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Monkey

,

in sailor language, is the vessel which contains the full allowance of grog. Halliwell (Archaic Dictionary) has—

“Moncorn, ‘Beere corne, barley bygge, or moncorne.ʹ”—(1552.)

To suck the monkey. Sailors call the vessel which contains their full allowance of grog “a monkey.” Hence, to “suck the monkey” is surreptitiously to suck liquor from a cask through a straw. Again, when the milk has been taken from a cocoanut, and rum has been substituted, “sucking the monkey” means drinking this rum. Probably “monkey” in all such cases is a corruption of moncorn (ale or beer). (See Marryat’s Peter Simple.) (See Monkey Spoons.)

 

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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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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
Monkey Spoons
Monkey with a Long Tail (A)
Monkey’s Allowance
Monkey’s Money
Monkir and Nakir
Monmouth