Dictionary treatments of the Chinese 'xinyan-yima' (mind-monkey idea-horse) and the reverse Japanese 'iba-shin'en' metaphors meaning "mental inconstancy and turmoil" are compared. Animal metaphors such as English 'monkey/horse around' are discussed, and the Chinese word 'yuan' or Japanese 'en' (gibbon, monkey), 'ma' or 'ha' (horse), etc, are introduced. Chinese and Japanese literary developments of 'xinyuan' or 'shin'en' (mind-monkey), 'yima' or 'iba' (idea-horse), and their synonyms are outlined. Definitions of Chinese and Japanese words in monolingual dictionaries are compared and translation equivalents of these reversible "mind-monkey" and "idea-horse" expressions from bilingual ones are contrasted. (Copyright 1994, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.) (LLBA 1994, vol. 28, n. 1)