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Monkey’s Money

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I will pay you in monkey’s money (“en monnaie de singe”)—in goods, in personal work, in mumbling and grimace. The French had a law that when a monkey passed the Petit Pont, of Paris, if it was for sale it was to pay four deniers (two-thirds of a penny) for toll; but if it belonged to a showman and was not for sale, it should suffice if the monkey went through his tricks.

“It was an original by Master Charles Charmois, principal painter to King Megistus [of France], paid for in court fashion with monkey’s money.”—Rabelais: Gargantua and Pantagruel, iv. 3.

 

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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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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
Monmouth Cap
Monmouth Street (London)
Monnaie de Basoche
Mononia
Monophagous
Monophysites
Monothelism
Monroe Doctrine