Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A mischievous or playful trick; a prank.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A trick or prank like a monkey's; mischief; buffoonery; tomfoolery; monkeyism; shenanigans.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • When the banks get a whiff of money to be made, or that you are going to give them the old monkeyshine ... whoosh!

    Excerpt from The Vicious Circulation of Dr Catastrope 2010

  • The adjectives "elfin" and "colossal" seldom keep company together, but this instance marks a grand exception; it is a monkeyshine of unprecedented scale.

    'The Lives of John Lennon' Goldman, Albert 1989

  • "I did cut a monkeyshine or two," admitted the young man.

    Diane of the Green Van Leona Dalrymple

  • BARRING sociology (which is yet, of course, scarcely a science at all, but rather a monkeyshine which happens to pay, like play-acting or theology), psychology is the youngest of the sciences, and hence chiefly guesswork, empiricism, hocus-pocus, poppycock.

    Prejudices : first series, 1919

  • "It's not just aimless monkeyshine shenanigans," Setzler insisted.

    unknown title 2009

  • To: Cinnamon Girl; Pharmboy; forkinsocket; blam; Alouette; dennisw; monkeyshine

    Latest Articles 2008

  • 'Cause I'm not going along with this monkeyshine about unified.

    WHAT REALLY HAPPENED 2008

  • To: neverdem; Lando Lincoln; quidnunc;. cnI redruM; SJackson; dennisw; monkeyshine;

    Latest Articles 2008

Comments

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  • Most often used in the plural. (I personally have never heard it used otherwise NorthAtlantic U.S.) Mischief attributed to a person.

    January 20, 2009