I. mon ‧ key 1 /ˈmʌŋki/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
[ Date: 1500-1600 ; Origin: Probably from Low German ]
1 . a small brown animal with a long tail, which uses its hands to climb trees and lives in hot countries
2 . informal a small child who is very active and likes to play tricks:
Stop that, you little monkey!
3 . monkey business informal bad or dishonest behaviour
4 . not give a monkey’s British English spoken informal to not care at all about something:
To be honest I don’t give a monkey’s what they do.
5 . make a monkey (out) of somebody to make someone seem stupid
6 . a monkey on your back American English informal a serious problem that makes your life very difficult, especially being dependent on drugs
II. monkey 2 BrE AmE verb
monkey around ( also monkey about British English ) phrasal verb informal
to behave in a stupid or careless way:
Stop monkeying around and listen to me!