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monkey business

noun
/ˈmʌŋkɪ ˌbɪznɪs/UK/ˈmʌŋki ˌbɪznɪs/US

Etymology

From monkey + business, probably a calque of Bengali বাঁদরামি (bãdrami, “mischief”, literally “monkey-behaviour”), from বাঁদর (bãdor, “monkey”) + -আমি (-ami, suffix forming nouns referring to the properties, qualities, or states of the words to which it is attached), from the perception that monkeys behave mischievously.

  1. inherited from bisiġnes — “business, busyness”
  2. inherited from busines
  3. compounded as monkey business — “monkey + business”

Definitions

  1. Activity that is mischievous, stupid, or time-wasting.

    • Stop all this monkey business and do your homework!
    • I’m going to take off the cuffs, Slim, and off you, Jerry. But don’t try any monkey business. When Peters answers the door, you tell him everything’s O. K., and that you’re the committee, see? Once the door’s open, we’ll do the rest.

  2. Activity that is morally questionable or even mildly illegal.

    • She wondered what sort of monkey business her neighbour was up to, sneaking out of his house at 1:00 am.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for monkey business. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

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