monkey metal
- noun
- Informal
:
metal de mala calidad
- He dismissed the cheap jewelry as nothing more than monkey metal with a shiny coating.
Examples
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The old toy car's wheels are made of monkey metal and break easily.
-
Many collectible items from the 1950s used monkey metal to cut costs.
-
The statue was made of monkey metal.
-
These cheap trinkets are often made from monkey metals.
-
He dismissed the cheap jewelry as nothing more than monkey metal with a shiny coating.
-
Many collectible items from the 1950s used monkey metal to cut costs.
-
The old toy car's wheels are made of monkey metal and break easily.
Synonyms
Cheap mix of metals used to make low-cost items like pots
Antonyms
How Cheap
18
2.8
- Informal
- Specialized
40
2.8
19
3.8
Surface Forms
Morphology
monkey + metal
The literal constituents 'monkey' (an animal) and 'metal' (a material) do not combine to predict an evaluative meaning like 'cheap or low-quality alloy.' The sense is slangy and idiomatic—the derogatory/quality meaning is not derivable from the parts, so a B1 learner who knows both words would likely not infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
Monkey metal may come from old toy makers who used a cheap, shiny mix of metal to make a toy monkey and other small things, so the metal looked bright but broke or lost its shine quickly. That's why monkey metal means 'cheap or low-quality alloy'.