monkey's allowance
Preserved but no longer current.
More kicks than halfpence. The allusion is to the monkeys formerly carried about for show; they picked up the halfpence, but carried them to the master, who kept kicking or ill-treating the poor creatures to urge them to incessant tricks.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “monkey's allowance” mean?
More kicks than halfpence. The allusion is to the monkeys formerly carried about for show; they picked up the halfpence, but carried them to the master, who kept kicking or ill-treating the poor creatures to urge them to incessant tricks.
Is “monkey's allowance” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.