Word.ws English Dictionary

monkey's allowance

monkey's allowance noun: more abuse than profit.

Noun

monkey's allowance (uncountable)

  1. More abuse than profit.
    • "Well, then, you're like a young bear, all your sorrows to come—that's all, my hearty," replied he. "When you get on board, you'll find monkey's allowance—more kicks than half-pence.[…]"1833, [Frederick Marryat], chapter II, in Peter Simple. […], volume I, London: Saunders and Otley, […], published 1834, →OCLC, page 18

Synonyms of monkey's allowance

Origin of monkey's allowance

Said to be the reward of the monkeys carried by wandering showmen in centuries past; the monkeys had to perform to beg halfpence from passers-by by exhibiting their privates parts, but the coins they had earned they then had to carry back to the master, while he would kick or otherwise abuse the poor creatures to force them to keep performing.

Questions about monkey's allowance

What does monkey's allowance mean?
Monkey's allowance means more abuse than profit.
What part of speech is monkey's allowance?
Monkey's allowance is a noun.

Words near monkey's allowance in the dictionary

  1. monkey wrencher
  2. monkey wrenchers
  3. monkey wrenches
  4. monkey wrenches in the works
  5. monkey wrenching
  6. monkey's allowance
  7. monkey's bread
  8. monkey's breads
  9. monkey's dinner bell
  10. monkey's fist
  11. monkey's fists

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: monkey's allowance (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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