APE (Old Eng. ape; Dutch aap; Old Ger. a ffo; Welsh epa; Old Bohemian op; a word of uncertain origin, possibly an

See also:

• IMITATION (Lat. imitatio, from intitari, to imitate)

imitation of the

See also:

• ANIMAL
• ANIMAL (Lat. animalis, from anima, breath, soul)

animal's chatter)  , the generic English name, till the 16th century, for animals of the monkey tribe, and stillused specifically for the tailless, manlike representatives of the order Primates (q.v.) . The word is now generally a synonym for " monkey," but the common verb for both (as transferred figuratively to human beings) is " to ape," i.e. to imitate .