Meaning of monkey business | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Activity that is mischievous, stupid, or time-wasting.
   idiomatic, informal, uncountable
2. Activity that is morally questionable or even mildly illegal.
   idiomatic, informal, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“Stop all this monkey business and do your homework!”

“I’m going to take off the cuffs, Slim, and off you, Jerry. But don’t try any monkey business. When Peters answers the door, you tell him everything’s O. K., and that you’re the committee, see? Once the door’s open, we’ll do the rest.”

“I'm looking for monkey business / Just playing around / I'm here on monkey business / And look what I found”

“She wondered what sort of monkey business her neighbour was up to, sneaking out of his house at 1:00 am.”

“If you ever hear a man talking about his duty as a citizen, by the Living Jingo dont trust him. … He's up to some kind of monkey business nine times out of ten. You dont know what a relief it is to me that you and Joe are comfortably settled in life.”

CEFR level