▪ I. dairy, n.
(ˈdɛərɪ)
Forms: 3 deierie, 4 dayerie, dayry, 5 deyery, deyry, 6 deirie, dary, pl. deyris, dayres, 6–7 deyrie, dayery(e, dery, dayrie, dairie, 7 daery, darie, dayry, 7– dairy.
[ME. deierie, etc., f. deie, deye, dey female servant, dairy-maid + -erie, -ery 2, suffix of Romanic origin. The dai-ry is thus the place where the function of the dey is performed: cf. dey-woman, -house.]
1. a. A room or building in which milk and cream are kept, and made into butter and cheese. b. Sometimes in towns the name is assumed by a shop in which milk, cream, etc. are sold.
| c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 192/14 Hire deierie was euere of chese and botere bar and swiþe lene. Ibid., For þare nas in þe deierie nouȝt adel of none ȝwite. c 1386 Chaucer Wife's T. 15 Thropes, beernys, shipnes, dayrys. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 117 Deyrye, vaccaria. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. (1586) 3 As my Foldes..or my Dayrie and Fishpondes wyl yeelde. 1621 B. Jonson Gipsies Metamorph. Wks. (Rtldg.) 624/1 To Roger or Mary Or Peg of the dairy. 1727–46 Thomson Summer 262 Some [insects] to the house, The fold, and dairy, hungry, bend their flight. 1837 Howitt Rur. Life vi. i. 402 The elegant dairy for the supply of milk and cream, curds and butter. |
2. That department of farming, or of a particular farm, which is concerned with the production of milk, butter, and cheese. Hence, sometimes applied to the milch cows on a farm collectively.
| c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 597 His lordes scheep, his meet, and his dayerie, His swyn, his hors, his stoor, and his pultrie, Was holly in this reeves governynge. 1673 Temple Trade in Ireland Wks. 1773 III. 22 Grounds were turned much in England from breeding either to feeding or dairy. 1779 H. Swinburne Spain xxxviii. (R.), The large dairy of cows established here by the present king. 1814 Jane West A. de Lacy III. 238 The..troopers..drove off our good cow-dairy. 1882 Somerset Co. Gaz. 18 Mar., Dairy of 12 or 16 cows to be let. 1888 Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk., Dairy, the milking cows belonging to any farm or house. |
3. A dairy-farm.
| 1562 T. Phaer æneid. ix. A a ij b, Stormy showres and winds about mens deiries houling. 1594 Norden Spec. Brit., Essex (Camden) 8 In Tendring hundred wher are manie wickes or dayries. a 1661 Fuller Worthies ii. 144 The Goodnesse of the Earth, abounding with Deries and Pasture. 1769 De Foe's Tour Gt. Brit. II. 41 All the lower Part of this County..is full of large feeding Farms, which we call Dairies; and the Cheese they make is excellent. |
4. attrib. and
Comb., as
dairy-cabin,
dairy-country,
dairy cow,
dairy-damsel,
dairy-pail,
dairy produce,
dairy-society,
dairy-ware,
dairy-wench,
dairy-wife,
dairy-work, etc.;
dairy-fed adj.;
dairy butter, butter made at a private dairy;
dairy cream, real cream as distinct from synthetic cream;
dairy factory chiefly
N.Z., a factory with plant for the conversion of milk into butter or cheese;
dairy-farm, a farm chiefly devoted to the production of milk, butter, and cheese; so
dairy-farmer,
-farming;
dairy-grounds, cow-pastures;
dairy herd, a herd of milch-cows;
dairy-school, a technical school for teaching dairy-work or dairy-farming;
dairy shorthorn, a shorthorn bred primarily to yield milk;
dairy-woman, a woman who manages a dairy.
| 1874 U.S. Dept. Agric. Rep. 1873 250 During 1873,..‘good *dairy’ butter touched 40 cents as its highest extreme. |
| 1797 Mrs. Radcliffe Italian xiii, It was a *dairy-cabin belonging to some shepherds. |
| 1626 Bacon Sylva §354 Children in *Dayrie Countries doe waxe more tall, than where they feed more upon Bread, and Flesh. |
| 1656 R. Verney in M. M. Verney Mem. (1894) III. viii. 271, 4 *Dairy Cowes..13 draught Bullocks. c 1830 Farm-Rep. Glouc. Hill-Farm 17 in Brit. Husbandry (1840) III, The twenty heifer-calves are bred to keep up the stock of dairy-cows. 1963 A. Clarke Coll. Plays 291 A thousand Shorthorns and half as many dairy cows Are hers. |
| 1962 L. Deighton Ipcress File ii. 19 The notice that told customers not to expect *dairy cream in their pastries. 1970 Harrod's Summer Food News (back cover), Fresh dairy cream, fresh eggs, pure sugar, fresh milk, and natural flavourings are used to produce these wonderful ice creams. |
| 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xli, The yet more considerate *dairy-damsel. |
| 1888 J. P. Dowling Dairying in Australia iv. 19 *Dairy Factories—Co-operative and otherwise. 1888 R. M. McCallum Rep. Dairy Factories in N.Z. 5, I have inspected a number of the dairy factories in the colony. 1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Jan. 21/3 There are two dairy factories in the area, a butter factory at Wairoa and a cheese factory at Nuhaka. 1959 A. McLintock Descr. Atlas N.Z. 57 Dairy factories are in the main owned cooperatively by the farmers. |
| 1784 J. Twamley Dairying 93 There is no branch in Husbandry seems of more importance..than the conducting and managing of *Dairy-farms. 1807 A. Young Agric. Essex II. 270 Dairy farms at Bumpstead and Hempstead, with much more grass than arable. 1895 U.S. Dept. Agric. Yearbk. 1894 295 The dairy farm should be carefully selected, all the requirements of the business being well considered. |
| 1790 W. H. Marshall Rural Econ. Midl. Counties I. 354 A *dairy farmer declares, that, one year, he lost forty pounds, by the mismanagement of his dairywoman. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. ix, To employ them as a dairy-farmer, or cowfeeder, as they are called in Scotland. 1906 Westm. Gaz. 10 Oct., People often ask why English dairy-farmers have not adopted the co-operative methods. |
| 1831 Lincoln Herald 21 Oct. 1/1 For *dairy-fed porkers the price is at 4s to 5s. 1842 S. Lover Handy Andy x, I've seen them in England killing your dairy-fed pork. 1961 Guardian 28 Apr. 6/6 An organised..sales programme..for dairy fed meat and poultry. |
| a 1618 Sylvester Hymn of Alms 131 His douns with Sheep, his *daery-grounds w{supt}{suph} Neat. |
| 1879 J. P. Sheldon Dairy Farming i. 5/2 Whilst a cow is kept in the *dairy herd. 1928 Daily Express 3 Feb. 5/2 Instruction is given in the management of small dairy herds. |
| 1818 Keats Endym. i. 44 The *dairy pails Bring home increase of milk. |
| 1530 Palsgr 212/1 *Dayrie place, meterie. |
| 1842 Ainsworth's Mag. I. 44 The sale of *dairy produce at the market town. 1930 T. S. Eliot tr. St. J. Perse's Anabasis 59 The Stranger..honoured with gifts of dairy produce and fruit. |
| 1893 Queen 25 Mar. 278/2 They will..establish *dairy schools all over England. |
| 1932 Discovery Feb. 58/2 Indeed with the most important of English breeds—the *dairy shorthorn—the quality of calves when they enter the dairy herd seems still largely a matter of chance. 1957 Encycl. Brit. V. 47/1 Strains of Shorthorns have been selected for milk and butterfat production, as well as beef, and in the United States are called Milking Shorthorns; in Canada, Dual-Purpose Shorthorns; in England and Australia, Dairy Shorthorns. |
| 1890 Farmer's Gaz. 4 Jan. 5/2 The numerous *dairy societies in America. |
| 1727 Philip Quarll (1816) 61 Having a store of *dairy ware, he resolved to make a place to keep it in: the kitchen..not being a proper place for cream and milk. |
| 1684 Otway Atheist v. i, The *Dairy-Wench or Chamber-maid. |
| 1798 Bloomfield Farmer's Boy, Spring 251 Suffolk *dairy-wives run mad for cream. |
| 1609 Ev. Woman in Hum. i. in Bullen O. Pl. IV, I shall goe to court now, and attired like an old *Darie woman. 1841 M. L. Hawthorne in Hawthorne & Wife (1885) I. 230 Bring us home a box of butter, if your dairy-woman is very nice. |
| 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) III. ix. 67, I have..admired them in their *dairy-works. 1890 Farmer's Gaz. 4 Jan. 5/2 As a specialist in dairy work. |
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orig. U.S. Foodstuffs containing or derived from milk, considered collectively.
| 1948 Zanesville (Ohio) Signal 18 Dec. 1/1 Views on the food outlook for next year were expressed by officials in all lines of food including meat, dairy, poultry, fruit and groceries. 1952 M. Zborowski & E. Herzog Life is with People (1955) 253 The food wasn't too good and we could only eat dairy there. 1994 Spotlight (Slave Lake, Alberta) 6 July a4/1 (advt.) It's like ice cream but contains no dairy. 2003 Scotsman (Nexis) 10 May 27 For the dedicated veggie who also eschews the evils of eggs and dairy, however, a vegan restaurant is a rare godsend. |
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dairy-free adj. that does not contain milk or products derived from milk.
| 1983 Washington Post 24 July k4/2 It's a *dairy-free product (for kosher kitchens or for those with lactose intolerance). 1988 Health Express Mar. 5/3 Much of the carob available is dairy-free, an added bonus for those who are keen to avoid dairy products. 1997 Daily Tel. 9 May 20/2 A dairy-free diet had no effect, but removing the carpet in his bedroom and replacing it with lino coincided with a marked improvement in both the asthma and eczema. |
▪ II. ˈdairy, v. rare.
[f. dairy n.] trans. To keep or feed (cows) for the dairy.
| 1780 A. Young Tour Irel. II. 142 The cattle system is generally dairying Cows. 1805 J. Luccock Nat. Wool 245 Those [lands] of a stiffer quality are employed in the dairying of cows. |