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Monk

,

in printing, is a black smear or blotch made by leaving too much ink on the part. Caxton set up his printing press in the scriptoʹrium of Westminster Abbey; and the associations of this place gave rise to the slang expressions monk and friar for black and white defects. (See Friar, Chapel.)

Give a man a monk (French, “Luy bailler le moyne).” To do one a mischief. Rabelais says that Grangousier (after the battle of Picrochoʹle) asked “what was become of Friar John;” to which Gargantua replied, “No doubt the enemy has the monk,” alluding to the pugnacious feats of this wonderful churchman, who knocked men down like ninepins. (Rabelais: Gargantua and Pantagruel, book i. 45.)

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Momus’s Lattice or Window
Monaciello [little monk]
Monarchians
Monarchy
Monday Pops
Money
Money makes the Mare to go
Monimia
Monism
Monitor
Monk
Monk Lewis
Monk listening to a Bird
Monk of Westminster
Monkey (A)
Monkey = the Devil;
Monkey
Monkey Board
Monkey Boat
Monkey Jacket
Monkey-puzzle

Linking here:

Chapel
Friar
Great Men
Lewis (Monk)