monkeyshinen.
/ˈmʌŋkɪʃʌɪn/, U.S. /ˈməŋkiˌʃaɪn/ North American (originally U.S.) colloquial.
A trick, prank, antic; a ruse, wile. Chiefly in plural, esp. in to cut (up) monkeyshines.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > foolishness, folly > absurdity, incongruity > [noun] > antic
toy?1518
antics1570
murlimewes1583
monkey trick1653
dido1807
monkey work1830
monkeyshinec1832
monkey business1835
rannygazoo1896
c1832 T. D. Rice Jim Crow iii I cut so many munky shines, I dance de gallopade.
1847 ‘H. Franco’ Trippings Tom Pepper I. vi. 43 Let me catch him cutting up any monkey shines in this house, and I'll bea[n] him!
1894 F. R. Stockton Pomona's Trav. 76 Most of them played and cut up monkey-shines on the hay.
1905 E. Wood Back Home 148 Always up to some monkeyshine.
1932 R. Frost Let. 13 Dec. (1964) 231 In a way it was a monkey-shine and he needn't have minded poetry's having a little the best of it for once.
1973 ‘H. Howard’ Highway to Murder xi. 141 Why all the monkeyshines to get rid of Lucy?
1995 R. B. Wright Age of Longing ix. 111 Men gathered to recall games and monkeyshines played yesterday or long ago.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.c1832