Adjacent Words

Milk definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

MILK, n.
1. A white fluid or liquor, secreted by certain glands in female animals, and drawn from the breasts for the nourishment of their young.
2. The white juice of certain plants.
3. Emulsion made by bruising seeds.
MILK, v.t. [L. mulgeo.]
1. To draw or press milk from the breasts by the hand, as, to milk a cow.
2. To suck. [Not used.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a white nutritious liquid secreted by mammals and used as food by human beings
2: produced by mammary glands of female mammals for feeding their young
3: a river that rises in the Rockies in northwestern Montana and flows eastward to become a tributary of the Missouri River [syn: Milk, Milk River]
4: any of several nutritive milklike liquids v
1: take milk from female mammals; "Cows need to be milked every morning"
2: exploit as much as possible; "I am milking this for all it's worth"
3: add milk to; "milk the tea"

Merriam Webster's

geographical name river 625 miles (1006 kilometers) Canada & United States in Alberta & Montana flowing SE into Missouri River

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Old English meolc, milc; akin to Old High German miluh milk, Old English melcan to milk — more at emulsion Date: before 12th century 1. a. a fluid secreted by the mammary glands of females for the nourishment of their young; especially cow's milk used as a food by humans b. lactation <cows in milk> 2. a liquid resembling milk in appearance: as a. the latex of a plant b. the juice of a coconut composed of liquid endosperm c. the contents of an unripe kernel of grain II. verb Date: before 12th century transitive verb 1. a. (1) to draw milk from the breasts or udder of (2) obsolete suckle 2 b. to draw (milk) from the breast or udder c. suckle 1 — used of domestic animals 2. to draw something from as if by milking: as a. to induce (a snake) to eject venom b. to draw or coerce profit or advantage from illicitly or to an extreme degree ; exploit <milk the joke for all it's worth> intransitive verb to draw or yield milk III. adjective Date: 14th century giving milk; specifically bred or suitable primarily for milk production <milk cows>

Britannica Concise

Liquid secreted by the mammary glands of female mammals to nourish their young. The milk of domesticated animals is also an important food source for humans. Most milk consumed in Western countries is from the cow; sources important elsewhere include the sheep, goat, water buffalo, and camel. Milk is essentially an emulsion of fat and protein in water, along with dissolved sugar, minerals (incl. calcium and phosphorus), and vitamins (particularly vitamin B complex); commercial cow's milk is commonly enriched with vitamins A and D. Many countries require pasteurization to protect against naturally occurring and artificially introduced microorganisms. Cooling further prevents spoilage (souring and curdling). Fat from whole milk (about 3.5% fat content) can be removed in a separator to produce cream and leave low-fat milk (1-2% fat) or skim milk (0.5% fat). Commercially sold milk is usually homogenized, forced under high pressure through small openings to distribute the fat evenly. It may also be condensed or dehydrated for preservation and ease of transport. Other dairy products include butter, cheese, and yogurt.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 an opaque white fluid secreted by female mammals for the nourishment of their young. 2 the milk of cows, goats, or sheep as food. 3 the milklike juice of plants, e.g. in the coconut. 4 a milklike preparation of herbs, drugs, etc. --v.tr. 1 draw milk from (a cow, ewe, goat, etc.). 2 a exploit (a person) esp. financially. b get all possible advantage from (a situation). 3 extract sap, venom, etc. from. 4 sl. tap (telegraph or telephone wires etc.). Phrases and idioms: cry over spilt milk lament an irremediable loss or error. in milk secreting milk. milk and honey abundant means of prosperity. milk and water a feeble or insipid or mawkish discourse or sentiment. milk bar a snack bar selling milk drinks and other refreshments. milk chocolate chocolate for eating, made with milk. milk float Brit. a small usu. electric vehicle used in delivering milk. milk-leg a painful swelling, esp. of the legs, after childbirth. milk-loaf a loaf of bread made with milk. milk of human kindness kindness regarded as natural to humanity. Milk of Magnesia Brit. propr. a white suspension of magnesium hydroxide usu. in water as an antacid or laxative. milk of sulphur the amorphous powder of sulphur formed by precipitation. milk-powder milk dehydrated by evaporation. milk pudding a pudding of rice, sago, tapioca, etc., baked with milk in a dish. milk round 1 a fixed route on which milk is delivered regularly. 2 a regular trip or tour involving calls at several places. milk run a routine expedition or service journey. milk shake a drink of milk, flavouring, etc., mixed by shaking or whisking. milk sugar lactose. milk tooth a temporary tooth in young mammals. milk-vetch any leguminous yellow-flowered plant of the genus Astragalus. milk-white white like milk. Derivatives: milker n. Etymology: OE milc, milcian f. Gmc

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Milk Milk, n. [AS. meoluc, meoloc, meolc, milc; akin to OFries. meloc, D. melk, G. milch, OHG. miluh, Icel. mj?ok, Sw. mj["o]lk, Dan. melk, Goth. miluks, G. melken to milk, OHG. melchan, Lith. milszti, L. mulgere, Gr. ?. ????. Cf. Milch, Emulsion, Milt soft roe of fishes.] 1. (Physiol.) A white fluid secreted by the mammary glands of female mammals for the nourishment of their young, consisting of minute globules of fat suspended in a solution of casein, albumin, milk sugar, and inorganic salts. ``White as morne milk.'' --Chaucer. 2. (Bot.) A kind of juice or sap, usually white in color, found in certain plants; latex. See Latex. 3. An emulsion made by bruising seeds; as, the milk of almonds, produced by pounding almonds with sugar and water. 4. (Zo["o]l.) The ripe, undischarged spat of an oyster. Condensed milk. See under Condense, v. t. Milk crust (Med.), vesicular eczema occurring on the face and scalp of nursing infants. See Eczema. Milk fever. (a) (Med.) A fever which accompanies or precedes the first lactation. It is usually transitory. (b) (Vet. Surg.) A form puerperal peritonitis in cattle; also, a variety of meningitis occurring in cows after calving. Milk glass, glass having a milky appearance. Milk knot (Med.), a hard lump forming in the breast of a nursing woman, due to obstruction to the flow of milk and congestion of the mammary glands. Milk leg (Med.), a swollen condition of the leg, usually in puerperal women, caused by an inflammation of veins, and characterized by a white appearance occasioned by an accumulation of serum and sometimes of pus in the cellular tissue. Milk meats, food made from milk, as butter and cheese. [Obs.] --Bailey. Milk mirror. Same as Escutcheon, 2. Milk molar (Anat.), one of the deciduous molar teeth which are shed and replaced by the premolars. Milk of lime (Chem.), a watery emulsion of calcium hydrate, produced by macerating quicklime in water. Milk parsley (Bot.), an umbelliferous plant (Peucedanum palustre) of Europe and Asia, having a milky juice. Milk pea (Bot.), a genus (Galactia) of leguminous and, usually, twining plants. Milk sickness (Med.), a peculiar malignant disease, occurring in some parts of the Western United States, and affecting certain kinds of farm stock (esp. cows), and persons who make use of the meat or dairy products of infected cattle. Its chief symptoms in man are uncontrollable vomiting, obstinate constipation, pain, and muscular tremors. Its origin in cattle has been variously ascribed to the presence of certain plants in their food, and to polluted drinking water. Milk snake (Zo["o]l.), a harmless American snake (Ophibolus triangulus, or O. eximius). It is variously marked with white, gray, and red. Called also milk adder, chicken snake, house snake, etc. Milk sugar. (Physiol. Chem.) See Lactose, and Sugar of milk (below). Milk thistle (Bot.), an esculent European thistle (Silybum marianum), having the veins of its leaves of a milky whiteness. Milk thrush. (Med.) See Thrush. Milk tooth (Anat.), one of the temporary first set of teeth in young mammals; in man there are twenty. Milk tree (Bot.), a tree yielding a milky juice, as the cow tree of South America (Brosimum Galactodendron), and the Euphorbia balsamifera of the Canaries, the milk of both of which is wholesome food. Milk vessel (Bot.), a special cell in the inner bark of a plant, or a series of cells, in which the milky juice is contained. See Latex. Rock milk. See Agaric mineral, under Agaric. Sugar of milk. The sugar characteristic of milk; a hard white crystalline slightly sweet substance obtained by evaporation of the whey of milk. It is used in pellets and powder as a vehicle for homeopathic medicines, and as an article of diet. See Lactose.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Milk Milk, v. i. To draw or to yield milk.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Milk Milk, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Milked; p. pr. & vb. n. Milking.] 1. To draw or press milk from the breasts or udder of, by the hand or mouth; to withdraw the milk of. ``Milking the kine.'' --Gay. I have given suck, and know How tender 't is to love the babe that milks me. --Shak. 2. To draw from the breasts or udder; to extract, as milk; as, to milk wholesome milk from healthy cows. 3. To draw anything from, as if by milking; to compel to yield profit or advantage; to plunder. --Tyndale. They [the lawyers] milk an unfortunate estate as regularly as a dairyman does his stock. --London Spectator. To milk the street, to squeeze the smaller operators in stocks and extract a profit from them, by alternately raising and depressing prices within a short range; -- said of the large dealers. [Cant] To milk a telegram, to use for one's own advantage the contents of a telegram belonging to another person. [Cant]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Milk Milk, v. i. 1. To draw or to yield milk. 2. (Elec.) To give off small gas bubbles during the final part of the charging operation; -- said of a storage battery.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(milks, milking, milked) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. Milk is the white liquid produced by cows, goats, and some other animals, which people drink and use to make butter, cheese, and yoghurt. He popped out to buy a pint of milk. ...basic foods such as meat, bread and milk. 2. If someone milks a cow or goat, they get milk from it, using either their hands or a machine. Farm-workers milked cows by hand. VERB: V n 3. Milk is the white liquid produced by women to feed their babies. Milk from the mother's breast is a perfect food for the human baby. 4. Liquid products for cleaning your skin or making it softer are sometimes referred to as milks. ...sales of cleansing milks, creams and gels. = lotion N-MASS 5. If you say that someone milks something, you mean that they get as much benefit or profit as they can from it, without caring about the effects this has on other people. A few people tried to milk the insurance companies... The callous couple milked money from a hospital charity to fund a lavish lifestyle. VERB: V n, V n from n [disapproval] 6. see also coconut milk, condensed milk, evaporated milk, skimmed milk

Easton's Bible Dictionary

(1.) Hebrew halabh, "new milk", milk in its fresh state (Judg. 4:19). It is frequently mentioned in connection with honey (Ex. 3:8; 13:5; Josh. 5:6; Isa. 7:15, 22; Jer. 11:5). Sheep (Deut. 32:14) and goats (Prov. 27:27) and camels (Gen. 32:15), as well as cows, are made to give their milk for the use of man. Milk is used figuratively as a sign of abundance (Gen. 49:12; Ezek. 25:4; Joel 3:18). It is also a symbol of the rudiments of doctrine (1 Cor. 3:2; Heb. 5:12, 13), and of the unadulterated word of God (1 Pet. 2:2).

(2.) Heb. hem'ah, always rendered "butter" in the Authorized Version. It means "butter," but also more frequently "cream," or perhaps, as some think, "curdled milk," such as that which Abraham set before the angels (Gen. 18:8), and which Jael gave to Sisera (Judg. 5:25). In this state milk was used by travellers (2 Sam. 17:29). If kept long enough, it acquired a slightly intoxicating or soporific power.

This Hebrew word is also sometimes used for milk in general (Deut. 32:14; Job 20:17).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

milk (chalabh; gala; Latin lac (2 Esdras 2:19; 8:10)): The fluid secreted by the mammary glands of female mammals for the nourishment of their young. The word is used in the Bible of that of human beings (Isa 28:9) as well as of that of the lower animals (Ex 23:19). As a food it ranked next in importance to bread (Ecclesiasticus 39:26). Palestine is frequently described as a land "flowing with milk and honey" (Ex 3:8,17; Nu 13:27; De 6:3; Jos 5:6; Jer 11:5; Eze 20:6,15). Milk was among the first things set before the weary traveler (Ge 18:8). In fact, it was considered a luxury (Jud 5:25; So 5:1). The people used the milk of kine and also that of sheep (De 32:14), and especially that of goats (Pr 27:27). It was received in pails ('atinim, Job 21:24), and kept in leather bottles (no'dh, Jud 4:19), where it turned sour quickly in the warm climate of Palestine before being poured out thickly like a melting substance (nathakh; compare Job 10:10). Cheese of various kinds was made from it (gebhinah and charitse he-chalabh, literally, "cuts of milk"); or the curds (chem'ah) were eaten with bread, and possibly also made into butter by churning (Pr 30:33). See FOOD, II. It is possible that milk was used for seething other substances; at least the Israelites were strictly forbidden to seethe a kid in its mother's milk (Ex 23:19; 34:26; De 14:21), and by a very general interpretation of these passages Jews have come to abstain from the use of mixtures of meat and milk of all kinds.

Figuratively the word is used

(1) of abundance (Ge 49:12);

(2) of a loved one's charms (So 4:11);

(3) of blessings (Isa 55:1; Joe 3:18);

(4) of the (spiritual) food of immature people (1Co 3:2; Heb 5:12,13);

(5) of purity (1Pe 2:2).

Nathan Isaacs

Moby Thesaurus

abridge, abuse, alabaster, bed, bed down, bereave, beverage, bleed, bleed white, blood, break, bridle, broach, brush, butter, buttermilk, certified milk, chalk, cheese, chyle, colostrum, condensed milk, cream, curry, currycomb, curtail, cut off, dairy products, decant, declaim, denude, deplume, deprive, deprive of, despoil, discharge, disentitle, displume, divest, draft, draft off, drain, draw, draw from, draw off, draw out, drench, drink, driven snow, dry, ease one of, elicit, empty, evince, evoke, exact, exhaust, exploit, extort, extract, feed, flay, fleece, flour, fluid, fluid extract, fluid mechanics, foam, fodder, gentle, ghee, gleet, grimace, groom, half-and-half, ham, ham it up, handle, harness, heavy cream, hitch, humor, hydraulics, hydrogeology, ichor, ill-use, impose upon, impoverish, ivory, juice, lachryma, lactation, lacteal, lacteous, lactescent, lactic, lactiferous, latex, let, let blood, let out, leukorrhea, light cream, lighten one of, lily, liquid, liquid extract, liquor, litter, lymph, maggot, make use of, manage, manipulate, margarine, matter, milch, milky, mine, misuse, mucor, mucus, mug, mulct, nonfat dry milk, oleo, oleomargarine, out-herod Herod, overact, overdramatize, paper, pearl, peccant humor, phlebotomize, phlegm, pick clean, pipette, play on, pluck, presume upon, pump, pump out, purulence, pus, rant, raw milk, rheum, roar, rook, rub down, saddle, saliva, sanies, sap, semiliquid, serous fluid, serum, shear, sheet, silver, siphon off, skim milk, skin, snot, snow, sour cream, spout, stick, strip, strip bare, stroke, suck, suck dry, suck out, suppuration, swan, sweat, take advantage of, take away from, take from, tame, tap, tear, teardrop, tend, the whites, throw away, train, underact, urine, use, use ill, venesect, water, whey, whipping cream, withdraw, work on, work upon, wring, yogurt, yoke