monkey

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   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.

2. 2
   noun

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

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

3. 3
   noun

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

   Stop misbehaving, you cheeky little monkey!

4. 4
   noun

   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.

5. 5
   noun

   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.

6. 6
   noun

   A 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; […]

7. 7
   noun

   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.

8. 8
   noun

   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...

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 be…