See I'll be a monkey's uncle in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
Download JSON data for I'll be a monkey's uncle meaning in English (5.6kB)
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"etymology_text": "Uncertain; the term monkey’s uncle appears in 19th-century works and may allude to early ideas about what is now called the theory of evolution. The term may then have gained more currency after the widely publicized 1925 Scopes Trial in Tennessee, United States, in which a high-school teacher was found guilty of having violated a law prohibiting the teaching of human evolution in a state-funded school.",
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{
"text": "Well I’ll be a monkey's uncle! I would never have thought that tourists would go into space!",
"type": "example"
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{
"ref": "1943, Field and Stream, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 34",
"text": "\"Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle!\" Lem said. \"I've heerd of rifles with transits on 'em, but I ain't ever seen one. Mind if I look at her?\"",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1970 February, Tech Engineering News, Cambridge, Mass.: Board of Directors of Tech Engineering News, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 35, column 3",
"text": "Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle, I actually solved that one.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1987, Sholem Aleichem [pseudonym; Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich], “[The Railway Stories] The Happiest Man in All Kodny”, in Hillel Halkin, transl., Tevye the Dairyman and The Railway Stories (Library of Yiddish Classics), New York, N.Y.: Schocken Books; republished New York, N.Y.: Schocken Books, [2008?], page 149",
"text": "[...] I made as if to step inside—wham, bang, I'll be a monkey's uncle if he didn't slam the door in my face! What was I supposed to do now? It wasn't exactly a cheerful situation.",
"type": "quotation"
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{
"ref": "2002, Steve Morrill, Michael Saldivar, Dan LaReaux, Michael LaReaux, “The Three Authors’ Tale II”, in The Three Authors’ Tales, Lincoln, Neb.: Writers Club Press, iUniverse, page 40",
"text": "But I know I am better than that. I completed two and a half years at the M.J.C., and I'll be a monkey's uncle if I did it all just to be neglected in some backwoods, drafty, lo-tech, no-glory, never-been-remembered-for-all-the-great-things-I-do, dead end court wizard position.",
"type": "quotation"
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"ref": "2008, Carla Hester, chapter 7, in The Adventures of Penelope Plum (Penelope Plum Mysteries), [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, page 46",
"text": "Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle if it isn't my old pal, Captain Pete. I haven't seen you in years. Good to see you!",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2014 October 20, Rosamond Carter, Weatherwood, Bloomington, Ind.: Balboa Press, Hay House, page 252",
"text": "\"Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle. That's incredible and …\" he was silent working it out, \"and that means that I am actually the last of the McNaughtens and now live here in Weatherwood.[\"]",
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"Often preceded by well: expressing complete surprise or disbelief."
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"(idiomatic) Often preceded by well: expressing complete surprise or disbelief."
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"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "expressing complete surprise or disbelief",
"word": "olen äimän käkenä"
}
],
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"word": "I'll be a monkey's uncle"
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"text": "Well I’ll be a monkey's uncle! I would never have thought that tourists would go into space!",
"type": "example"
},
{
"ref": "1943, Field and Stream, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 34",
"text": "\"Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle!\" Lem said. \"I've heerd of rifles with transits on 'em, but I ain't ever seen one. Mind if I look at her?\"",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1970 February, Tech Engineering News, Cambridge, Mass.: Board of Directors of Tech Engineering News, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 35, column 3",
"text": "Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle, I actually solved that one.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1987, Sholem Aleichem [pseudonym; Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich], “[The Railway Stories] The Happiest Man in All Kodny”, in Hillel Halkin, transl., Tevye the Dairyman and The Railway Stories (Library of Yiddish Classics), New York, N.Y.: Schocken Books; republished New York, N.Y.: Schocken Books, [2008?], page 149",
"text": "[...] I made as if to step inside—wham, bang, I'll be a monkey's uncle if he didn't slam the door in my face! What was I supposed to do now? It wasn't exactly a cheerful situation.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2002, Steve Morrill, Michael Saldivar, Dan LaReaux, Michael LaReaux, “The Three Authors’ Tale II”, in The Three Authors’ Tales, Lincoln, Neb.: Writers Club Press, iUniverse, page 40",
"text": "But I know I am better than that. I completed two and a half years at the M.J.C., and I'll be a monkey's uncle if I did it all just to be neglected in some backwoods, drafty, lo-tech, no-glory, never-been-remembered-for-all-the-great-things-I-do, dead end court wizard position.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2008, Carla Hester, chapter 7, in The Adventures of Penelope Plum (Penelope Plum Mysteries), [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, page 46",
"text": "Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle if it isn't my old pal, Captain Pete. I haven't seen you in years. Good to see you!",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2014 October 20, Rosamond Carter, Weatherwood, Bloomington, Ind.: Balboa Press, Hay House, page 252",
"text": "\"Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle. That's incredible and …\" he was silent working it out, \"and that means that I am actually the last of the McNaughtens and now live here in Weatherwood.[\"]",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
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"Often preceded by well: expressing complete surprise or disbelief."
],
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"(idiomatic) Often preceded by well: expressing complete surprise or disbelief."
],
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"ipa": "/ˈaɪl biː ə ˈmʌŋkiz ˌʌŋkəl/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
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},
{
"ipa": "/ɑːl-/",
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"ipa": "/ˈɑːl bi ə ˈmʌŋkiz ˌʌŋkəl/",
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"translations": [
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "expressing complete surprise or disbelief",
"word": "olen äimän käkenä"
}
],
"word": "I'll be a monkey's uncle"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-26 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (93a6c53 and 21a9316). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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