monkey
noun
any of more than 250 species of simian primates belonging to the two distinct lines of New World monkeys and Old World monkeys.
had been monkeying
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past perfect progressiveof monkey.past perfect progressive
Used to describe an action that was ongoing continuously in the past up until another past event interrupted it.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But while the record manufacturers gloomed over their dwindling sales accounts, the engineers of Western Electric and the Bell Telephone Laboratories had been monkeying with electrical transcription and reproduction.
From Time Magazine Archive
A sophomore, who was known to be an intimate friend of Morton Agnew, by seeming accident fired off a gun with which he had been monkeying.
From Frank Merriwell's Reward by Burt L. Standish
A neighbor's little boy by the name of Benny Williams, had been monkeying around watching me work, and unluckily he was inside of the shanty when the collapse came.
From A Texas Cow Boy or, fifteen years on the hurricane deck of a Spanish pony, taken from real life by Chas. A. Siringo
