monkey

noun

1. 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.

   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.

   They thought of, I don’t know, monkeys and caipirinhas and samba.”

2. 2

   Any simian, including humans.

3. 3

   Any simian primate other than hominids; any monkey or ape.

   Chimpanzees are known to form bands to hunt and kill other monkeys.

4. 4

   figurativeA human considered to resemble monkeys in some way, including: A naughty or mischievous person, especially a child.

   Stop misbehaving, you cheeky little monkey!

   "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. 5

   figurativeA human considered to resemble monkeys in some way, including: The person in the motorcycle sidecar in sidecar racing.

6. 6

   figurativeA human considered to resemble monkeys in some way, including: Synonym of idiot: a person of minimal intelligence.

7. 7

   figurativeA human considered to resemble monkeys in some way, including: Synonym of uggo: an unattractive person, especially one whose face supposedly resembles a monkey's.

8. 8

   figurativeA 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.

   No, no, no, not you. I want to talk to the organ grinder, not the monkey.

9. 9

   figurativeA human considered to resemble monkeys in some way, including: A menial employee who does a repetitive job supposedly requiring minimal intelligence.

   code monkey

   grease monkey

   phone monkey

10. 10

    figurativeA human considered to resemble monkeys in some way, including: A black person.

    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. 11

    slangA penis.

12. 12

    historicalA small trading vessel of the sixteenth century.

13. 13

    slangThe vessel in which a mess receives its full allowance of grog.

14. 14

    The weight of a pile driver or drop hammer.

    Someone handed me a monkey of grog. I forced myself to sip it, not down it.

15. 15

    A fluid consisting of hydrochloric acid and zinc, used in the process of soldering.

16. 16

    slangSynonym of five hundred, especially (UK) 500 pounds sterling or (US, dated) 500 dollars.

    [I] gave her a monkey — just half my last thou — and started to earn some more.

    A thousandth of a million squid or two monkeys Or a whole fifty scores

17. 17

    Synonym of face card.

18. 18

    slangA person's temper, said to be "up" when they are angry.

    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; […]

    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. 19

    slangA drug habit; an addiction; a compulsion.

    Monkey: a habit, as in "I have a monkey on my back." Usually used when one is sick from lack of drugs.

    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.

    Everybody's got something to hide except for me and my monkey.

20. 20

    A dance popularized by Major Lance in 1963, now usually only its upper-body dance move involving exaggerated drumming motions.

    Do the Monkey, yeah, Do the Monkey, yeah, Ah, twist them hips, Let your backbone slip, Now move your feet, Get on the beat...

    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.

    Do the monkey, do the pony / Do the slop, do the boogaloo twist.

    ...Used to the do the monkey But now it's not cool...

verb

1. 1

   informalTo meddle; to mess (with).

   Please don't monkey with the controls if you don't know what you're doing.

   “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?”

2. 2

   To mimic; to ape.

   He winked at Liza, who monkeyed him, holding her own eye shut.

Forms

plural

monkeys, monkies

past tense

monkeyed, monkied

past participle

monkeyed, monkied

present participle

monkeying

third person singular

monkeys