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monkey

noun
/ˈmʌŋki/US/ˈmʊŋki/

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.

  1. derived from mannekin
  2. derived from مَيْمُون
  3. derived from mona — “female monkey”
  4. derived from monna — “monkey”
  5. derived from monne
  6. borrowed from Moneke

Definitions

  1. A member of the clade Simiiformes other than those in the clade Hominoidea containing…

    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. Any simian, including humans.

  3. Any simian primate other than hominids

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

    • Chimpanzees are known to form bands to hunt and kill other monkeys.
  4. ›+ 14 more definitions

    1. A human considered to resemble monkeys in some way, including

      A human considered to resemble monkeys in some way, including:

      • Stop misbehaving, you cheeky little monkey!

    2. A penis.

    3. A small trading vessel of the sixteenth century.

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

    5. 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.

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

    7. Synonym of five hundred, especially (British) 500 pounds sterling or (US, dated) 500…

      Synonym of five hundred, especially (British) 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

    8. Synonym of face card.

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

      • 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.

    10. A drug habit

      A 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.

    11. A dance popularized by Major Lance in 1963, now usually only its upper-body dance move…

      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.

    12. To meddle

      To 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?”

    13. To mimic

      To mimic; to ape.

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

    14. The ninth of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to…

      The ninth of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar.

The neighborhood

Derived

antimonkey, Azara's night monkey, baboon-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, hare-lipped monkey, Hartlepool monkey, hog-monkey, hosemonkey · +217 more

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at monkey. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01monkey02hominids03hominid04chimpanzees05chimpanzee06ape07monkeys

A definitional loop anchored at monkey. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

7 hops · closes at monkey

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA