Monkey-tricks.
1847. Let me catch him cutting up any monkey shines in this house, and I’ll beau him!—Charles F. Briggs, ‘Tom Pepper,’ p. 43.
1854. His left hand began to get unruly among the bass notes, then his right cut up a few monkey shines in the treble.—Weekly Oregonian, Dec. 9.
1878. Still our feet are not wholly unfit for grasping, and you may have noticed barefooted boys cutting up “monkey-shines” on trees with entire safety to themselves, though not to the complete satisfaction of their parents.—A. R. Grote, ‘Man and his Structural Affinities,’ Pop. Sc. Monthly, xiii. 435. (N.E.D.) (Italics in the original.)
