‖ monosabio
(monoˈsabjo)
[Sp., f. mono monkey + sabio wise, trained.]
A picador's assistant in the bullring. Also ellipt. as mono.
| 1897 Encycl. Sport I. 158/2 Monos sabios, boys and men employed in the service of the bull fight. 1924 E. Hemingway In our Time xii. 22 The horse's entrails hung down in a blue bunch..the monos whacking him on the back of his legs with the rods. 1927 ― Men without Women 38 The monos were leading a horse out by the bridle toward the bull. 1928 Daily Tel. 17 July 9/3 In another bull-ring at Vista Allegre..the matador Albageno and a ‘monosabio’ were dangerously wounded by bulls yesterday. 1932 E. Hemingway Death in Afternoon vi. 58 You will see..the picadors arriving on the horses they have ridden in from town, these horses having been ridden from the bull ring by the red-bloused monos or bullring servants. Ibid. xvi. 187 [The] San Sebastian monosabios should be, by rights, policemen... They carry..puntillas, broad-headed knives. 1959 V. J. Kehoe Aficionado! 37 The monosabios..handle the picadores' horses and aid them in getting into the correct position for the charge of the toro. Ibid. 53 The areneros and monosabios generally wear a red shirt, and dark blue pants. 1973 J. M. White Garden Game 61 An image from the corrida de toros..the monosabios smoothing the cruelly trampled area. |