Word: monkey Part of Speech: noun 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 man, literally “little human”), and if so monkey is a doublet of mannequin; see modern Dutch manneken. Pronunciation: /ˈmʌŋki/, /ˈmʊŋki/ 1. 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. Example: 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. Example: They thought of, I don’t know, monkeys and caipirinhas and samba.” 2. Any simian, including humans. 3. Any simian primate other than hominids; any monkey or ape. Labels: broadly, proscribed, sometimes Example: Chimpanzees are known to form bands to hunt and kill other monkeys. 4. A human considered to resemble monkeys in some way, including: Labels: figuratively, informal, offensive, sometimes Example: Stop misbehaving, you cheeky little monkey! Example: "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." 5. A human considered to resemble monkeys in some way, including: Labels: figuratively, slang 6. A human considered to resemble monkeys in some way, including: Labels: derogatory, figuratively 7. A human considered to resemble monkeys in some way, including: Labels: derogatory, figuratively 8. A human considered to resemble monkeys in some way, including: Labels: derogatory, figuratively, slang Example: No, no, no, not you. I want to talk to the organ grinder, not the monkey. 9. A human considered to resemble monkeys in some way, including: Labels: derogatory, figuratively, slang, usually Example: code monkey Example: grease monkey 10. A human considered to resemble monkeys in some way, including: Labels: ethnic, figuratively, offensive, slang, slur Example: Animalistic dehumanisation, 'simianisation' and the animalising of black bodies through metaphorically likening these individuals to 'baboons,' 'monkeys' or 'apes' reveals racialised animality discourse in South Africa. 11. A penis. Labels: slang, uncommon, vulgar 12. A small trading vessel of the sixteenth century. Labels: historical 13. The vessel in which a mess receives its full allowance of grog. Labels: slang 14. The weight of a pile driver or drop hammer. Example: Someone handed me a monkey of grog. I forced myself to sip it, not down it. 15. A fluid consisting of hydrochloric acid and zinc, used in the process of soldering. 16. Synonym of five hundred, especially (UK) 500 pounds sterling or (US, dated) 500 dollars. Labels: slang Example: [I] gave her a monkey — just half my last thou — and started to earn some more. Example: A thousandth of a million squid or two monkeys Or a whole fifty scores 17. Synonym of face card. 18. A person's temper, said to be "up" when they are angry. Labels: slang Example: 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; […] Example: 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. 19. A drug habit; an addiction; a compulsion. Labels: slang Example: Monkey: a habit, as in "I have a monkey on my back." Usually used when one is sick from lack of drugs. Example: "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. 20. A dance popularized by Major Lance in 1963, now usually only its upper-body dance move involving exaggerated drumming motions. Example: Do the Monkey, yeah, Do the Monkey, yeah, Ah, twist them hips, Let your backbone slip, Now move your feet, Get on the beat... Example: 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.