Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A short, tight-fitting jacket, traditionally worn by sailors.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A short close-fitting coat or jacket, generally made of stout material, as pilot-cloth, much worn by sailors in cold weather; a Guernsey frock.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun dated A type of close-fit jacket worn by sailors
  • noun A semiformal lightweight jacket, usually made of nylon, with striped cuffs and neck, similar to an MA-1 flight jacket.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun waist-length jacket tapering to a point at the back; worn by officers in the mess for formal dinners

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From its resemblance to the jacket worn by an organ grinder's monkey.]

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Examples

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Comments

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  • We were fain to button up our monkey jackets, and hold to our lips cups of scalding tea with our half frozen fingers.

    - Melville, Moby-Dick, ch. 3

    July 23, 2008

  • Hey! I found this in a song recently, "Banks of Newfoundland."

    *steals it*

    Lyrics are something like

    "When you sail on them packet boats,

    No dungaree jackets wear

    But have a big monkey jacket all ready to your hand

    For there blow some cold northwesters on the banks of Newfoundland."

    July 23, 2008