‖ colostrum Med.
(kəˈlɒstrəm)
Also 6–7 -a.
[L. colostrum (also colostra fem. sing., and neuter pl.)]
The first milk secreted by a mammal after parturition; the ‘beestings’ or ‘green milk’.
| 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iii. (1586) 139 b, You must be sure to milke out the first milke called Colostra..for this, except some quantity be drawen out, doth hurt the Lambe. 1598 Florio, Colostra, the first milke that commeth in the teates after a birth in woman or beast. 1839 Todd Cycl. Anat. III. 360/2 Colostrum..differs somewhat from ordinary milk. 1876 Foster Phys. ii. v. (1879) 398 The colostrum, or secretion of the mammary gland at the beginning of lactation. |
b. attrib. and Comb., as colostrum-corpuscle, colostrum-globule, etc.
| 1874 A. Flint Phys. Man III. 104 A moderate quantity of colostrum, containing..milk-globules and a number of colostrum-corpuscles. 1882 Syd. Soc. Lex., Colostrum corpuscles, are leucocytes or small masses of protoplasm, which appear to be the secreting cells of the gland. |
Hence coˈlostric a. [cf. F. colostrique], of or pertaining to the colostrum. coˈlostrous a., having colostrum, full of colostrum.
| 1860 Mayne Expos. Lex., Colostric Fluid..popularly termed green milk. Ibid., Colostrous. 1882 Syd. Soc. Lex. |