monk

Pluralmonks

Formsmonks, monking, monked

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A man who belongs to a monastic order and has dedicated his whole life to his faith.

   Each monk in the abbey took a vow of poverty.

   The aging monk had served the monastery for fifty years.

   Similarbrother, friar

   Note

   Solitude sits inside the word. Old English munuc came through Late Latin monachus from Greek monakhós, "single, solitary," built on mónos, "alone." The irony is that a monk of an order lives in community under a shared rule. The older solitary figure survives as the hermit meaning. The word suits images of stillness in rows, as in Michael Bishop's vultures sitting "like cowlless monks at matins."

2. 2
   nouncountable

   A hermit who lived alone in religious devotion, rather than with others in a community like a cenobite.

   The desert monk withdrew from all human company to pray in solitude.

   Unlike his brothers in the abbey, the monk chose a hermit's life apart.

   Similarhermit, recluse

   Note

   Here the word keeps the sense of its Greek source, "the solitary one." The early monk was the eremite or anchorite, set against the cenobite, who lived in a community. In older writing, a monk paired with a cenobite marks a contrast, not a synonym. Eremite and hermit name the same withdrawn figure, and cenobite names the communal life that later became the ordinary meaning.

3. 3
   nouncountable or uncountable

   A bottom-dwelling marine fish with a broad, flattened head, known more fully as the monkfish.

   The trawler's nets came up full of monk, their wide heads flopping on the deck.

   She filleted the monk and served it with butter and herbs.

   Similaranglerfish

4. 4
   nounslangcountable

   A person who lives a solitary, withdrawn life; a loner.

   Colleagues teased him as the office monk because he ate lunch alone every day.

   After her divorce she became something of a monk, shutting out old friends.

   Similarloner, recluse, hermit

   Note

   The religious word becomes a slang label for anyone who keeps to themselves. It sits close to loner and hermit, but it sounds more teasing than clinical. It overlaps with the celibate meaning, so context has to show whether the withdrawal is social or romantic. In neutral writing, recluse or loner avoids the ambiguity.

5. 5
   nounslangcountable

   An unmarried man who lives without any sexual relationships.

   By thirty he was still a confirmed monk, untouched by romance.

   His roommates ribbed him for being a monk who hadn't dated in years.

   Similarcelibate

   Note

   Slang borrows the vow without the vocation. The man is named after the monastic monk because he lives as if celibate, not because he has taken any religious orders. The word works as a teasing label rather than a neutral description, so it belongs to banter among friends and sits badly in formal writing. It also leaves open whether the abstinence is chosen or simply circumstance.

6. 6
   nouncountable

   A South American monkey (Pithecia monachus), the name also applied to certain capuchins such as Cebus xanthosternos.

   In the canopy, a monk leapt between branches, gripping with both hands.

   Researchers tracked a troop of monks through the rainforest for weeks.

   Note

   The zoologists' Latin keeps the comparison in view: the species name monachus is the very Late Latin word that became monk in English. Because the name has spread to other species such as Cebus xanthosternos, the binomial is what pins down the animal. Do not confuse this sense with the casual clipping of "monkey", which is a separate word.

7. 7
   nouncountable

   A folk name for the bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula), a stocky European finch with a black cap.

   The gardener watched a monk pecking at the cherry blossoms.

   A pair of monks stripped the buds from the plum tree.

   Similarbullfinch

8. 8
   verbintransitive

   To live as a monk; to follow the monastic religious life.

   He monked for forty years before his death.

   Some young men chose to monk rather than take up a trade.

   Note

   A verb coined straight from the noun, and it usually carries a wink. It often takes an empty it, as in Balzac's Ten Droll Tales: "the prettiest little monk that ever monked it," where it stands for the whole way of life. The -ing form gets treated like a trade one might take up for a living. In neutral prose, live as a monk is the plainer choice.

9. 9
   verbintransitive

   To behave in the manner of a monk, especially by being given to quiet reflection.

   On weekends he monks alone, reading and reflecting in silence.

   She prefers to monk quietly rather than join the noisy crowd.

   Similarreflect, meditate

   Note

   Where the plain verb means actually taking vows, this one borrows only the manner: withdrawal, fasting, long thought. It lives mostly in its -ing form, treated almost as a practice with its own phrases: going monking, a monking spell, monking on a mountain. It can even take an object, as when a scholar monked his life to fasting.

10. 10
    nouncolloquialcountable

    A monkey, in informal or playful speech.

    The kids laughed at the monk doing tricks at the zoo.

    A cheeky monk snatched the banana right out of her hand.

    Similarmonkey

    Note

    A clipping of monkey, unrelated to the religious word. It is casual and loose: in the 1932 King Kong by Delos W. Lovelace, "the monk got loose," and the same breezy register can call a circus gorilla "the big monk" with no regard for zoology. Keep it for informal or playful speech.

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