Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (UK Und.) a person.

1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict. 180: Monk a term of contempt; probably an abbreviation of Monkey.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 72/2: When a half ‘tumble’ occurred to her ‘bloke,’ she would ‘stall’ between him and the monk, and price the fish.
1893		W.K. Post Harvard Stories 10: You need n’t grin at this nag either, you old monk.
1937		T. Thursday ‘The Wild Whampoo of the Whampolo’ in Blue Ribbon Sports Dec. 🌐 Suppose this monk gets flopped over on his canolo, what happens to your prize dough, hey?

2. a general term of contempt.

1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1868		Brewer Dict. of Phrase and Fable .
1943		M. Harrison Reported Safe Arrival 109: They [...] go ’rahn collectin’ ’igh-up blokes jus’ ter decide wevver I done right ter ’it young Buttsy fer callin’ me a long-nose’ monk.
1948		P. Kavanagh Tarry Flynn (1965) 15: Once a girl in a dance hall called him ‘an oul’ monk’.
1971		F. Hilaire Thanatos 176: You’re a miserable, sexless, impotent, nutless . . . you’re a monk! You molest little boys, steal panties off clotheslines and jack off at stag movies.

3. (orig. US) a monkey.

1843		Spirit of the Times (N.Y.) 1 Apr. 54/1: P. Fowler [...] is one and identical with the more celebrated jockey of Miss Foote, in stable parlance, ycleped Monk [...] The word Monk in this case..is in fact an abbreviation of a noun substantive by which a certain animal is recognised, the countenance of which is said strongly to resemble that of the very excellent jockey in question .
1889		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 28 Dec. 6/1: Darwin was off his cabase when he introduced the frisky, funny and flearanchy monk as the missing link.
1890		Sporting Times 18 Jan. 1: The Moribund Monk started Scratching under his Fob, but the Fox [...] took a Lock of Wool in his Mouth.
1890		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 15 Feb. 2/4: ‘What do you know about the interior of Africa ? Of course they have monks there as big as horses!’.
1900		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 14 Apr. 6/1: [headline] He is a Nice South American ‘Monk,’ But They Wouldn’t Let Him Live Upstairs in a Milwaukee, Wis., Hotel.
1903		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 7 Jan. 2/2: The Lemont’s troupe of performing dogs and monks.
1907		Gem 6 Apr. 11: ’Tis a koind of a monk O’ive niver seen the loikes av before.
1911		G. Bronson-Howard Enemy to Society 254: You look-a like-a th’ monk my brud he-a take-a on th’ organ for-a beg-a.
1927		C. Sandburg ‘Animal Fair’ in Amer. Songbag 349: The elephant sneezed and fell on his knees / And what became of the monk, the monk?
1937		‘Dryblower’ in Sun. Times (Perth) 30 May 13/1: Long time it ago / Italian men bunk / to London, make show / On organ an’ monk.
1938		D. Runyon ‘Hottest Guy in the World’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 360: It is indeed a big monk.
1941		A. Gurney Bluey & Curley 18 Dec. [synd. cartoon] Did th’ monk bring him back a bottle of beer?
1942		Z.N. Hurston Dust Tracks On a Road (1995) 723: Ker-blam-er-lam-er-lam! And dat was de last of Brer Engine-driving Monk.
1949		F. Brown Dead Ringer 77: The monk did get all the way out of the trailer.
1955		B. Appel Tough Guy [ebook] You’re an ugly monk / Whiskey is the bunk.

4. (US, also munk) a Chinese person.

1903		A.H. Lewis Boss 373: The munk who runs it [...] is cookin’ the pill for him.
1904		C. Connors Bowery Life [ebook] You don’t know dat a Dago’s ’n Italian, ’n a Monk’s a Chink. Say, your dead ratty. A Chink, why dat’s a Chinee.
1912		A.H. Lewis Apaches of N.Y. 226: A couple of munks carries him to his bunk.
1931		(con. 1880s) A.F. Harlow Old Bowery Days 429: Like other boy neighbors of ‘the monks,’ as East Side called the Celestials, Chuck loved to pull Chinese pigtails.

5. (US black) a West Indian.

1926

Van Vechten Nigger Heaven 12: Too many monks.

6. (US Und.) a Supreme Court judge, often on a State level.

1931		G. Milburn ‘Convicts’ Jargon’ in AS VI:6 440: monk, n. A judge of the supreme court.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 140/1: Monk. (Near South and scattered areas) A supreme court judge, especially of a State court.

7. (US) addiction to a drug, usu. heroin [abbr. monkey on one’s back n.].

1964

B. Jackson Get Your Ass in the Water (1974) 91: I was sick as hell and the monk was on me [he was in withdrawal], all the junkies froze ’cause the heat was on me.

8. see monkey n. (8)