milkness Obs. exc. Sc. dial.
(ˈmɪlknɪs)
[f. milk n.1 + -ness.]
The aggregate yield of milk of a cow, ewe, etc., or of a dairy of milking cattle. Also milk and its products generally, dairy produce.
| 1492 Acta Dom. Concil. (1839) 289/2 The saidis personis sall..pay..for þe proffit of þe mylkness of þe said five ky [etc.]. Ibid., For þe proffit of þe mylknes of þe said iiijxx of ȝowis be þe said thre ȝeris xlviij stane of cheiss, price of þe stane ijs. 1536 Bellenden Cron. Scot. (1821) I. 46 The residew of the Scottis..debaitit thair miserabill liffis,..with scars and hard fude; levand, in the somer, on milknes,..and in the winter, of wild flesche of the montanis. 1674 in Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot. (1896) XXX. 19 At least ane stirk to be brought up betwixt each twa [cows], reserving to the said persones the milkness. 1678 Ibid. 21 Reserving ther milknes to the said Duncane. a 1774 Fergusson Drink Ecl. Poems (1845) 52 Crummie nae mair for Jenny's hand will crune Wi milkness dreepin' frae her teats adown. 1842 J. Aiton Dom. Econ. (1857) 89 Meat very soon communicates a taint to milkness in all its states of..preservation. |