“monkeys” is a form of
monkey
/ˈmʌŋki/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms monkeys monkeying monkeyed monkied monkies monky monkie
- noun (strictly) 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.”
- noun (cladistically) Any simian, including humans.
- noun (loosely, sometimes proscribed) Any simian primate other than hominids; any monkey or ape. “Chimpanzees are known to form bands to hunt and kill other monkeys.”
- noun (informal, sometimes offensive) A naughty or mischievous person, especially a child. “Stop misbehaving, you cheeky little monkey!”
- noun (slang) The person in the motorcycle sidecar in sidecar racing.
- noun (derogatory) Synonym of idiot: a person of minimal intelligence.
- noun (derogatory) Synonym of uggo: an unattractive person, especially one whose face supposedly resembles a monkey's.
- noun (slang, derogatory) 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.”
- verb (intransitive, informal) To meddle; to mess (with). “Please don't monkey with the controls if you don't know what you're doing.”
- verb (transitive) To mimic; to ape.
- proper noun The ninth of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar.
Synonyms
idiot uggo puppet five hundred face card interfere fiddle imp scamp rascal rapscallion scalawag scallywag tamper putter mess around potter tinker monkey around muck about muck around
Etymology
* 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.
Webster’s 1913
- noun (a) In the most general sense, any one of the Quadrumana, including apes, baboons, and lemurs.
- noun A term of disapproval, ridicule, or contempt, as for mischievous child.
- verb To act or treat as a monkey does; to ape; to act in a grotesque or meddlesome manner. To monkey with, to handle in a meddlesome manner. [Colloq.]
Etymology [Cf. OIt. monicchio, It. monnino, dim. of monna an ape, also dame, mistress, contr. fr. madonna. See Madonna.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “monkey”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details