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definitions

powder monkey

noun
  1. (formerly) a boy employed on warships to carry gunpowder from the magazine to the guns.
  2. powderman(def 1).

Origin of powder monkey

First recorded in 1675–85
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for powder monkey

Historical Examples of powder monkey

  • Then you must be a powder-monkey with me; you can hand powder up, if you can do nothing else.

    The King's Own

    Captain Frederick Marryat

  • This being thus, we therefore clearly see The Powder-Monkey heads some pedigree.

    A Phenomenal Fauna

    Carolyn Wells

  • I would have been rather an English powder-monkey or a swab in that great victory than an emperor out of it.

    The Admiral

    Douglas Sladen

  • So I put him down again, and there was his little lordship as busy as any powder-monkey, handing up the powder to the gunners.

  • Only two days since I met him swaggering on the beach, and he threatened to impress me on the Tartar for a powder-monkey.

British Dictionary definitions for powder monkey

powder monkey

noun
  1. (formerly) a boy who carried powder from the magazine to the guns on warships
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012