Englishmonkey business
Meaning: Suspicious, dishonest or mischievous activity.
Example: “The kids were suspiciously quiet, so I knew some monkey business was going on.”
Origin: The Oxford English Dictionary's own preferred theory traces it to Bengali bãdrāmi — literally "monkey behavior" — carried into English during British colonial rule in India. A rival account instead reaches for "monkeyshine," an American term for a dishonorable or mischievous act first recorded in 1832, on the reasoning that English-speaking parents already habitually called their children's misbehavior "monkey tricks." Either way, the earliest print appearance of "monkey business" itself is in The Examiner of London, in an issue from February 1835.
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