Library / English Dictionary

MONKEY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of various long-tailed primates (excluding the prosimians)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("monkey" is a kind of...):

primate (any placental mammal of the order Primates; has good eyesight and flexible hands and feet)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "monkey"):

catarrhine; Old World monkey (of Africa or Arabia or Asia; having nonprehensile tails and nostrils close together)

New World monkey; platyrrhine; platyrrhinian (hairy-faced arboreal monkeys having widely separated nostrils and long usually prehensile tails)

Sense 2

Meaning:

One who is playfully mischievous

Synonyms:

imp; monkey; rapscallion; rascal; scalawag; scallywag; scamp

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("monkey" is a kind of...):

child; fry; kid; minor; nestling; nipper; shaver; small fry; tiddler; tike; tyke; youngster (a young person of either sex)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "monkey"):

brat; holy terror; little terror; terror (a very troublesome child)

Derivation:

monkey (play around with or alter or falsify, usually secretively or dishonestly)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Do random, unplanned work or activities or spend time idly

Example:

The old lady is usually mucking about in her little house

Synonyms:

mess around; monkey; monkey around; muck about; muck around; potter; putter; tinker

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "monkey" is one way to...):

work (exert oneself by doing mental or physical work for a purpose or out of necessity)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "monkey"):

puddle (mess around, as in a liquid or paste)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sense 2

Meaning:

Play around with or alter or falsify, usually secretively or dishonestly

Example:

The reporter fiddle with the facts

Synonyms:

fiddle; monkey; tamper

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "monkey" is one way to...):

manipulate (hold something in one's hands and move it)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

monkey (one who is playfully mischievous)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Well, when that masked thing like a monkey jumped from among the chemicals and whipped into the cabinet, it went down my spine like ice.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

We need to monitor humans and animal health as one single issue, because monkeys are part of the yellow fever cycle in the wild, she explained.

(Aedes mosquitoes almost impossible to eradicate, says Brazilian researcher, Agência Brasil)

Teams have been trying to clone monkeys for decades, but primate DNA is notoriously difficult to work with.

(Healthy cloned monkeys born in Shanghai, Wikinews)

The cynomolgus monkey is most commonly utilized in the pre-clinical setting for neuroscience pre-clinical research and has also been shown to be a reservoir for the Ebola virus, monkey pox, and B-virus.

(Cynomolgus Maritius Monkey, NCI Thesaurus)

Causes mumps and, in some cases, tenderness and swelling of the testes, pancreas, ovaries, or other organs; can also infect Rhesus monkeys, hamsters, rats and mice.

(Mumps Virus, NIH CRISP Thesaurus)

A parasite that causes malaria in monkeys infected 50 people between 2015 and 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, in the Mata Atlântica region.

(Human malaria spread from monkeys found in Brazil, SciDev.Net)

The conversion of CTP to its analog, ddhCTP, throws a monkey wrench into virus' ability to copy its genome.

(Scientists Discover How Antiviral Gene Works, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Wild rodents and squirrels carry it, but it is called monkeypox because scientists saw it first in lab monkeys.

(Monkeypox Virus Infections, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Remains of bizarre relatives of early crocodiles, the oldest evidence for "insect farming," and tantalizing clues about the early evolution of monkeys and apes have been found.

(New dinosaur with heart-shaped tail offers clues to evolution of Africa's ecosystems, National Science Foundation)

It was a human face—or at least it was far more human than any monkey's that I have ever seen.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)