monkey paraden.
/ˈmʌŋkɪ pəˌreɪd/, U.S. /ˈməŋki pəˌreɪd/ colloquial (chiefly dismissive). Now rare (historical).
An evening promenade of young people, esp. for the purpose of meeting members of the opposite sex.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > love > flirtation or coquetry > [noun] > promenade for purposes of flirtation
monkey parade1910
1910 H. G. Wells New Machiavelli (1911) i. iii. 66 These twilight parades of young people, youngsters chiefly of the lower middle-class, are one of the odd social developments of the great suburban growths—unkindly critics..call them, I believe, Monkeys' Parades.
1914 E. Pugh Cockney at Home 116 If you don't know what a monkey parade is ask Anderson here... ‘It's a place where the elite of the beau monde of Suburbia meet nightly, for purposes of flirtation.’
1988 B. Williams Manchester Jewry v. 81/1 For this second generation, the major influences were those of working-class Manchester, the culture of..the Monkey Parades, the cinema, the Ice Palace.
2005 B. Beaven Leisure, Citizenship & Working-class Men in Brit. 171 Just as late nineteenth-century youth conformed to a particular fashion style,..the inter-war youth continued to don specific clothes for the ‘monkey parade’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1910