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View synonyms for milk

milk

[ milk ]

noun

  1. an opaque white or bluish-white liquid secreted by the mammary glands of female mammals, serving for the nourishment of their young.
  2. this liquid as secreted by cows, goats, or certain other animals and used by humans for food or as a source of butter, cheeses, yogurt, etc.
  3. a glass, carton, etc., of cow's milk:

    We ordered two milks for the children.

  4. any liquid resembling the milk of animals, as the liquid within a coconut, the juice or sap of certain plants, or various pharmaceutical or cosmetic preparations: a gentle cleansing milk for your skin.

    the milk of the rubber tree;

    a gentle cleansing milk for your skin.

  5. a whitish, potable liquid made of ground nuts, legumes, seeds, or grain blended with water and often a sweetener, used especially as a substitute for dairy milk, its main ingredient as specified: almond milk; rice milk.

    nut milks;

    almond milk;

    oat milk;

    rice milk.



verb (used with object)

  1. to press or draw milk from the udder or breast of.
  2. to get something from, especially in a way that exploits or defrauds:

    The swindler milked her of all her savings.

  3. to elicit or draw out a response from someone: The interview was an attempt to milk some sympathy out of what should have been a private tragedy.

    He knows how to milk an audience for laughs.

    The interview was an attempt to milk some sympathy out of what should have been a private tragedy.

  4. to extract with effort as if by milking; squeeze:

    He always has to milk the last bit of toothpaste from the tube.

    She tried to milk a few more billable hours out of the contract.

verb (used without object)

  1. to yield milk, as a cow:

    We called the vet when two of our Holsteins suddenly stopped milking.

  2. to milk a cow or other mammal.

milk

/ mɪlk /

noun

    1. a whitish nutritious fluid produced and secreted by the mammary glands of mature female mammals and used for feeding their young until weaned
    2. the milk of cows, goats, or other animals used by man as a food or in the production of butter, cheese, etc lacteallactic
  1. any similar fluid in plants, such as the juice of a coconut
  2. any of various milklike pharmaceutical preparations, such as milk of magnesia
  3. cry over spilt milk
    cry over spilt milk to lament something that cannot be altered


verb

  1. to draw milk from the udder of (a cow, goat, or other animal)
  2. intr (of cows, goats, or other animals) to yield milk
  3. tr to draw off or tap in small quantities

    to milk the petty cash

  4. tr to extract as much money, help, etc, as possible from

    to milk a situation of its news value

  5. tr to extract venom, sap, etc, from

milk

/ mĭlk /

  1. A white liquid produced by the mammary glands of female mammals for feeding their young beginning immediately after birth. Milk is an emulsion of proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, and sugars, especially lactose, in water. The proteins in milk contain all the essential amino acids.


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Other Words From

  • milk·less adjective
  • o·ver·milk verb
  • un·milked adjective
  • well-milked adjective

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Word History and Origins

Origin of milk1

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English meol(o)ic, (Anglian) milc; cognate with German Milch, Old Norse mjōlk, Gothic miluks; akin to Latin mulgēre, Greek amélgein “to milk”

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Word History and Origins

Origin of milk1

Old English milc; compare Old Saxon miluk, Old High German miluh, Old Norse mjolk

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Idioms and Phrases

Idioms
  1. cry over spilled / spilt milk, to lament what cannot be changed or corrected; express sorrow for past actions or events:

    Crying over spilled milk will do you no good now.

More idioms and phrases containing milk

In addition to the idiom beginning with milk , also see cry over spilt milk .

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Example Sentences

According to Van Eenennaam, the number of dairy cows in the United States decreased from around 25 million in the 1940s to around 9 million in 2007, while milk production has increased by nearly 60 percent.

Last week, the oat milk company raised $200mm at a $2bn valuation.

From Digiday

Of course, these milk samples might feel different in the mouth.

For producers, that creates a milk glut — at least until the supply chain can be reconfigured.

Without lactase, their bodies can’t properly digest the sugar found in milk.

And, with Coca-Cola announcing the launch of a new milk product, the beverage could be back in our hands before we know it.

He would shake a chilled Coke, and then spray the soda into a cold glass of milk.

Warm milk mixed with a spoonful of fireplace ashes seemed to also be popular among 19th century England.

Tosi has been using cereal milk as a flavor ever since 2007, and she says it taps into a universal “memory sensor.”

You can even buy containers of their Cereal Milk in select stores.

And right after that, some nice sour milk would come splashing down into the trough of the pen.

As soon as he was in it Squinty ran over to the trough, hoping there would be some sour milk in it.

He watched the man put some bread and milk in a tin pan, and set it down on the floor of the basket.

"Getting back home," answered Squinty, as he took a big drink of sour milk.

And Squinty thought acorns were just the best things he had ever tasted, except apples, and potatoes or perhaps sour milk.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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