-house
monkey humping a football
monkey in the middle
monkey in the woodpile
monkeyish
monkey island
monkeyism
monkey jack
monkey jacket
monkey jar
monkeykind
monkey ladder
monkeyless
monkeylike
monkey-like
monkey lip
monkey lips
monkey man
monkey meat
monkey metal
monkey model
monkey motion
monkey-no-climb
monkey nut
monkey on a stick
monkey orange
monkey orchestra
monkey orchid
monkey parade
monkey-patch
monkey patch
monkey pod
monkeypod
monkey points
monkey pole
monkey pot
monkey pox
monkey-pox
monkeypox
monkey press
monkey pump
monkey puzzle
monkey-puzzle
monkey puzzle tree
monkey rail
monkeyrony
monkey rum
monkey run
monkey's allowance
monkey's dinner bell
monkey see, monkey do
monkey's fist
monkeyshine
monkey-shine
monkey show
monkey slug
monkey spar
monkey's paw
monkey's pistol
monkey spoon
monkey squirrel
monkey stick
monkey stove
monkey strap
monkey-strap
monkey suit
monkey swill
monkey tail
monkey tail tree
monkey talk
monkey tamarind
monkey thorn
monkey trail
monkey trap
monkey trial
monkey up
monkey walk
Monkey Ward's
monkey wheel
monkey-wrencher
monkey wrencher
monkey wrenching
monkey-wrenching
monkey wrench
monkey-wrench
mud monkey
Myanmar snub-nosed monkey
native monkey
Negro monkey
New World monkey
night monkey
northern monkey
nose monkey
not give a monkey's
not my circus, not my monkeys
not your circus, not your monkeys
Old World monkey
owl-faced monkey
owl monkey
parrot and monkey time
patas monkey
phone monkey
Pluto monkey
porch monkey
powder monkey
proboscis monkey
purple monkey dishwasher
puzzle-monkey
Ramayana monkey chant
red monkey
rhesus monkey
rigging monkey
robust capuchin monkey
Roloway monkey
rug monkey
sand monkey
Satan monkey
script monkey
scut monkey
sea monkey
signifying monkey
skill monkey
snow monkey
snub-nosed monkey
sock monkey
South American squirrel monkey
spank the monkey
spider monkey
squirrel monkey
suck the monkey
supermonkey
surrender monkey
swamp monkey
the organ grinder, not the monkey
trouser monkey
vervet monkey
water monkey
weremonkey
white-faced capuchin monkey
white monkey
widow monkey
winking monkey
woolly monkey
you can take the monkey out of the jungle, but you can't take the jungle out of the monkey