Definition of "monkey"

monkey

/ˈmʌŋki/

noun
plural monkeys or (obsolete) monkies
1. (properly) A member of the clade Simiiformes other than those in the clade Hominoidea containing humans and apes, generally (but not universally) distinguished by small size, tails, and cheek pouches.
2. (inexact, sometimes proscribed) Any simian primate other than hominids, any monkey or ape.
3. (figurative, generally derogatory) A human considered to resemble monkeys in some way, including:
  1. (informal, sometimes offensive) A naughty or mischievous person, especially a child.
    Quotations
    "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."
    1909, Algernon Blackwood, You May Telephone From Here
  2. (slang) The person in the motorcycle sidecar in sidecar racing.
  3. (derogatory) Synonym of idiot: a person of minimal intelligence.
  4. (derogatory) Synonym of uggo: an unattractive person, especially one whose face supposedly resembles a monkey's.
  5. (slang, derogatory) Synonym of puppet: a person dancing to another's tune, a person controlled or directed by another.
  6. (slang, usually derogatory) A menial employee who does a repetitive job supposedly requiring minimal intelligence.
4. (slang, derogatory, ethnic slur, offensive) A black, a black person.
5. (historical) A small trading vessel of the sixteenth century.
6. (slang, nautical) The vessel in which a mess receives its full allowance of grog.
7. The weight of a pile driver or drop hammer.
  Quotations
  Someone handed me a monkey of grog. I forced myself to sip it, not down it.
  2007, Broos Campbell, No Quarter, page 111
8. A fluid consisting of hydrochloric acid and zinc, used in the process of soldering.
9. (slang) Synonym of five hundred, especially (Britain) 500 pounds sterling or (US, dated) 500 dollars.
  Quotations
  A thousandth of a million squid or two monkeysOr a whole fifty scores
  2004, The Streets (lyrics and music), “It Was Supposed to Be So Easy”, in A Grand Don’t Come for Free
10. (blackjack) Synonym of face card.
11. (slang) A person's temper, said to be "up" when they are angry.
  Quotations
  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; […]
  1864, Eneas Sweetland Dallas, Once a Week, volume 11, page 267
  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.
  2019, John Hughes-Wilson, 1918 - Defeat into Victory: A Tommy Gunn Adventure, page 98
12. (slang) A drug habit; an addiction; a compulsion.
  Quotations
  Monkey: a habit, as in "I have a monkey on my back." Usually used when one is sick from lack of drugs.
  1938, Alfred R. Lindesmith, "Argot of the Underworld Drug Addict", Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Vol. 29, Issue 2 (July-August)
  "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.
  1949, Nelson Algren, The Man with The Golden Arm
  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.
  1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, page 431
13. (dance) A dance popularized by Major Lance in 1963, now usually only its upper-body dance move involving exaggerated drumming motions.
  Quotations
  Do the Monkey, yeah,Do the Monkey, yeah,Ah, twist them hips,Let your backbone slip,Now move your feet,Get on the beat...
  1963, Curtis Mayfield, "The Monkey Time" (video)
  C'mon everybody! C'mon in!Bobby's goin' to show you how to do the swim.Kinda like the monkey, kinda like the twistPretend you're in the water and you go like this.
  1964, “C'mon And Swim”, Thomas Coman and Sylvester Stewart (Sly Stone) (lyrics), performed by Bobby Freeman
  ...Used to the do the monkeyBut now it's not cool...
  1989, Gary Holt, The Toxic Waltz
verb
third-person singular simple present monkeys, present participle monkeying, simple past and past participle monkeyed or monkied
1. (intransitive, informal) To meddle; to mess (with).
  Quotations
  “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?”
  1920, Peter B. Kyne, chapter XII, in The Understanding Heart
2. (transitive) To mimic; to ape.
  Quotations
  He winked at Liza, who monkeyed him, holding her own eye shut.
  2011, Elizabeth Mosier, The Playgroup, page 83