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Jun 25, 2014
This week's theme
Words coined after animals

This week's words
squirrelly
canaille
monkeyshine
puce
toady

monkeyshine
Photo: Frank Gualtieri

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

monkeyshine

PRONUNCIATION:
(MUNG-kee-shyn)

MEANING:
noun: A trick, prank, or antic.

ETYMOLOGY:
After monkey + shine (a caper). A similar term is monkey business. Earliest documented use: 1832.

USAGE:
"Senator Fritz Hollings opened in his usual direct fashion: Let's cut out the monkeyshines and get down to business."
Mary McGrory; Amtrak Melodrama; The Washington Post; Jun 30, 2002.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. -George Orwell, writer (1903-1950)

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