A monkey jacket is a waist length

jacket A jacket is a garment for the upper body, usually extending below the hips. A jacket typically has sleeves, and fastens in the front or slightly on the side. A jacket is generally lighter, tighter-fitting, and less insulating than a coat, which ...

tapering at the back to a point. Use of the term has been dated to the 1850s onwards. As early as the 1790s

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

s wore a broad collar, double-breasted, waist length roundabout style jacket, aka mustering jacket, that later became known as a "monkey jacket". This roundabout style jacket was nicknamed "monkey jacket" after the monkeys that accompanied organ grinders. These

street organ A street organ (french: orgue de rue or ''orgue de barbarie''; german: Straßenorgel) played by an organ grinder is a French-German automatic mechanical pneumatic organ designed to be mobile enough to play its music in the street. The two most co ...

monkeys were trained to do tricks and collect coins as the grinder played music. The jacket was not named because sailors climbed the

rigging Rigging comprises the system of ropes, cables and chains, which support a sailing ship or sail boat's masts—''standing rigging'', including shrouds and stays—and which adjust the position of the vessel's sails and spars to which they are ...

of sailing ships like monkeys. The term is also used in the United Kingdom to describe a type of jacket worn in

Mod subculture Mod, from the word modernist, is a subculture that began in London and spread throughout Great Britain and elsewhere, eventually influencing fashions and trends in other countries, and continues today on a smaller scale. Focused on music and ...

References

Other sources

* * Jackets Sailors {{clothing-stub