parrot and monkey time

noun

A period of quarrelling.

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Meanings

nounparrot and monkey time (plural not attested)
  1. USno pluralobsoleteA period of quarrelling.

    If he is inclined to be frisky, however, and they both take it into their heads to run there is generally a parrot and monkey time of it[…]

    1894, Sheldon Jackson, Report on Introduction of Domesticated Reindeer into Alaska
    1 more example

    The esteemed Presbyterians of South Carolina have been having a real parrot and monkey time over evolution, with the result that after a year of charge and counter charge, the evolutionary wing of the society is ahead[…]

    1888, Life, volume 12, page 240

Origin

First appears c. 1882 in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Obsolete since c. 1920.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

parrot and monkey time. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/parrot%20and%20monkey%20time

MLA

“parrot and monkey time.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/parrot%20and%20monkey%20time. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “parrot and monkey time,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/parrot%20and%20monkey%20time.

Source: parrot and monkey time on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.