Meaning of monkey run | Babel Free

Definitions

An evening walk undertaken by groups of young people, usually along established routes, to find a boyfriend or girlfriend.

British, historical

Examples

“The railway underpass in the town centre has been called Tickle⟳ Cock by locals for at least a century and dates back to Victorian times. It is thought the name⟳ refers to a "monkey run⟳" where the lads and lasses of Castleford did their courting ... He added: "It dates back to the late 19th Century or early 20th Century and would function in the same way as any 'monkey run⟳' where you paraded up and down trying to find⟳ a boyfriend or girlfriend."”

“In pre-war Britain, for example, younger people had mainly gained introductions to the opposite sex through the ‘evening walk⟳’, with many British cities having well-known routes along which groups of young women and men would walk⟳ […]. Known colloquially as ‘monkeyruns’ or ‘monkeywalks’, these provided a relatively informal and regulated space for sexual performance and display […]”

CEFR level