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# monkey

«monkey» in Mova's school dictionary: **A clever animal with long arms and legs, hands that grip…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a monkey, monkeys); verb (monkey around/about — informal)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A clever animal with long arms and legs, hands that grip, and usually a long tail, that lives mostly in trees in hot countries. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/monkey/#m1)

2) (informal) A cheeky child who plays tricks. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/monkey/#m2)

3) (verb, monkey around) To play about in a silly way. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/monkey/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In science, monkeys are mammals and primates, like apes and humans; most have tails, which apes (gorillas, chimpanzees) do not. In stories, monkeys are playful and cheeky. In everyday life, «monkey bars» are playground climbing frames; safety: hold on with both hands, one child at a time. Phrases: «monkey bars», «monkey around», «cheeky monkey», «monkey business» (naughty behaviour).

### examples

- The monkey swung from branch to branch. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/monkey/#x1)
- Monkeys use their tails to help them balance. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/monkey/#x2)
- We played on the monkey bars at break. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/monkey/#x3)
- Stop monkeying around and finish your work! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/monkey/#x4)
- You cheeky monkey — you hid my shoes! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/monkey/#x5)
- A chimpanzee is an ape, not a monkey. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/monkey/#x6)
- The monkeys at the zoo were eating bananas. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/monkey/#x7)
- No monkey business while I'm out! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/monkey/#x8)
- The monkeys scattered with cries of--“Kaa! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/monkey/#x9)

### note

Plural: monkeys (not «monkies» — the y stays after a vowel). Trap: apes (gorillas, chimps, orangutans, gibbons) are not monkeys — apes have no tails. Wild monkeys can bite; don't feed them.

### In the corpora

- [Mandrills, the monkeys with red and blue faces, live in the rainforests of central Africa, not on the open savanna.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/4-the-savanna/18/)
- [Mandrills live in the rainforests of Central Africa and have short stumpy tails; they are the biggest monkeys in the world.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/126-the-lion-king-hyenas-rafiki-and-zazu/10/)
- [A spider monkey's tail grips a branch like a fifth hand, with ridged bare skin on the tip like a fingerprint.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/156-the-amazon-canopy/12/)
- [Only monkeys of the Americas have gripping tails; no monkey of Africa or Asia can hang by its tail.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/156-the-amazon-canopy/13/)
- [Squirrel monkeys travel in big troops and often follow capuchin monkeys to find fruit trees, and many eyes spot eagles sooner.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/156-the-amazon-canopy/16/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «monkey» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/monkey/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.