▪ I. milk, n.1
(mɪlk)
Forms: 1 meolc, 1–3 milc, 3 millc, 4 melke, 4–5 melk, 4–6 mylk(e, 4–7 milke, 6 mylcke, milcke, 7 milck, 3– milk.
[Com. Teut.: OMercian milc (rare) = WS. meolc, meoluc fem. (whence the southern ME. melk), corresponding to OFris. melok, OS. miluk (Du. melk), OHG. miluh (MHG. milich, milch, mod.G. milch), ON. miolk (Icel. mjólk, Sw. mjölk, Da. mælk, melk), Goth. miluk-s:—OTeut. *meluk-s fem., f. Teut. root *melk- to milk (in the str. vb. OE. melcan, LG., Du. melken, OHG. melchan, MHG. melchen; the mod.G. melken is also conjugated weak):—pre-Teut. *melg-, cogn. w. Gr. ἀµέλγειν, L. mulgēre, OSl. mlěsti, OIrish bligim (:—*m{lcircbl}g-), to milk.
A corresponding n. (exc. in declension) occurs in OIrish melg milk (:—*melgos-). The synonymous OSl. meleko (Russian moloko, Czech mleko) is adopted from Teut., as it has k instead of the regular g. For the phonology of the OE. forms see Bülbring Ags. Gramm. §202.]
1. a. An opaque white or bluish-white fluid secreted by the mammary glands of the female individuals of the Mammalia including man, and adapted for the nourishment of their young.
| a 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. iii. xix. (1890) 244 Elles ne þeah nemne medmicel hlafes mid þinre meolc. c 1200 Ormin 6446 Forr naffde ȝho nan millc till himm, Ȝiff þatt ȝho nære hiss moderr. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B xv. 462 Þe cow-calf coueyteth swete mylke. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 262 Warm melk sche putte..therto With hony meynd. c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture 93 Milke, crayme, and cruddes, and eke the Ioncate. 1471 Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 31 The melk of a goot. 1565 Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Lac, Glauciscus eaten in broth make women haue plentie of milke. 1610 Shakes. Temp. ii. i. 288 They'l take suggestion, as a Cat laps milke. 1616 R. C. Times' Whistle iii. 1048 Goats pure milck. 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 110 Of milks the Womans is most temperate. 1725 N. Robinson Th. Physick 208 If the Ass's Milk stands twelve Hours, it will gather no Cream. 1836–41 Brande Chem. (ed. 5) 1353 Fresh milk slightly reddens litmus. 1861 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XXII. i. 35 These milks came from the same dairy. 1896 tr. Boas' Text-bk. Zool. 496 The young ones [sc. of the Duck-billed Platypus], when hatched, are fed with milk by the mother. |
b. In proverbial comparison
as white as milk. Also
as like as milk to milk (a Latinism).
| ? a 1366 Chaucer Rom. Rose 1196 Through hir smokke, wrought with silk, The flesh was seen, as whyt as milk. c 1420 Anturs of Arth. ii, One a mule as þe mylke Gaili she glides. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. iii. ii. 86 How manie cowards..Who inward searcht, haue lyuers white as milke. 1638 Chillingw. Relig. Prot. i. ii. §160 They are as like your own, as an egge to an egge, or milke to milke. 1660 Jer. Taylor Duct. Dubit. (1676) 417 It looks so like intemperance, as milk to milk. |
c. Phrases.
mother's-milk: in literal and figurative contexts; also as a slang name for various liquors (see
quots.).
in milk,
† (
a)
fig. (a Latinism) in infancy; (
b) in a condition to yield milk.
brought to milk, brought to be in milk.
† water of milk = milk-water (see 10).
| 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxxv. 37 My clype, my vnspaynit gyane, With moderis milk ȝit in ȝour mychane. 1565 Jewel Repl. Harding (1611) 391 There be certaine men, that..fearing, that if they attaine to any knowledge, they shall be proud: and so they remaine still only in Milke [tr. Augustine: et remanent in solo lacte]. 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Laict, Eau de laict..also, water of milke or drawne by stillatorie from milke. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 40 The earth squeezes the poor wretch so hard, that his Mothers milk comes running out at his nose. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl., Milk... In the Philosophical Transactions, we have an account of a wether brought to milk by the sucking of a lamb. 1797 Monthly Mag. III. 486 The best three-year-old heifer, which..shall be in milk at the time of show. c 1821 ‘W. T. Moncrieff’ Tom & Jerry (1828) iii. iii. 67 Log. What, my lily! here, take a drop of mother's milk. (Gives black child gin out of measure he has received from Landlord.) 1846 Swell's Night Guide 125/2 Mother's milk, rum boose, good liquor. 1847 James Convict II. 50 His auditor..had sucked in such doctrines with his mother's milk. 1852 R. S. Surtees Sponge's Sp. Tour l, When people talk of cream, and ask how many cows you have, they mean in milk. c 1863 T. Taylor in M. R. Booth Eng. Plays of 19th Cent. (1969) II. 156 Brandy do a man harm! It's mother's milk. 1922 G. M. Trevelyan Brit. Hist. 19th Cent. xxiii. 363 Britons had sucked in fear of Napoleonic conquest with their mother's milk. 1966 ‘L. Lane’ ABZ of Scouse 71 Mother's milk, Guinness, a popular brand of stout. 1972 Guardian 22 Aug. 4/6 A six-month-old-baby..is being kept alive by mother's milk supplied by volunteers. |
† d. Milk considered as in process of secretion; hence, the milk-yielding condition induced by childbirth, lactation.
Obs.| 1512 Ld. Treas. Acc. Scotl. (1902) IV. 356 To ane nurice to the Prince..at was prewit with sex wolkis mylk. 1616 Sir E. Mountagu in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 249 One nurse with one milk did suckle six of us. 1676 Wiseman Surg. i. iv. 25 Milk..is certainly the occasion of many Tumours of divers kinds. 1697 Dryden Virg. Past. iii. 152 When Milk is dry'd with heat, In vain the Milk⁓maid tugs an empty Teat. |
† e. Put for: The period of infancy.
Obs.| a 1637 B. Jonson Discov., Imo serviles (1640) 114 Wee see in men, even the strongest compositions had their beginnings from milke, and the Cradle [transl. of Quintilian i. i. 21 a lacte cunisque]. |
f. The quantity of milk drawn from a cow at a single milking.
| 1611 Cotgr., Mousson, a Cowes milke,..as much as she yeelds at a milking. |
g. ellipt. = milkman 1.
colloq.| 1895 W. P. Ridge Minor Dialogues 79, I know all the comic songs..and I sing 'em whilst I'm a doing up the front steps; and the milk, he says he reckons it'll end in me going on the stage. 1933 A. Thirkell High Rising ii. 36 The London tradesmen..called her Miss, until a fateful day when the Milk, so she told Laura, had called her Miss once too often. 1967 ‘A. Gilbert’ Visitor x. 174 She hadn't informed the postman and anyone can put out a note for the Milk. 1975 B. Meyrick Behind the Light xv. 202 The disappearance of George the Milk's horse. |
h. Milk-white colour.
Cf. sense 11.
| 1899 Swinburne Rosamund i. i. 2 White I know from red, and dark from bright, And milk from white in hawthorn-flowers. |
2. fig. a. As the appropriate food of infancy; often (after 1
Cor. iii. 2,
Heb. v. 12) contrasted with ‘(strong) meat’.
| c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶539 Flatereres been the deueles norices, that norissen hise children with Milk of losengerie. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 14706 With my mylk off fflaterye I was noryce, and ek guyde, In especyal vn-to Pryde. 1641 H. Peters (title) Milke for Babes, and Meat for Men: or, Principles necessary to be knowne..of such as would know Christ. 1772 Nugent Grosley's London I. 318 Tithes were the first milk of these rising establishments [sc. monasteries]. 1803 (title) Milk for Babes; or, a catechism in verse. 1810 Sporting Mag. XXXVI. 121 Neither are their consciences of that puling kind, that will submit to be fed with this milk of babes. 1860 Pusey Min. Proph. 70 He was nourished, not by solid food, but by milk, i.e. by the rudiments of piety and righteousness. |
b. As a type of what is pleasant and nourishing.
pure milk: something of the purest or finest quality.
| 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iii. iii. 55 Aduersities sweete milke, Philosophie. 1654 Z. Coke Logick a j, It..turneth into Milk bony Paradoxes. 1797 Coleridge Kubla Khan 53 For he on honey-dew hath fed, And drunk the milk of Paradise. 1931 Daily Express 15 Oct. 2/4 Men like Mr. Runciman, who hitherto represented the purest milk of the Cobdenite gospel. 1955 Times 6 July 11/3 Broadcasting..probably remains the most effective way, within the compass of an election campaign, of distributing the pure milk of party doctrine. 1975 ‘W. Haggard’ Scorpion's Tail vii. 103 For the pure milk of doctrine she cared not a damn. She saw communism as a convenient front. |
c. In proverbial phrases.
milk and honey (or † mellie): (
a) in the Bible phrase ‘flowing with milk and honey’, hyperbolically descriptive of the richness of the Promised Land; hence (
b) used to express the abundance of means of enjoyment.
to bring (a person) to his milk (
U.S.): to bring (him) to his senses; to compel (him) to acquiesce or submit;
to come (or go) home with the milk: to arrive home at the time when the milkman calls,
i.e. early in the morning.
milk and roses: said of a beautiful pink-and-white complexion.
milk of human kindness (after
Shakes.): compassion characteristic of humane persons.
spilt milk: anything which once misused cannot be recovered; see also
spilt ppl. a. 2 b.
† to wash the milk off (one's) liver: to purge (oneself) of cowardice.
† to give down (its) milk: to yield the expected assistance or profit; to consent to be ‘milked’.
| c 1000 ælfric Num. xvi. 13 Of þam lande, þe weoll meolce and hunie. 1382 Wyclif Ezek. xx. 6 The loond which Y hadde purueiede to hem, flowynge with mylk and hony. c 1592 Marlowe Jew of Malta iv. (1633) H 2 b, Ith. How now? hast thou the gold? Pil. Yes. Ith. But came it freely, did the Cow giue down her milk freely? 1605 Shakes. Macb. i. v. 18 Yet doe I feare thy Nature, It is too full o' th' Milke of humane kindnesse. 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Souhait, Wash thy milke off thy liuer (say we). 1614 J. Davies Eclogue 19 For fro thy Makings, milke, and mellie, flowes To feed the Songster-swaines with Arts sootmeats. a 1628 Preston Breastpl. Love vii. (1630) 181 They shall not give downe that milke for your comfort. 1641 S. Marmion Antiquary i. B j, I must flatter him, and stroke him too, he will give no milk else. 1654 H. L'Estrange Chas. I (1655) 187 The City was sullen, would not give down their milk, and pleaded..poverty. 1775 Sheridan Rivals iii. iv. 57 The thunder of your words has soured the milk of human kindness in my breast! 1783 J. King Th. on Difficulties, etc. ii. 28 America is now the fancied land of milk and honey. 1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey ii. i, The milk and honey of the political Canaan. 1839 Dickens Nich. Nick. xxxviii. 377 What's come of my milk of human kindness? It turns into curds and whey when I look at him. 1857 J. G. Holland Bay-Path 209 There ain't anything that'll bring you to your milk half so quick as a good double-and-twisted thrashin. 1857 S. A. Hammett Sam Slick in Texas iv. 22 When you cum to bring 'em down to thar milk, they'll turn out greener than Buffalo Bayou in September. 1860 Trollope Castle Richmond I. vi. 113 It's no use sighing after spilt milk. 1894 Howells in Harper's Mag. Feb. 380 The die is cast, the jig is up, the fat's in the fire, the milk's spilt. 1900 H. Sutcliffe Shameless Wayne ii, Dainty of figure she was, with a face all milk and roses. 1917 Wodehouse Man with Two Left Feet 238 You talk of a man ‘going home with the milk’ when you mean that he sneaks in in the small hours of the morning. 1923 W. J. Locke Moordius & Co. ii. 17 The family has nothing to do with the way the governess spends her evenings..except if she comes home with the milk after her evening out. 1947 W. S. Maugham Creatures of Circumstances 100 Every party's got to come to an end, and next day it doesn't matter much if you went home with the milk or if you left while the fun was in full swing. 1956 G. Durrell My Family & other Animals xviii. 237 Overflowing with the milk of human kindness, the family had invited everyone they could think of, including people they cordially disliked. |
3. a. A milk-like juice or sap secreted by certain plants.
Cf. latex 2.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. lxi. (1495) 637 The mylke of the fygge tree. 1565 Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Lac, The milke that is in greene figges. Herba lactaria, an hearbe that hath milke in it as spurge, &c. 1626 Bacon Sylva §639 There be Plants, that have a Milk in them when they are Cut; as Figs, Old-Lettuce, Sow-Thistles, Spurge, &c. 1757 J. H. Grose Voy. E. Indies 30 The milk of cocoa nuts. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) X. 83/1 The milks of wild-poppies, garden-poppies, dandelion, hawk-weed, and sow-thistle gave brown or brownish-red stains. 1898 Engineering Mag. XVI. 138/1 Analyses of the milk of a variety of rubber plants. |
b. Of grain:
in the milk: having a milky consistency due to incomplete development.
out of the milk: beginning to mature.
| 1792 J. Belknap Hist. New Hampsh. III. 21 The corn then being in the milk. a 1817 T. Dwight Trav. New Eng., etc. (1821) II. 341 When the kernels of wheat..are in the milk. 1878 Ure's Dict. Arts IV. 153 At the time when the contents of the berry [sc. of wheat] are in the condition technically known as ‘milk’. 1899 Evesham Jrnl. 29 Apr. (E.D.D.), The sparrows began [sc. to eat the wheat] as soon as the corn was just out of the milk. |
c. the milk in the coconut: a puzzling fact or circumstance; a crux.
colloq. (
orig. U.S.).
| 1840 Spirit of Times 21 Mar. 25/2 All of ‘vich’..fully accounts..for the milk in the cocoa-nut. 1853 Knickerbocker XLII. 50 The milk in the cocoa nut was accounted for. 1898 Mrs. E. Lynn Linton Let in G. S. Layard Mrs. Lynn Linton (1901) xxiv. 362 The Koran is very interesting—but oh, the milk in the cocoanut! It is so queerly disjointed and non-sequential, far more so than the Epistles, and they have their full share of that milk in the cocoanut. 1972 L. Meynell Death by Arrangement i. 17 ‘Nobody can really be christened Waveney: it's a river...’ ‘In East Anglia. Hence, as they say, the milk in the coconut. Rolffe's father..called his eleven children after East Anglian rivers.’ |
4. A culinary, pharmaceutical, or other preparation of herbs, drugs or the like, having some more or less real resemblance to milk.
milk of almonds = almond-milk.
milk of lime: hydrate of lime mixed in water.
milk of magnesia: a proprietary name for a white suspension of magnesium hydroxide in water, taken as an antacid.
† milk of mercury: corrosive sublimate beaten up in fumitory water.
milk of sulphur: precipitated sulphur.
| c 1430 Two Cookery-bks. 48 Take gode Milke of Almaundys, & flowre of Rys. 1626 Bacon Sylva §50 Pistachoes..made into a Milk of themselves, like unto Almond Milk. 1686 W. Harris tr. Lemery's Chym. (ed. 2) 493 This Tincture is a dissolution of the Rosine of Benjamin made in Spirit of Wine. When it is mixed in a great deal of water, it makes a Milk. 1694 Salmon Bate's Dispens. (1713) 561 Milk of Mercury... Milk of Scammony. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XII. 23/1 The name of milk is given to substances very different from milk properly so called. Ibid., Milk of Sulphur. Ibid. 23/2 Water in which quicklime has been slaked, which..has hence been called the milk of lime. a 1814 Intrigues of a Day in New Brit. Theatre I. 76 A little milk of roses. 1875 Ure's Dict. Arts III. 1059 Milk of Wax is a valuable varnish. 1880 J. Lomas Alkali Trade 298 Milk of lime. 1880 Trade Marks Jrnl. 3 Mar. 95 Milk of Magnesia... Charles Henry Phillips,..New York, United States of America; manufacturing chemist... Preparations of magnesia for medical purposes, especially hydrate of magnesia, and also proprietary medicines. 1898 Rev. Brit. Pharm. 41 Milk of sulphur. 1924 H. Crane Let. 30 Nov. (1965) 194, I had..taken a great deal of Alkalithia and milk of magnesia. 1961 J. Heller Catch-22 (1962) xxvi. 282 Aarfy had a date..with a Red Cross girl.. whose father owned an important milk-of-magnesia plant. |
5. Bristol milk: originally a slang name for sherry; now, the name in the wine trade of a particular class of sherry.
| 1644 [see Bristol]. a 1661 Fuller Worthies, Bristol (1662) iii. 35 Bristol Milk... This Metaphorical Milk, whereby Xeres or Sherry-Sack is intended. 1895 Westm. Gaz. 31 Dec. 1/1 Pale sherry (Bristol cream) realised {pstlg}7 per dozen, and 95s. was the price per dozen of the sherry known as Bristol milk. |
† 6. milk of the moon: ‘a white, porous, friable, insipid earth, frequently found in form of a white farinaceous powder, but sometimes concreted into a mass, not unlike agaric’ (Chambers
Cycl. 1727–52).
7. A cloudy impurity found in some diamonds.
| 1875 Ure's Dict. Arts II. 24. |
8. † a. The milt of a fish.
Obs. [So G.
milch,
Da. melk,
Sw. mjölke.]
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xiii. xxvi. (1495) 458 Whan the female of fysshes lay egges or pesen, the male comyth after and shedeth hys mylke vpon the egges. 14.. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 591/16 Lactes, roof of fyshe, or mylke of fyshe. 1718 [see milter]. |
b. The spat of an oyster before its discharge.
| 1858 Homans Cycl. Comm. 1480/2 The breeding-time of oysters is in April or May, from which time to July or August the oysters are said to be sick or in the milk. |
9. attrib. and
Comb. a. Simple
attrib. in sense (
a) ‘made or consisting of, prepared with, or obtained from milk’, as
milk-arrowroot,
milk-butter,
milk-curd,
milk-diet,
milk-fat,
milk-flow,
milk-globule,
milk-loaf,
milk-porridge,
milk-pottage,
milk-pudding,
milk-scone,
milk-soup,
milk-yeast; (
b) ‘of or pertaining to milk’, as
milk-† ambry,
milk-bloom,
milk-board,
milk bottle,
milk-bowie (
Sc.),
milk-bowl,
milk-bucket,
milk-can,
milk-car,
milk-cart,
milk carton,
milk-cellar,
milk-churn,
milk-cog,
milk-cooler,
milk-dish,
milk-ejection,
milk-gland,
milk-jug,
milk-keeler,
milk-kettle,
milk lorry,
milk-pail,
milk-piggin,
milk-pitcher,
milk-pot,
milk-ranch,
milk saucepan,
milk-secretion,
milk-shop,
milk-sieve,
milk-skeel,
milk-stall,
milk stand,
milk-sye (
dial.),
milk tanker,
milk-tin,
milk truck,
milk-tub,
milk-vein,
milk wagon; (
c) ‘having dealings with milk’, as
milk-boy,
milk-folk,
milk-girl,
milk-lass,
milk-nurse; (
d) (of animals) ‘producing milk’, as
milk-ass,
milk-camel,
milk-sow; also
milk-cow; (
e) used to designate the deciduous teeth formed in the mammalian jaw during the suckling period, as
milk-canine,
milk-dentition,
milk-molar,
milk-tusk; also milk tooth.
| 1594 Knaresborough Wills (Surtees) I. 199 *Milk ambry. |
| 1896 Allbutt's Syst. Med. I. 401 *Milk arrowroot and a little brandy with it is useful. |
| 1688 in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. IV. 157 Though I can (to my sorrow) say why *milk-asses are provided for. |
| 1855 Tennyson Maud xxi. 70 The slender acacia would not shake One long *milk-bloom on the tree. |
| 1602 in Grosart Spenser's Wks. I. p. xix, One stone or *milk-board. |
| 1905 G. F. M'Cleary Infant Mortality & Infants Milk Depôts viii. 129 (caption) Packing the *milk bottles in ice before sending them to the city. 1957 M. Summerton Sunset Hour v. 67, I could hear..milk bottles being handled in and out of crates. 1959 I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolch. i. 9 Cigarette cards..are being replaced in flicking games by milk-bottle tops. 1972 C. Fremlin Appointment with Yesterday xii. 93 ‘Everything goes down the waste-disposal!’ But not dead matches. Or milk-bottle tops. 1972 J. Mosedale Football x. 139 He stepped on a broken milk bottle, severing all the tendons in his foot. |
| 1724 Ramsay Tea-t. Misc. (1733) II. 222 To bear the *milk-bowie nae pain was to me. |
| 1570 Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees) I. 341, lxxxx *mylke bowlles iij{supl}. 1609 R. Armin Maids of More-Cl. (1880) 84 They are maids of More-clacke, homely milke-bole things. 1815 Sporting Mag. XLVI. 17 A new milk-bowl, of wood skilfully carved. |
| 1847 Thackeray Van. Fair (1848) vii. 59 The groom..did not care to descend to ring the bell; and so prayed a passing *milk⁓boy to perform that office for him. 1865 A. & E. Keary Little Wanderlin 125 After the milk-boy came the vegetable women. 1884 W. H. Rideing in Harper's Mag. June 70/1 Chantrey was a milk-boy in Sheffield. 1964 F. Warner Early Poems 13 A milk⁓boy, whistling down the wind. |
| 1830 Miss Mitford Village Ser. iv. 103 Her *milk-bucket in her hand. |
| c 1830 Glouc. Farm Rep. 35 in Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb. III, Making cheese of the first quality is more profitable than either making *milk-butter or feeding veal. |
| 1535 Coverdale Gen. xxxii. 15 Thirtie *mylck camels. |
| 1838 Dickens O. Twist xlv, Three pint-pots and a *milk-can. |
| 1879 Flower Catal. Mus. Coll. Surg. i. 39 The *milk-canine permanently retained. |
| 1890 Railways of Amer. 146 The different kinds of cars which are now used..Mail car, *Milk car, Oil-car [etc.]. 1916 Joyce Portrait of Artist ii. 69 Often they drove out in the milkcar. |
| 1808 Curwen Econ. Feeding Stock 64 The *milk-cart was met before it reached the town. |
| 1964 ‘E. Lathen’ Accounting for Murder (1965) vi. 46 He mounted the stairs..startling two typists who were precariously balancing *milk cartons. 1967 R. Lowell Near Ocean 24 Milk cartons, kidney heaped to spoil, Two plates sheathed with silver foil. |
| 1787 Garthshore in Phil. Trans. LXXVII. 355 A woman at a *milk-cellar..was delivered [etc.]. |
| 1931 A. Uttley Country Child iii. 48 He was backed into the loading place, waiting for the *milk-churns. Ibid. xxi. 278 The milk-churns were rattled and banged across the railway line. 1963 Times 16 Feb. 5/5 An estimated 120,000 milk churns, valued at {pstlg}5 each and believed to have been taken by householders to store water, are missing from dairies. 1967 Ibid. 26 Sept. 1/1 He inadvertently rolled a milk churn under an oncoming express during his first day as an apprentice at Hatfield station. |
| 1595 Duncan App. Etymol. (E.D.S.), Mulctra, vel, -um, mulctrale; a *milk-cog. |
| 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm III. 900 Stone *milk-coolers. |
| 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. III. 339 Small patches of adherent *milk-curd. |
| 1863 Huxley Man's Place Nat. i. 23 The *milk dentition consists of 20 teeth. |
| 1677 Temple Gout in Misc. i. (1680) 221, I concluded..if it..continued to confine my self wholly to the *Milk-dyet. |
| 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm III. 900 After it has cooled, the milk is passed through the milk-sieve into the *milk-dishes. |
| 1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. June 540/3 The problems related to the process of ‘*milk ejection’ in the cow. |
| 1901 Daily Chron. 7 Aug. 6/4 When a sample of milk..shall be found to contain less than 3 per cent. of *milk fat,..it shall be presumed..that the milk is not genuine. |
| 1822–34 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) IV. 74 Galactia Præmatura. Premature *Milk-Flow. Ibid. 75 Galactia Defectiva. Deficient Milk-Flow. |
| 1700 T. Brown Amusem. Ser. & Com. vi. (1709) 58 The Noisy *Milk-Folks, crying, A can of Milk, Ladies. |
| 1810 Splendid Follies III. 66 [Madam Lynx] having caught her immaculate husband chucking the *milk-girl under the chin. |
| 1927 Haldane & Huxley Animal Biol. xiii. 320 The saucer-shaped depression into which the *milk-glands open. |
| 1864 Chambers's Encycl. VI. 454/2 In addition to *milk globules, colostrum globules..occur in the milk. |
| 1832 F. Trollope Dom. Manners Amer. I. xii. 170 An intimation accompanied the *milk-jug, that the milk must be fresh. 1852 Bristed Five Yrs. Eng. Univ. 60 Drowning mice in his milk jug. |
| 1600 in W. F. Shaw Mem. Eastry (1870) 226 Three *milk keelers. |
| 1596 Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees) II. 271 The milke-house stuffe..j *milke kettle 24s. 1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. II. 993 Brass milk-kettle. |
| a 1690 G. Fox Jrnl. (1827) I. 79 He told my troubles..to his servants, so that it was got among the *milk-lasses. |
| 1910 Practitioner June 801 *Milk-loaf, scones. |
| 1939 G. Household Rogue Male 110, I saw..a couple of *milk lorries bobbing about..to collect the cans set out on wooden platforms by the road. 1971 W. J. Burley Guilt Edged i. 5 The milk lorry on its way back to the factory after morning collections from farms. |
| 1849–52 Todd's Cycl. Anat. IV. 911/1 The fourth premolar displaces the..tubercular *milk-molar. |
| c 1826 Earl Richard ix. in Child Ballads (1886) II. 462 My mither was a gude *milk-nurse. |
| c 1440 *Mylke payle [see milk-stop]. c 1475 Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 793/23 Hoc multrum, a mylkepayle. 1831 Scott Jrnl. 1 Jan., Cadell is of opinion if I meddle in politics,..I shall break the milk-pail. |
| 1579–80 North Plutarch, P. æmilius (1595) 267 Womens brests are not alwaies full of milke (as *milke pans are..). 1840 T. A. Trollope Summer in Brittany I. 40 A brown dish of the size and shape of a milk-pan. |
| 1885 Miss Murfree Prophet Gt. Smoky Mts. iii. 57 She carried her *milk-piggin. |
| 1855 Harvard Mag. I. 420 We were..a good deal incommoded by the diminutive size of the *milk-pitchers. |
| 1567 Harman Caveat (1869) 86 Baken, chese and *mylke porrage. 1711 Swift Jrnl. to Stella 15 May, My breakfast is milk porridge. |
| 1535 Coverdale Judg. iv. 19 Then opened she a *mylke pot, & gaue him to drynke. 1838 Dickens O. Twist xxvii, Mr. Bumble..made a closer inspection of the milk-pot. |
| 1620 Middleton Chaste Maid ii. ii. 109 Herrings and *milk-pottage. |
| 1899 A. E. Holdsworth Valley Gt. Shadow iv, Beef-tea and *milk-pudding had had their day. |
| 1907 Yesterday's Shopping 213/2 *Milk saucepan with earthenware lining. 1975 J. Symons Three Pipe Problem xvii. 163 He burnt the milk saucepan dry. |
| 1856 Farmer's Mag. Jan. 7 The Physiology of *Milk-Secretion. |
| 1847 Dickens Dombey (1848) xxi. 207 A neighbouring *milk-shop. 1883 Encycl. Brit. XV. 797/2 The privy council has issued an order, under the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act of 1878, called the Dairies, Milkshops, and Cowsheds Order. |
| 1844 *Milk-sieve [see milk-dish]. |
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 240/1 A *Milke skele, mulgarium. |
| 1767 H. Glasse Cookery App. 343 *Milk soop the Dutch way. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. IV. 191 From three and a half, to four pints [of milk] a day may be given to an adult..in the form of a milk soup. |
| 1797 Monthly Mag. III. 531 A *milk sow was offered at the opening of the assembly. |
| 1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Apr. 378/3 *Milk stands erected as part of the releaser room..have given satisfactory results. |
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 338/1 *Mylke stop, or payle, multra, vel multrum. |
| c 1440 Medulla Gram. in Promp. Parv. 79 note, Colum, a *mylke syhe. 15.. Wowing Jok & Jynny 28 in Bannatyne MS. (Hunter. Cl.) 388 Ane milk syth. 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) I. 209 The whole mass..with the cream and new milk is run through the searce into the milk-sye. |
| 1965 in P. Jennings Living Village (1968) 66 The milk..is collected by a *milk tanker. 1972 Guardian 16 Oct. 10/2 Until the rains came..villagers were collecting water in buckets from milk tankers in High Furness. |
| 1868 Atkinson Cleveland Gloss., *Milk-tin, the metal vessel in which the milk is set to cream. |
| 1910 Daily Chron. 22 Apr. 1/3 The..express..ran into a *milk truck and a guard's van. 1947 E. Hodgins Mr. Blandings builds his Dream House vii. 94 Her husband got run over by the milk truck. 1973 R. L. Simon Big Fix (1974) xx. 170 A trio of milk trucks from a dairy. |
| 1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. II. 1017 The *milk-tub is covered up by a board. |
| 1799 Corse in Phil. Trans. LXXXIX. 211 The first or *milk tusks of an elephant never grow to any size. |
| 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 445 The *milk-veins along the lower part of the abdomen become larger. |
| 1883 Wheelman Apr. 28/1 A superannuated 'bus⁓driver, with a conveyance strongly resembling a *milk⁓wagon. 1960 T. Hughes Lupercal 46 Light and birdsong come Walloping up roads with the milk wagon. |
| 1876 tr. Wagner's Gen. Pathol. 86 *Milk-yeast can grow fungus-like, if submerged. |
b. objective, as
milk-carrier,
milk-dealer,
milk-heater,
milk producer,
milk-seller,
milk strainer,
milk-tester,
milk-vendor;
milk-breeding,
milk-curdling,
milk-drinking,
milk-making,
milk-marketing (also
vbl. ns.),
milk-producing (also
vbl. ns.),
milk-yielding adjs. Also (of the secretions of plants)
milk-giving,
milk-bearing adjs.| 1855 Sir E. Smith in Syst. Nat. Hist. I. 28 The *milk-bearing tissue so readily inferred to exist from the white exuding juice of the cut dandelion [etc.]. |
| 1656 Blount Glossogr., Lactifical, *milk-breeding, milk-making, milk-yeelding. |
| 1805 Mod. London App., Cream is sold by the *Milk-carriers at 1s. 4d. per pint. |
| 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. III. 287 ‘Rennin’, a *milk-curdling ferment. |
| 1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. II. 969 Cows for the supply of the *milk-dealer. |
| c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 7 Drihten þu dest þe lof of *milc drinkende childre muðe. |
| 1898 Daily News 4 Apr. 2/1 The productive or *milk-giving [rubber] trees. |
| 1905 Westm. Gaz. 5 Oct. 5/2 Ovens, grillers,..*milk-heaters,..sterilisers, and other things are all there. 1656 *Milk-making [see milk-breeding]. |
| 1933 Statutory Rules & Orders No. 789. 21 This scheme may be cited as the *Milk Marketing Scheme, 1933, and applies to England and Wales. 1936 Milk Marketing [see grade n. 5 c]. 1968 Listener 4 July 15/2 In the new milk marketing case this truth is emphasised... Under the Milk Marketing Scheme the milk producers sell their milk to the Milk Marketing Board. |
| 1870 Rep. Comm. Agric. 1869 (U.S. Dept. Agric.) 449 The annual meeting of the *Milk Producers' Association of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. 1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Feb. 163/3 It is the responsibility of the milk producer to ensure..that only milk of the highest quality leaves the farm. |
| 1946 Nature 12 Oct. 523/1 The recording movement may..progress to greater service to the *milk-producing industry. 1975 Country Life 12 June 1590/1 Different cows have different milk-producing capabilities. |
| 1600 J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa iii. 132 Next vnto them stand the *milke-sellers. |
| 1686 S. Sewall Letter-Bk. (1886) I. 33 Five Duz. of *milk strainers of the smaller sort. 1872 W. S. Jones Let. 20 Mar. in G. N. Jones Florida Plantation Rec. (1927) 199 The milk strainer is also in bad repair. |
| 1902 Daily Chron. 5 Dec. 6/5 It is quite easy for the consumer to protect himself—in quality, by purchasing a 1s. 6d. *milk tester. |
| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 191/2 The *milk-vendors sell..twenty quarts per day. |
| 1611 Cotgr., Laictier, milkie,..*milke-yeelding. 1897 Daily News 28 Sept. 8/3 The herd is entirely of the milk-yielding..Ayrshires. |
c. parasynthetic and instrumental, as
milk-barred,
milk-blended,
milk-borne,
milk-budded,
milk-faced,
milk-fed,
milk-hued,
milk-outstretched,
milk-washed adjs.| 1849 M. Arnold Strayed Reveller 197 Jasper and chalcedony, And *milk-barr'd onyx-stones. |
| 1902 Westm. Gaz. 3 Mar. 11/3 The compound called ‘*milk-blended butter’. |
| 1904 Daily Chron. 14 July 5/1 Epidemics of definite ‘*milk-borne’ diseases. 1905 F. L. Dodd Municip. Milk 6 Epidemics of milk-borne scarlet fever. |
| 1865 Swinburne Dolores xl, And *milk-budded myrtles with Venus..he trod. |
| 1815 Milman Fazio iii. i. That *milk-faced mercy will come whimpering to me. |
| 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. II. i. 13 The two last of the family, who will then..be tolerably *milk-fed, I shall reserve for my own eating. |
| 1887 Pall Mall G. 16 Aug. 5/1 The well-known *milk-hued gem. 1886 T. Hardy Mayor Casterbr. i, New, milk-hued canvas. |
| 1600 Fairfax Tasso xii. xxxi, The gentle beast with *milke out stretched teat; (As nurses custome) proffred thee to feed. |
| 1598 F. Rous Thule B 4, Viceina whose most pure *milk-washed hart Neuer supposde what fraud before did plot, Told him [etc.]. |
d. similative, as
milk-blue,
milk-dim,
milk-green,
milk-like,
milk-mild,
milk-pale adjs. Also
milk-warm.
| 1917 D. H. Lawrence Look! We have come Through! 77 The *milk-blue, morning lake. 1945 W. de la Mare Burning-Glass 41 Pulsing beneath the silken skin The milk-blue blood rills out and in. 1955 E. Pound Section: Rock-Drill xc. 65 Moon's barge over milk-blue water. |
| 1926 H. Read Coll. Poems 55 Oh, turn your *milk dim eyes To outer things! |
| 1912 D. H. Lawrence Let. 2 June (1962) I. 130 The pale, *milk-green river. |
| 1813 T. Busby tr. Lucretius v. 1028 *Milk-like nurture from her bosom flowed. |
| c 1800 Misc. (1829) 52 Grass cut Virginia, or *milk-mild Oronoko [tobacco]. |
| 1895 W. B. Yeats Poems 33 And at his cry there came no *milk-pale face Under a crown of thorns and dark with blood. 1910 W. de la Mare Three Mulla-Mulgars xviii. 248 At each thorn-tip, as the flame licks near, wells out and gathers a milk-pale globe of poison. |
10. a. Special combinations, as
milk-abscess, an abscess occurring in the breasts of women during lactation;
milk bank, a bank (
bank n.3 7 f) of human milk;
milk-bar, a place where drinks made from milk (and often also other refreshments) are sold (see
bar n.1 28);
milk-blooded a., cowardly, spiritless;
milk-blotch, an eruption of the skin in sucking infants,
porrigo larvalis;
milk-brother, a foster-brother;
milk-cell Bot., the cell in which the milky juice or latex of plants is contained;
milk chicken, a chicken that has been fed on milk and ground oats;
milk chocolate,
† (
a) a beverage made from chocolate and milk; (
b) eating chocolate (
chocolate 2) made with milk; (
c) a brown colour; also
attrib.;
† milk-circle = Milky Way;
milk-coffee, coffee made with milk; white coffee; also
attrib., of a light brown colour;
milk-crust, an eruption of the skin in infants,
crusta lactea (
Syd. Soc. Lex. 1890);
† milkdame, a wet-nurse;
milk-diphtheria, epidemic diphtheria spread by means of infected milk;
milk-duct,
Anat., any one of the several ducts which convey milk from the secretory glands through the nipple to the exterior (
Syd. Soc. Lex.);
milk escutcheon, an area covered by a reversed arrangement of the direction of the hair on the udder and thighs of a milch cow;
milk factor, a factor causing disposition towards mammary cancer which is transmitted to offspring in milk;
milk factory, a factory in which cream is extracted from milk;
milk-farm, a dairy farm;
milk-farmer, a dairy farmer;
milk-fever, a slight feverish attack which sometimes occurs in women two or three days after childbirth; also, a similar complaint in milch cows;
milk-fish, (
a) a clupeoid fish,
Chanos chanos, from the Indo-Pacific (
Cent. Dict. 1890); (
b)
Austral. = trepang;
milk-float, (
a) a float (
float n. 14) for the conveyance of milk; (
b) a small electrically-driven milk-cart;
milk-flour, a preparation of desiccated milk;
milk-fungus, any fungus of the genus
Lactarius;
milk-giver, one who or that which gives milk; also
fig.;
milk-glass, (
a) a semi-translucent or opalescent glass, cryolite glass; (
b) a glass vessel applied to the breast to receive a superabundant flow of milk (
Syd. Soc. Lex.);
milk-house, a dairy, a place for the storing or sale of milk; also
attrib.;
milk-kinship, the kinship arising from adoption or fostering;
milk kitchen, a special kitchen at a maternity hospital or the like, where babies' feeds are prepared;
milk-leg, ‘white swelling’, a painful swelling, usually of the lower extremities, very common after parturition;
milk line Embryol. [
tr. G.
milchlinie (O. Schultze 1892, in
Anat. Anzeiger VII. 266)], (the line occupied by) a ridge of thickened ectoderm that appears on either side of mammalian embryos, extending from the front to the rear limb buds, on which the mammary glands later form in females;
† milkmadge, a milk-maid;
milk-mirror = milk escutcheon;
milk-mite = cheese-mite (
Cent. Dict.);
milk-name, the name given to a Chinese child at a ceremony held one month after birth: it is later superseded by more formal names but continues to be used in particular situations (see
quot. 1911);
† milk-pap, a teat or nipple;
milk powder, a preparation of desiccated milk;
milk-pump = breast-pump (Mayne
Expos. Lex. 1857);
milk-quartz, an opaque white variety of quartz (
cf. milky quartz);
milk-ranch U.S. (California), a dairy farm (Schele de Vere 1872); a ranch producing milk;
milk ridge Embryol. [
tr. G.
milchleiste (O. Schultze 1893, in
Verhandl. d. physik.-med. Ges. zu Würzburg XXVI. 173)]
= milk line;
milk-room orig. U.S., a room in a house or dairy in which milk is kept;
milk-round, (
a)
= milk-route; (
b)
transf., a regular trip or tour in which one calls at several places;
spec. R.A.F. slang (see
quot. 1945); hence
milk-roundsman;
milk-route orig. U.S., a route on which milk is regularly collected from farmers or delivered to customers;
milk-run = milk-round;
milk-scab,
-scall, the same as
milk-blotch and
milk-crust;
milk-scarlatina, epidemic scarlatina spread by means of infected milk;
milk-score, a tally or other account of the purchase and sale of milk;
milk sea, a particular kind of phosphorescent appearance on the sea (also
milky sea);
milk-shake orig. U.S., a beverage composed of milk, flavouring, etc., mixed by shaking or agitation;
milk-shield = milk escutcheon;
milk-sick a., affected with milk-sickness; also as
n. = milk-sickness;
milk-sickness U.S., an endemic disease in cattle peculiar to the Western States of America, and sometimes communicated to man through the consumption of infected meat;
milk-spot, (
a) a lustrous white callosity frequently observed upon the surface of the pericardium; (
b) a white mucous patch in secondary syphilis (
Syd. Soc. Lex.); (
c) a form of tooth-rash (
Ibid.);
milk stout, formerly, a kind of sweet stout made with lactose; also
attrib. and
fig.;
milk-sugar, sugar of milk, lactose;
milk-teething, the process of cutting the milk-teeth;
milk-thrush = aphtha;
milk-tie = milk-kinship;
milk-toast U.S., toast which is softened in milk;
milk-train, (
a) a railway train chiefly transporting milk,
usu. very early in the morning; (
b)
R.A.F. slang (see
quot. 1943);
milk-tube, (
a)
Bot., a laticiferous tube; (
b) a milking tube;
milk-vessel, (
a) a dairy utensil for holding milk; (
b) the udder of a cow; (
c)
Bot., one of many tubes in which a milky fluid is secreted;
milk-walk, a milkman's regular round for the sale of milk; also, a dairy business;
† milk-water, a cordial water distilled from milk and herbs;
† milk way = Milky Way; also
fig.;
milk-whisky = koumiss;
† milk-wife = milk-woman n.1;
milk-wine, a beverage obtained from fermented milk;
milk-woman, a woman who carries round milk for sale.
| 1799 Underwood Dis. Childr. (ed. 4) III. 111 note, A Treatise..in which the *milk-abscess, and sore nipples are fully considered. |
| 1948 Archit. Rev. CIV. 21 (caption) Mothers' *milk bank. 1972 Guardian 22 Aug. 4/6 If there should be a shortage of mother's milk, the hospital will get supplies from the National Milk Bank. |
| 1935 Forres Gaz. 20 Nov. 1/2 The *milk bar, or place where milk drinks are sold, is a popular institution all over Australia, and plans are on foot for installing..them in Britain. 1938 E. Waugh Scoop ii. iv. 200 Legend..told and retold over the milk-bars of Fleet Street. 1957 J. Braine Room at Top xxx. 254 A milk bar near the railway station. 1971 J. Philips Escape a Killer (1972) i. v. 69 There's a milk bar in the village. |
| 1847 E. Brontë Wuthering Heights I. xi. 259, I wish you joy of the *milk-blooded coward. 1910 Blackw. Mag. Feb. 183/2 The sooner we give up all this milk-blooded, blue-spectacled, pacificist talk the better. |
| 1797 Ibid. I. 97 *Milk-blotches appear first on the forehead. 1890 Syd. Soc. Lex., Milk-blotch. |
| 1897 Strand Mag. Christm. No. 617/1 Ivan was what is termed in Russian the ‘*milkbrother’ of Alexia Bobrofsha. |
| 1884 Bower & Scott tr. De Bary's Phaner. 195 Those solitary spindle-shaped initial cells of the *milk-cells do not exist. 1890 Syd. Soc. Lex., Milk-cells. |
| 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXXI. 882/2 Chickens fattened quite young..and known as petits poussins or ‘*milk chickens’. |
| 1723 J. Nott Cook's & Confectioner's Dict. sig. 18 (heading) To make *Milk Chocolate. 1752 M. W. Montagu Let. 16 Feb. (1967) III. 5 As soon as I am risen, I constantly take 3 cups of milk coffee, and two hours after that a large cup of milk chocolate. 1752 [see milk chocolate above]. 1904 ‘Saki’ Reginald 101 They all sat down to play progressive halma, with milk-chocolate for prizes. 1910 Encycl. Brit. X. 614/2 Milk powder..is largely employed in the preparation of so-called milk chocolates. 1926 C. Beaton Diary 15 Apr. in Wandering Yrs. (1961) iv. 80, I..bought some bars of milk chocolate. 1955 Radio Times 22 Apr. 21/3, 14 milk chocolate caramels. 1958 S. Hyland Who goes Hang? xiv. 63 A large table splendidly covered with milk-chocolate-coloured leather. 1969 Vogue 15 Mar. 81/1 An edging of milk chocolate suede. 1974 ‘E. Lathen’ Sweet & Low xii. 124 The creamy satisfaction of milk chocolate. |
| 1601 Holland Pliny I. 16 That white, which hath taken the name of the *Milk circle [marg. Galaxi]. |
| 1695 J. Lightbody Every Man his own Gauger 62 If you would make *Milk Coffee, you must, to every Pint of Water, put a quart of Milk. 1972 H. Osborne Pay-Day ii. iv. 42 The girl at the desk..was a milk-coffee negress. |
| 1582 Stanyhurst æneis iv. (Arb.) 118 Her owne *mylckdame in byrth soyl was breathles abyding. |
| 1887 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 7 May 1020/1 *Milk-diphtheria at Camberley and York Town. |
| 1881 J. P. Sheldon Dairy Farm. 7/2 This *milk escutcheon, or shield, then, is one of those theories of which [etc.]. |
| 1939 J. J. Bittner in Public Health Rep. (U.S. Public Health Service) LIV. 1115 The breast cancer observations..may be explained by a theory..assuming that three ‘factors’ are needed... These factors are: (A) A ‘breast cancer-producing influence’ transferred through the milk of high-cancer stock females to their progeny. This has been designated as the ‘*milk factor’ in the tables. 1943 C. G. Geschickter Dis. Breast xxxv. 800 This so-called milk-factor or milk-influence has been extracted from the mammary glands of lactating cancer-susceptible mice by Bittner and shown to increase the incidence of mammary cancer whether injected in, or fed to young mice. 1966 Wright & Symmers Systemic Path. I. xxviii. 990/1 There is no evidence that a milk factor plays any part in the occurrence of carcinoma of the breast in women. There is no way by which such a factor can be demonstrated. |
| 1886 Bagot Handbk. Dairy Factories 8 Factories [in Ireland]..where the whole milk is purchased from the farmer—we call *milk factories. |
| 1867 Crim. Chronol. York Castle 195 She had a small *milk-farm, which the prisoner managed. |
| 1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. II. 968 The sort of cow most adapted to the intentions of the *milk-farmer must of course vary. |
| 1758 J. S. Le Dran's Observ. Surg. (1771) Dict. Cc b, Lactea Febris, the *Milk-Fever attending Women for some Days after their Delivery. 1894 ‘Mark Rutherford’ Catharine Furze iv, My belief is, she'll have milk fever. |
| 1880 Proc. Linn. Soc. New South Wales V. 128 Another species [of Trepang] is the ‘*milk fish’, or ‘cotton fish’, so called from its power of emitting a white viscid fluid.., which clings to any object like shreds of cotton. 1905 D. S. Jordan Guide to Study of Fishes II. iii. 44 The Chanidæ, or milkfishes, constitute another small archaic type, found in the tropical Pacific. They are large, brilliantly silvery, toothless fishes. Ibid. 45 The single living species is the Awa, or milkfish, Chanos chanos, largely used as food in Hawaii. 1962 K. F. Lagler et al. Ichthyol. vi. 203 The irregular movements of the Asiatic milkfish (Chanos) into and out of fresh water make it amphidromous. 1971 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 30 Mar. 5/4 Taiwan and Indonesia produce much needed sea protein in traditional milkfish ‘farm ponds’. 1974 Nat. Geographic Dec. 788/2 Across southern Asia, from the Philippines to India, commercial aquaculturists have begun to raise milkfish, a food species that subsists on plant life. |
| 1887 Bury Times 3 Sept. 6/4 He noticed the defendant driving a *milk float towards him at a great speed. 1935 N. Collins Three Friends viii. 143 A horse attached to a milk float wore a hat made of newspaper. 1951 Engineering 20 July 95/3 Pedestrian-controlled vehicles (such as hand-operated electric milk floats). 1974 M. Babson Stalking Lamb xi. 73 An electric milk float trundling down the street. |
| 1902 Chambers's Jrnl. 22 Feb. 191/1 The *milk-flour is completely soluble in water. |
| 1888 Clodd Story of Creation (1894) 129 The Marsupials, or pouched *milk-givers. |
| 1874 Knight Dict. Mech. 931 It [Cryolite] is found in great abundance and purity in Greenland, and serves to make a fine *milk-glass. |
| 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xxiv. (Arb.) 290 Who would not thinke it a ridiculous thing to see a Lady in her *milke-house with a veluet gowne? 1596 Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees) II. 271 The milke-house stuffe. 1891 T. Hardy Tess xvii. (1892) 146 It was a large room over the milk-house. |
| 1885 W. R. Smith Kinship & Marr. v. 149 We find among the Arabs a feeling about *milk-kinship so well established that [etc.]. |
| 1965 Nursing Times 5 Feb. 181/1 In some hospitals the labour wards and the *milk kitchens were each centralized. |
| 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 216 Tense, shiny, smooth, white or mottled skin, marked often by dilated veins, whence comes the name *milk-leg or white leg. |
| 1893 Jrnl. R. Microsc. Soc. 304 Prof. O. Schultze finds in the embryos of pig, rabbit, mole, fox, and cat, that the first rudiment of the mammary glands is seen as a linear epithelial thickening on each side of the body... This ‘*milk-line’ stretches from the anterior to the posterior limb-rudiment. 1946 B. M. Patten Human Embryol. ix. 241 Some animals (for example, the sow and the bitch) develop a series of nipples spread over nearly the entire length of the milk line. Ibid., Not infrequently supernumerary nipples may occur at other levels along the course of the milk line. 1960 F. D. Allan Essent. Human Embryol. xix. 179 The primordia of the [mammary] glands form thickened strips of ectoderm located bilaterally from axilla to groin which are called the milk ridges or lines. |
| 1582 Stanyhurst æneis iv. (Arb.) 114 Shal I now, lyke a castaway *milck-madge, On mye woers formoure bee fawning? |
| 1881 J. P. Sheldon Dairy Farming 6/2 The ‘*milk-mirror’ or ‘escutcheon’ theory of M. Guenon. |
| 1836 J. F. Davis Chinese I. vii. 288 The birth of a son is of course an occasion of great rejoicing; the family or surname is first given, and then the ‘*milk name’, which is generally some diminutive of endearment. 1911 J. D. Ball Chinese at Home vii. 75 The milk name..clings to him or her through life, being used by parents, relatives, and most intimate friends, as well as by superiors. 1931 C. L'E. Ewen Hist. Surnames 8 The Chinese receive a number of names..the ‘milk-name’ when a month old. 1975 O. Sela Bengali Inheritance iii. 23 His milk name had been Chan Yan-Wo, and at school he had changed it to Richard.., the first step in accepting Western ways. |
| 1607 Shakes. Timon iv. iii. 115 Those *Milke pappes That through the window Barne bore at mens eyes. |
| 1834 India Jrnl. Med. Sci. I. i. 32/2 *Milk Powder... Specimens of an article he has advertised under the designation of Pulverised Milk. 1910 Encycl. Brit. X. 614/2 Milk powder is manufactured under various patents. Ibid., Milk powder made from skim-milk keeps well for considerable periods. 1972 D. Bloodworth Any Number can Play xii. 96 A big American air force general with a complexion like milk-powder. |
| 1836 T. Thomson Min., Geol., etc. I. 64 Rock crystal,..rose quartz, *milk quartz, siderite. |
| 1856 Calif. Pathfinder (San Francisco) 13 Nov. 2/4 The *milk ranch that burned down beyond the Mission yesterday morning. |
| 1909 Bailey & Miller Text-bk. Embryol. xvi. 449 In embryos of six to seven mm., or even less, a thickening of the epidermis occurs in a narrow zone along the ventrolateral surface of the body (Strahl). In embryos of 15 mm. this thickening, known as the *milk ridge, extends from the upper extremity to the inguinal region. 1960 Milk ridge [see milk line above]. |
| 1836 Knickerbocker VIII. 706 In the rear, is quite a city of additions, in the shape of bed-rooms, bath-rooms, *milk-rooms, buttery [etc.]. 1970 Cape Times 28 Oct. 21/1 (Advt.), Lean-to, barn for animals, dairy and milk room, 4 calf pens. |
| 1900 Oxford Times 13 Jan. (Advt.), Wanted, a single man to serve a *milk-round. 1927 R. B. Forrester Fluid Milk Market Eng. & Wales 96 Retail Delivery. Milk Rounds{ddd}no close or detailed survey of actual roundsman systems has ever been made in this country. 1945 Partridge Dict. R.A.F. Slang 39 Milkround, a run made fairly regularly by a Squadron or a Force, if it returns to its station or base in the early morning. 1952 E. F. Davies Illyrian Venture x. 191 We did a ‘milk-round’ of all the jails in Vienna, picking up and setting down prisoners at every stop. 1958 Times 9 Aug. 7/7 Strange though the urgent masochism of the milk round may seem, that is how the great majority of Americans still see us, from the windows of a coach. 1970 Times 17 Nov. 19/8 Like other business organisations, we make what is known as the annual milkround, going to every university at the recruiting time. 1972 Guardian 8 Feb. 13/7 Fund-raising must be..centralized, instead of the monthly ‘milk rounds’ by volunteers. 1972 Accountant 14 Sept. 327/1 ‘Farmer's Wife’ branded goods—cream, yogurt, butter, eggs, potatoes, bread, margarine, bacon, sausages and poultry—constitute an increasingly important part of the milk division's turnover and profit. Sales are helping to maintain regular milk rounds when other industries find rising costs of such personal service a constant headache. |
| 1940 F. Kitchen Brother to Ox xiii. 202, I want to say what a pleasant job it is being a *milkroundsman. |
| 1874 Rep. Comm. Agric. 1873 (U.S. Dept. Agric.) 246 The most economical method of managing the delivery of milk at the factory is by establishing *milk routes. 1897 ‘Mark Twain’ Following Equator xliv. 464 The vested rights..are frequently the subject of sale or mortgage. Just like a milk-route. 1959 N. Mailer Advts. for Myself (1961) 372 The milk companies..are saved most of the costs of local distribution by delivering the orange juice on their milk route. |
| 1925 *Milk-run [see run n.1 4 i]. 1943 K. Tennant Ride on Stranger (1968) ix. 103 Shannon did not know anyone who wanted half a milk-run. 1944 J. H. Fullarton Troop Target iii. 24 Isobel married that joker with a milk-run out Henderson way. 1944 T. H. Wisdom Triumph over Tunisia vi. 54 It was General Doolittle who organised the ‘milk-run’ Fortress raids on the ports of Tunis and Bizerta. 1964 Observer (Colour Suppl.) 11 Oct. 17/2 Similar risks must be taken by transport aircraft pilots, flying their daily ‘milk runs’ to supply jungle-bound positions along the 1,000-mile frontier [of Borneo]. 1969 Daily Tel. 11 Oct. 11/5 Another way of island hopping down to Grenada..is to catch the early morning ‘milk-run’ plane from Antigua, which calls in at Dominica, St. Lucia, Martinique and Barbados, collecting and unloading passengers, mail and newspapers as it goes. 1972 Guardian 30 Dec. 13 Woe betide any who suddenly discovers he has to go to Brussels the next morning. The businessmen's milkrun is always booked days ahead. |
| 1856 Mayne Expos. Lex., *Milk-Scab, another common term for Porrigo larvalis, or Crusta lactea, or milk-blotch... *Milk-scall. Same as Milk-scab. |
| 1887 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 19 Feb. 409/2 Mr. Power's report of the Hendon *milk-scarlatina outbreak. |
| 1687 T. Brown Saints in Uproar Wks. 1730 I. 77 A pack of vermin, bred up to..rubbing out of *milk-scores. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 482 ¶4 He is better acquainted with the Milk-Score, than his Steward's Accounts. |
| 1898 F. T. Bullen in Nat. Rev. Aug. 859 That beautiful, inexplicable phenomenon of the ‘*milk sea’ suddenly appeared! |
| 1889 Harper's Bazaar 4 May 330/3 You needs some *milk shake..an' I got some nice new w'iskey to putt in. 1911 H. S. Harrison Queed vii. 85 You ain't feelin good, are you, Doc? You're lookin' white as a milk-shake. 1937 Daily Herald 20 Feb. 11/3 (caption) Mrs.—..sampling a milk shake after she had opened a milk bar in Tottenham Court-road yesterday. 1952 ‘J. Tey’ Singing Sands xii. 196, I had a coupla bananas and a milk shake in Leicester Square. 1953 E. Taylor Sleeping Beauty xiii. 200 She saw herself translated to the Corner House, but to the same sundaes and parfaits and milk-shakes. 1968 Blues Unlimited Sept. 10 Joe worked in the kitchens at the Cafe six nights a week, pouring cokes and milk shakes. |
| 1881 *Milk-shield [see milk-escutcheon]. |
| 1885 Miss Murfree Prophet Gt. Smoky Mts. ii. 46 The bars of the *milk-sick pen. Ibid., She [a cow] lay down an' died o' the milk-sick. |
| 1834 C. F. Hoffman Winter in West (1835) II. 66, I passed a deserted village, the whole population of which had been destroyed by the ‘*milk sickness’. 1859 Bartlett Dict. Amer., Milk Sickness, a fatal spasmodic disease, peculiar to the Western States. |
| 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. IV. 530 These thickenings, which resemble the *milk-spots on the heart, are not [etc.]. |
| 1942 R.A.F. Jrnl. 13 June 32 ‘There you are, gentlemen,’ boomed a rich, *milk-stout voice. 1959 M. Gilbert Blood & Judgement i. 12 A lady..[was] addressing herself to a glass of milk stout. 1965 S. M. Tritton Tritton's Guide to Better Wine & Beer Making for Beginners 133 Milk Stout... Pour hot..water over the patent malt and stir in the flaked barley... Boil the hops in 2 pints of water... Dissolve sugar and lactose..and add to bulk. Follow by the yeast and ferment to completion. 1974 G. Mann Home Wine & Beer Making 99/1 Sweet, or milk, stout dark and sweet, but still with an underlying bitter twang. |
| 1846 Penny Cycl. Suppl. II. 635/2 *Milk-sugar is an integral constituent of the milk of the mammalia. |
| 1822–34 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) I. 30 *Milk teething. |
| 1855 Dunglison Med. Lex., Aphthæ... Thrush or sore mouth... White Thrush. *Milk Thrush. |
| 1870 Lubbock Orig. Civiliz. iii. (1875) 89 The symbol of adoption represented not the birth, but the *milk-tie. |
| 1855 J. R. Beste Wabash II. 260 Large platters of *milk toast. This delicacy is made of slices of toast, buttered and sprinkled with pepper and salt, and laid in a dish of warm milk, which serves as a sauce to the rest. 1903 K. D. Wiggin Rebecca xxiii. 258 She's just asked me for some milk-toast. |
| 1853 Knickerbocker XLII. 532 The ‘*milk-train’ still had the right of way. 1897 [see highball 2]. 1930 Wodehouse Very Good, Jeeves! ix. 251 Her intention was..to..leave by the next train, even if that train was a milk-train, stopping at every station. 1943 Hunt & Pringle Service Slang 46 The Milk Train, appropriate name for the modern ‘Dawn Patrol’ on early morning reconnaissance flights. 1955 Railway Mag. May 359/1 A daily milk train which was worked by the L.N.E.R. |
| 1877 Rep. Vermont Dairymen's Assoc. VIII. 106 The milk must be drawn by means of a catheter, or *milk tube. 1884 Bower & Scott tr. De Bary's Phaner. 198 The sharp difference of structure between the sieve- and milk-tubes is always particularly clear. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXV. 409/1 In one genus (Lactarius) ‘milk-tubes’, recalling the lactiferous tubes of many vascular plants, are found. |
| 14.. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 573/39 Coagulatorium, a *mylkefessell. 1566 in Peacock Eng. Ch. Furniture (1866) 41 He haith melted y{supt} [a ‘hallywater fatt’] and made mylke vessell thereof. 1855 Sir E. Smith in Syst. Nat. Hist. I. 29 Milk vessels from the stipules of the Ficus elastica. 1842 J. Aiton Dom. Econ. (1857) 210 He must examine..the calf itself,—its head, and above all, its milk-vessel and its teats. |
| 1805 Mod. London App., *Milk-Walks, that is, a certain proportion of neighbouring streets served by a particular person. 1851 H. Mayhew London Labour I. 435/2 My father had a milk-walk. c 1864 Brough & Halliday in M. R. Booth Eng. Plays of 19th Cent. (1973) IV. 240, I have a horse and cart, Miss Penelope, and a first-rate milk walk. 1905 G. B. Shaw in Grand Mag. Feb. 111 He..had..bought an agent's business as a doctor buys a practice or a dairyman a milkwalk. 1917 Wodehouse Man with Two Left Feet 247 He was..owner of a milk-walk in the most fashionable part of Battersea. |
| 1697 Kidder Horneck (1698) 53 He w{supd} sup with an Apple or two, with a little Bread, and small Ale, or *Milk-water. 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 365 To distill Milk Water. |
| 1555 Eden Decades 245 The parte of heauen cauled Via Lactea, that is the *mylke waye. 1593 G. Harvey New Let. Notable Cont. B, The ascending scale and Milk-way to heauenly excellency. |
| 1511 MS. Acc. St. John's Hosp., Canterb., Payd to þ⊇ *mylke wyffe for a hoole yere. |
| 1911 M. I. Newbigin Mod. Geogr. vii. 189 A *milk-wine or koumiss, produced by the fermentation of milk, is the characteristic drink. |
| 1642 Ord. & Declar. Ho. Parlt., Lord's Day 6 Or [that they suffer] any *milke-woman to cry milke on that day. 1879 F. R. Stockton Rudder Grange v. 56 She had spent the night in a wooden rocking-chair at the milk-woman's. |
b. Prefixed to names of plants, chiefly in the sense ‘containing milk’, as
milk-bush, (
a)
= milk-hedge; (
b) a milk-yielding shrub of the apocynaceous genus
Wrightia, native of India; (
c) a similar shrub,
Wrightia saligna, native of Queensland (Morris
Austral Eng. 1898); (
d) in South Africa and Australia, a name used for several shrubby plants, often succulent, which have a milky latex,
esp. various species of
Euphorbia (
cf. sense
a);
milk-grass = corn-salad;
milk-hedge, a shrub or small tree,
Euphorbia Tirucalli, native of Africa, and cultivated or naturalized in parts of India;
milk lentil = milkwort (?);
milk-parsley,
Peucedanum palustre;
milk pea, a prostrate leguminous plant of the genus
Galactia,
esp. G. glabella and
G. mollis, native of the warmer parts of America;
milk-plant, (
a) milk pea; (
b)
= milk-bush (d);
milk purslane,
Euphorbia maculata;
† milk-reed = spurge;
milk thistle, (
a)
= lady's thistle; (
b)
= sow-thistle;
milk-tree, (
a)
= milk-hedge; (
b) any tree yielding a wholesome milky juice,
esp. the
cow-tree; (
c) an apocynaceous tree,
Tanghinia venenifera, native of Madagascar, the poisonous seed of which is employed by the natives in trials by ordeal;
† milk-trefoil,
Medicago arborea;
milk-vetch, a plant of the leguminous genus
Astragalus;
milk-wood (tree), (
a) a Jamaican milk-yielding tree,
Pseudolmedia spuria; (
b) a species of
Bignonia; (
c) the Australian paper-bark tree,
Melaleuca leucadendron or other Australian trees of the genus
Alstonia; (
d) one of the sapotaceous ironwood trees,
Sideroxylon inerme, native of the Cape of Good Hope; (
e) a sapotaceous timber-tree,
Mimusops obovata, native of South Africa.
| 1780 Munro Narr. (1789) 80 Thorn hedges are sometimes placed in gardens; but in the fields the *milk bush is most commonly used. 1818 C. I. Latrobe Jrnl. Visit S. Afr. 1815–16 133 The milk-bush (ficus), a tree not unlike a Portugal laurel. 1861 J. A. Grant Jrnl. 27 May in Walk across Afr. (1864) v. 79 After we had entered the first milk-bush enclosure, there were several cleanly-swept windings. 1882 Floyer Unexpl. Baluchistan 15 Pitching the tent so as to enclose three large milk bushes. 1883 ‘R. Iron’ Story Afr. Farm I. i. 3 The milk-bushes with their long, finger-like leaves..were touched by a weird and an almost oppressive beauty as they lay in the white light. 1893 ‘R. Iron’ Dream Life 13 Jannita sat alone beside a milk-bush. 1907 Nature 17 Jan. 288/1 The common milkbush of the karroo and karroid regions of the interior, viz. Euphorbia mauritanica. 1926 [see caustic a. 1 e]. 1965 Austral. Encycl. VI. 84/1 Milkbush, a popular name for several shrubs or small trees with a milky sap, especially Wrightia saligna in the family Apocynaceæ. 1966 E. Palmer Plains of Camdeboo xvi. 259 The milk bush grows here, the Euphorbia mauritanica of botanists, with its long, smooth, fleshy, yellow-green stems. |
| 1744 in W. Ellis Mod. Husbandm. (1750) III. iii. xxi. 161 In June, at a Distance, the Fields look as if all covered with spilt Milk; which is from a Flower, for that reason called *Milk-Grass. |
| 1780 Munro Narr. (1789) 80 A horse will have his head and eyes prodigiously swelled from standing for some time under the shade of a *milk hedge. 1840 E. E. Napier Scenes & Sp. Foreign Lands II. vi. 183 The..green rows of the milk hedges. |
| 1787 tr. Linnæus' Fam. Plants I. 182 Selinum... *Milk Parsley. 1974 Country Life 3 Oct. 923/1 The double-brooding swallowtail..—from milk-parsley-eating caterpillar..to Britain's largest butterfly. |
| 1874 Gray Less. Bot. 142 Galactia.. *Milk-Pea. |
| 1845–50 A. H. Lincoln Lect. Bot. App. 104 Galactia mollis... *Milk plant. 1965 Austral. Encycl. VI. 84/1 Milk plant is sometimes applied to members of the genus Euphorbia. |
| 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Laictier, L'herbe laictiere. Tythimal, Spurge, *Milke-reed, Wolues-milke. |
| 14.. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 610/5 Scariola, the *mylkthystel. 1562 Turner Herbal ii. 146 Leucacantha..named in English milkthystel. 1787 W. Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 2) II. 875 Carduus marianus... Leaves with a net-work of white veins... Milk Thistle. Ladies Thistle. 1866 Treas. Bot. 1072 Sonchus oleraceus and S. asper or Milk Thistle. 1880 Britten & Holland Dict. Eng. Plant-Names 335 Milk Thistle... Sonchus oleraceus, L., in allusion to its milky juice. 1883 W. Robinson Eng. Flower Garden 270/2 If a few plants are raised in the garden and planted out in rough and somewhat bare places or banks, &c., the Milk Thistle will soon establish itself permanently. 1960 Oxf. Bk. Wild Flowers 34/1 Corn Sowthistle or Field Milk-thistle (Sonchus arvensis). A perennial with a hollow stem and milky juice. Ibid. 150/2 Milk Thistle (Silybum marianum). This rather rare annual or biennial Thistle has large, solitary, often drooping, purple flower-heads. |
| 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 105 The Hedges and Lanes are chiefly set with two sorts of Bushes, called by us *Milk-Trees. 1830 Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 214 A milk-tree called Hya-hya in Demerara. 1885 A. Brassey The Trades 112 The milk-tree (Tanghinia lactaria) yields a sap in colour and taste like milk, if drunk while fresh. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal iii. xi. 1121 Of *milke Trefoile, or shrub Trefoile. |
| Ibid. ii. cccccii. 1058 Of *milke Vetch. 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 319 Bastard Milk Vetch, Phaca. 1856 Mayne Expos. Lex., Milk-Vetch, Stemless. Common name for the Astragalus escapus. |
| 1725 Sloane Jamaica II. 21 *Milk-wood Tree. The bark of this tree being deeply gash'd yields a great quantity of milk. 1759 Miller Gard. Dict. (ed. 7) s.v. Bignonia, Tree Milkwood, having Pods, with five Leaves,..commonly called in America, White or Milkwood, and Tulip Flower. 1862 L. Pappe Silva Capensis (ed. 2) 24 Sideroxylon Inerme Lin. (Milk-wood; Melkhout)... Wood whitish, very hard, close, and durable. 1887 H. W. Daly Digging & Squatting 43 Ironbark trees, casuarinas, and the bright green milkwood tree grew here. 1889 J. H. Maiden Useful Native Plants Austral. 570 Melaleuca leucadendron... Called ‘Milkwood’ in the Northern Territory. 1907 T. R. Sim Forests & Forest Flora Cape Good Hope 252 Sideroxylon inerme. (White Milkwood;..). Ibid. 254 Mimusops obovata. (Red Milkwood;..). 1908 E. J. Banfield Confessions of Beachcomber i. i. 37 On Timana are gigantic milkwood trees (Alstonia scholaris) which need great flying buttresses to support their immense height. 1917 [see jakkalsbessie]. 1928 D. Cottrell Singing Gold III. i. 191 A thin ribbon of smoke showed against great milkwood trees. 1932 [see jakkalsbessie]. 1946 L. G. Green So Few are Free (1948) x. 137 Vaillant noted a large milkwood tree growing out of a rocky crevice. 1973 Palmer & Pitman Trees S. Afr. III. 1737 The wooden rails of the little railway on the Durban Bluff in the early days..were hewn out of milkwood trees. |
¶ 11. Used as
adj. = milkwhite.
rare—1.
| 1853 M. Arnold Sohrab & Rustum 162 That vast sky-neighbouring mountain of milk snow. |
▸
milk moustache n. colloq. a white residue left on the upper lip after drinking milk;
cf. moustache n. 1c.
| 1907 Pointer (Riverdale, Illinois) 5 July 3/3 Comparatively few children are taught how to drink in a well mannered way... ‘*Milk mustaches’ should be as reprehensible for children as for grown persons. 2004 Post-Standard (Syracuse, N.Y.) 28 Mar. b3/4 (advt.) Unlike a milk moustache, stress is not something we can wipe off with a napkin at the end of the day. |
▪ II. milk, n.2 Colloq. abbrev. of
milksop.
| 1881 Punch 10 Sept. 110/2 Patriotic? Well, them as talks Muggins like that to our gurls must be milks. 1923 in J. Manchon Le Slang. |
▪ III. milk, v. (
mɪlk)
Forms: 1
meolc(g)ian,
milcian,
mylcian (
Northumb. ᵹemilciᵹa), 3, 5, 7
milke, 4
melke, 4–6
mylke, 6
molke,
mylcke, 6–
milk.
[OE. milcian, meolcian, f. milc, meolc milk n.; cf. ON. miolka (OIcel. mjólka, molka, MSw. molka, Sw. mjölka, Da. malke). OE. had also the str. vb. melcan (mealc, molcen) inherited from OTeut. (see milk n.1); no clear traces of this have been found later than the OE. period; a solitary instance of molken pa. pple. occurs in 1527, but it translates the Ger. gemolken.] I. In literal sense.
1. a. trans. To extract milk by handling from the teats of (a cow, goat, ewe, etc., rarely, a woman). Also
absol. to milk the ram,
milk the bull:
fig. to engage in an enterprise doomed to failure. (
Cf. mulgeat hircos,
Virg. Ecl. iii. 91.)
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. III. 178 Hyt bið æac god ceap to milcian. a 1000 in Cockayne Shrine 130 Se ᵹeþyrsta mon meolcode ða hinde. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 351/230 Heo ne ȝaf a-morewe noþe lasse, þei heo were i-milked an eue. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 359 Olde wyfes..were i-woned..forto schape hem self in liknes of hares for to melke here neiȝhebores keen. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xviii. 10 An hynde oþer-while To hus selle selde cam and suffrede to be melked. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) vi. 71 For as meche as sche had to meche Mylk in hire Pappes,..sche mylked hem on the rede Stones. a 1450 Paston Lett. I. 98 He speke with wemen which were mylkand kyne. 1530 Palsgr. 636/1, I mylke a womans brest, je tire du laict dune femme. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. iii. i. 302 Speed. Inprimis She can milke. a 1656 Hales Tract Sacr. Tracts (1677) 40 That fell out which is in the common proverb, sc. Whilst the one milks the Ram, the other holds under the Sieve. 1718 Pope Let. to Lady M. W. Montagu 1 Sept., When she milked, it was his morning and evening charge to bring the cows to her pail. 1725 Ramsay Gentle Sheph. v. ii, To leave the green-sward dance when we gae milk. 1806 Med. Jrnl. XV. 382 This cow being troublesome..he had..milked her himself. |
b. To extract or draw (milk). Chiefly
pass.| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. lxv. (1495) 901 That mylke is beste that is next to the complexyon of mankynde:..And the nere it is mylked the better it is. 1527 Andrew Brunswyke's Distyll. Waters G iv, The mylke whiche is molken in the mornynge. 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) I. 196 If the same milk had been put into the milk-pans directly after it is milked. |
† c. To cause (milk) to flow. Also with
out.
| c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) ix. 36 And for scho had to mykill mylke in her pappes,..scho mylked it oute apon þe reed stanes. 1544 T. Phaer Regim. Lyfe (1560) A vij b, Also ye muste shave hys heade, and mylke theron womans mylke. |
† d. To obtain milk from by sucking.
Obs.| 1605 Shakes. Macb. i. vii. 55, I haue giuen Sucke, and know How tender 'tis to loue the Babe that milkes me. |
e. To keep (cattle) for the purpose of milking.
| 1898 Westm. Gaz. 4 Apr. 10/1 The largest farmer in England..milks at least a thousand cows. |
f. colloq. To put milk into or on to.
| 1877 Trans. Devon Soc. Adv. Sci. IX. 134 Have you milked your tea? 1969 J. Wainwright Big Tickle 52 She milked and sugared both mugs of tea. |
2. a. intr. To give or yield milk. In early use of women (?
= sense 3
absol.); now only of cattle.
| 971 Blickl. Hom. 93 Þa breost þa þe næfre meolcgende næron. c 1400 Rom. Rose 5418 For liche a moder she can cherishe And milken as doth a norys. 1765 Museum Rust. IV. 225 The eating of the first shoots of rye makes ewes milk extraordinarily. 1886 C. Scott Sheep Farming 178 Some of the breeds of sheep milk very heavily. |
† b. To eject milk.
Obs.| c 1450 Myrc Festial 110 Þerwyth [she] toke out hyr swete pappe, and mylked on hys þrote. |
† 3. trans. To suckle.
Obs.| 1382 Wyclif Isa. lx. 16 With the tete of kingis thou shalt be mylkid. c 1475 Partenay 6456 Glorius virgin..which milkest with-all The sone of god with thy brestes brod. 1573 L. Lloyd Pilgr. Princes (1607) 1 b, A Bitch..fedde him and milkt him. |
II. transf. and
fig. 4. a. trans. To drain away the contents of; to get money out of, ‘bleed’ pecuniarily; to exploit, turn into a source of (usually) illicit profit. In early use
const. from.
| c 1526 Frith Disp. Purg. To Rdr. A vj, This theyr painful purgatorye..hath of longe time but deceaued the people and mylked them from theyr monye. 1532 More Conf. Tindale Wks. 639/2 They mylke them so euaungelically, that when their maisters call theim home, they gyue theim a very shrewed rekening. 1537 Bible (Matthew) Ezek. xviii. Comm. (end), Or y{supt} the prestes benefyces were not sufficient for them to lyue on, with out soch pyllage: or yet that the pore people coulde by any other meane be mylcked from that thynge, wherwyth they, their wyues, their housholde and chyldren shulde lyue. 1591 Lyly Endym. iii. iii. 23 Loue hath as it were milkt my thoughts, and drained from my hart the very substance of my accustomed courage. 1695 Ventris Rep. (1716) II. 28 He would milk her Purse and fill his own large Pockets. 1721 Ramsay Prospect of Plenty 51 [Spain] grasps the shadows, but the substance tines, While a' the rest of Europe milk her mines. 1893 Saltus Madam Sapphira 204 ‘They have got something’, he would insist, ‘or else Tooth is milking his client’. 1904 Daily News 8 Oct. 6/2 It will be possible for the Department to ‘milk’ these grants as much as they like. |
| Comb. 1658 J. Jones Ovid's Ibis 41 Milk-purse Lawyers (so Erasmus termes them) are far more tolerable then Cut⁓purse tyrants. |
b. U.S. slang.
to milk the market,
street, to hold stock so well in hand as to make it fluctuate at will, and so yield any financial result desired.
| 1870 J. K. Medbery Men & Myst. Wall St. 336 To use the slang of the financial quarter, they ‘milk the street’. 1883 Harper's Mag. 820/2 The..process of ‘milking the market’. |
c. Horse-racing. (See
quot.)
| 1862 Times 2 Jan. 8/6 By such tricks as ‘milking’—i.e. by keeping a horse a favourite at short odds for a race in which he has no chance whatever, only to lay against him [etc.]. 1865 Hotten's Slang Dict. s.v. Milk... When a horse is entered for a race which his owner does not intend him to win, and bets against him, the animal is said to be ‘milked’. |
d. To ‘tap’, steal the message from (a telegraph or telephone wire); to intercept (a telegram).
| 1879 Prescott Sp. Telephone 108 The..simplicity of the means by which a wire could be milked..struck the whole of the party. 1899 Tit-Bits 3 June 185/1 ‘Milking’ telegrams..is a fairly common practice. |
e. Theatr. slang. (See
quots.)
| 1939 Hixson & Colodny Word Ways xvi. 142 To over-play an audience for applause is called milking the audience. 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §593/24 Milk a scene or the audience, to try to get more laughs or applause out of a part than it deserves. 1962 Times 15 May 13/3 Too many of the other acts, however, have no idea how to..milk a laugh. 1971 M. Babson Cover-up Story ix. 107 They milked the applause for all it was worth, then Bart held up his hand again. |
† 5. To ‘handle’ a person enticingly; to draw
on by wiles.
Obs.| 1623 Fletcher Rule a Wife ii. iv, All this is but in seeming To milke the lover on. |
6. a. To elicit, draw
out.
| a 1628 Preston New Cov. (1630) 477 To milke consolation out of the promises. 1662 W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. iii. 176 If ever you had but the sweetness of any one promise in it [sc. the water of life] milked out unto you. 1831 Mrs. Carlyle Early Lett. (1889) 189, I took nothing in hand the whole day but milking news from her (a rather rural metaphor), which she with unabating copiousness supplied. |
b. To drain
away,
out of.
| 1652 Needham tr. Selden's Mare Cl. Ep. Ded. 6 Hee never made any farther use of them than to milk away the Subjects monie under pretence of building Ships. 1891 C. E. Norton Dante's Purgat. xxiv. 152 Here it is not forbidden to name each other, since our semblance is so milked away by the diet. 1900 Kipling in Daily Mail 24 Apr. 4/4 Dysentery that milks the heart out of a man. |
7. To extract juice, virus, etc. from.
| 1746 Mass. Acts & Resolves (1878) III. 307 Any liberty obtained..from any Indian or Indians, for cutting off any timber, wood, hay, milking pine-trees,..shall not be any bar to said guardians in their said action or actions. 1871 R. Ellis tr. Catullus lxviii. 112 Strainer of ooze impure milk'd from a watery fen. 1896 Westm. Gaz. 31 Jan. 2/1 A large black snake..not milked for, say, eight days, will give as much as four and a half grains of liquid poison. |
8. To manipulate as one does the teat in milking.
| 1642 H. More Song of Soul i. ii. lxxxiii, He..with his fingers milked evermore The hanging frienge. 1905 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 1 July 16 The other loops of distended bowels may then be ‘milked’ between the rubber-covered fingers. |
† 9. nonce-use. To instil with the mother's milk.
| 1682 Dryden & Lee Dk. Guise iv. i. (1683) 39 You..milk'd slow Arts Of Womanish Tameness in my Infant Mouth. |