or monkey-tricks, monkeyings, subs. (common).—1. Antics; and (2) tricks.
1830. BUCKSTONE, The Wreck Ashore, ii. 1. Take care, young woman, you can’t tell what MONKEY TRICKS he may have been up to in foreign parts.
1878. A. R. GROTE, Popular Science Monthly, XIII. 435. You may have noticed bare-footed boys cutting up MONKEY-SHINES on trees with entire safety to themselves.
1887. Lippincotts’ Magazine, Aug. ‘A Land of Love,’ p. 231. Such MONKEY-SHINES! It proves that you have no serious interest in science.
1888. BOLDREWOOD, Robbery under Arms, xi. Don’t get up to any MONKEY TRICKS.
1892. MILLIKEN, ’Arry Ballads, p. 69, ‘On a ’Ouse Boat.’ Your ‘MONKEYINGS’ mar every pageant.
