monk /mʌŋk/noun 11verb 5forms 3 noun11 •a man who gives his whole life to his faith and lives with other men who do the sameIn clusters on the plain, like cowlless monks at matins, sat the vultures that had settled on the corpse of the hyena impaled by the female rhino […] — 1982 •In earlier usage, an eremite or hermit devoted to solitude, as opposed to a cenobite, who lived communally. •The monkfish. •A South American monkey (Pithecia monachus); also applied to other species, as Cebus xanthosternos. •(informal) A monkey.It seems that the big monk up on the roof is nobody but Bongo, who is a gorilla belonging to the circus, and one of the very few gorillas of any account in this country, or anywhere else, as far as this goes, because good gorillas are very scarce, indeed. •(slang) Someone who leads an isolated life; a loner, a hermit. •(slang) An unmarried man who does not have sexual relationships. •The bullfinch, common bullfinch, European bullfinch, or Eurasian bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula). •(slang) A judge. •(historical) A fuse for firing mines. •(no longer used) An inkblot. verb5 •To be a monk."Ah!" she cried, "thou art the prettiest little monk that ever monked it in this blessed, amorous town of Constance!" — 1990 •To act like a monk; especially to be contemplative.Many a scholar, making wings of candlewicks to flap away old darkness, monked his life to fasting long while feasting upon new light. — 1961 •To monkey or meddle; to behave in a manner that is not systematic.The Avatar spoke gently as she responded to his jibe. "Now fucking get aboard and stop monking on like a schoolboy, you silly earplug. — 2015 •To be intoxicated or confused.I looked up from the thick cotton mat, unsure where my legs were. “She looks monked up.” “maybe her brain is damaged, huh, miss Bryant?” — 2011 •To attach so that it sticks out.Molten roofing north, lead dripping down south, stand like those immobilized columns of arctic water west, stalagmites, monked and housed or stamped and dudleyed east, in school texts. — 1981 formsmonked · monking · monks
