milk
Pluralmilks (some meanings)
Pluralmilks (some meanings)
- 1A white liquid produced by the mammary glands of female mammals to nourish their young; from cows especially, it is a common human food and drink and the base for butter, cheese, and yogurt.
She buys whole milk because she prefers its richer taste.
The dairy turns most of its milk into cheese and butter.
UsageFor an amount, say some milk or a glass of milk.
Note
Its synonyms dairy milk and cowmilk are clarifying labels rather than everyday words. Speakers reach for them when the plant-based kind is also on the table and plain milk might be ambiguous.
- 2A white or off-white liquid made from soybeans, oats, rice, almonds, coconuts, or another plant source.
He pours soy milk over his cereal because dairy upsets his stomach.
Pressed from grated coconut flesh, this milk thickens many curries.
UsageUsually named by its source: oat milk, soy milk, almond milk.
Note
A meaning won by extension from the dairy liquid, and one not everyone grants. Alexandra Spring's 2018 article sets 'Milk' in scare quotes, and Annette McGivney calls almond milk a "milk substitute". The respellings mylk and m*lk mark the difference on the page. Plant milk and non-dairy milk are the plain descriptive labels.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- The plant-liquid meaning developed by extension from dairy milk. en.wiktionary.org
- Alexandra Spring's 2018 article puts Milk in quotation marks in its headline. theguardian.com
- McGivney calls almond milk a milk substitute. theguardian.com
- 3To draw milk from a cow or other mammal, by hand or machine; also, to draw another liquid such as venom from an animal.
The herder milks each ewe by hand in the mountain pasture.
Volunteers learned to milk the dairy cows during their farm stay.
Note
Shakespeare's Macbeth turns the roles round with "the Babe that milkes me": there the suckling child does the milking, and the mother is the one milked.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Shakespeare's Macbeth contains the exact words quoted. firstfolio.bodleian.ox.ac.uk
- Lady Macbeth describes a suckling child extracting milk from her. firstfolio.bodleian.ox.ac.uk
- 4A single serving or small portion of milk, such as a glass ordered or a creamer for coffee or tea.
Each kid grabbed one of the little milks from the cooler beside the sandwiches.
Grab a milk from the cooler before you sit down.
Less common meanings
- 5To make excessive use of something (a point, a source of money, or an advantage) in order to get the most out of it.
The studio milked the franchise with sequel after sequel.
Consultants know how to milk a vague contract for extra fees.
UsageOften milk something for all it's worth, or simply milk it.
Similarexploit, squeeze, bleed, drain
Note
The dairy picture is still visible in the figurative verb. The Spectator in 1877 has lawyers who "milk an unfortunate estate as regularly as a dairyman does his stock." Excess is always implied.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- The Spectator published the quoted comparison about lawyers in 1877. en.wiktionary.org
- 6To give or yield milk from the udder or breasts.
On fresh spring grass, the whole herd milks better than at any other time of year.
The black cow milking white milk, black hen on the nest laying white eggs.
1890, James George Frazer, The Golden BoughSimilarlactate
Note
Here the animal does the milking rather than undergoing it. The cow is the subject, as in Frazer's The Golden Bough (1890): "black cow in the stall milking white milk". The verb works with the milk as its object or with no object at all, as in a heifer that milks well. Because the everyday farmyard verb makes the cow the object, this farmers' use is easily misread outside farming. In general prose, produce milk is the safer choice.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- James George Frazer wrote The Golden Bough. gutenberg.org
- The Golden Bough was first published in 1890, as confirmed by its first-edition title page. archive.org
- The quoted wording occurs in The Golden Bough; Frazer is describing a song sung by village boys. archive.org
- 7A coarse slang term for semen.
When he finally came, his milk spilled over her fingers, and she laughed and reached for a tissue.
He pulled out just in time, and his milk spilled across her stomach.
Similarsemen, cum, spunk, jizz
Note
Coarse slang confined to crude or explicitly sexual talk. Outside that register it reads as vulgar rather than playful, so it is best left out of any setting where frankness is not already the point. The verb has a matching use in the BDSM sense of milking.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- Milk has a vulgar slang sense meaning semen. en.wiktionary.org
- The verb has a corresponding sexual sense associated with BDSM. en.wiktionary.org
- 8To masturbate a male to ejaculation, especially for the satisfaction or amusement of the person doing it rather than the man himself.
- 9The mature spat of an oyster before it has been released.
- 10To give off small gas bubbles during the final part of a battery's charging.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
This noun comes from Middle English 'milk', from Old English 'meolc', from Proto-West Germanic '*meluk' and Proto-Germanic '*meluks', ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root '*h₂melǵ-'. It is cognate with Dutch 'melk', German 'Milch', Swedish 'mjölk' and Greek 'amélgo' ('to milk').
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- The noun descends through Middle English milk and Old English meolc from Proto-West Germanic *meluk and Proto-Germanic *meluks, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂melǵ-. en.wiktionary.org
- Milk is cognate with Dutch melk, German Milch and Swedish mjölk. en.wiktionary.org
- Greek amélgo is cognate with milk and means ‘to milk’. en.wiktionary.org
The verb comes from Middle English milken, from Old English melcan and meolcian (the second formed from the noun), from the same Proto-Indo-European root *h₂melǵ- as the noun; compare German melken and Latin mulgeō, 'I milk'.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts
- The verb milk comes from Middle English milken, also spelled mylken. en.wiktionary.org
- The Middle English verb continues Old English melcan and meolcian. en.wiktionary.org
- Old English meolcian was formed from the noun meolc. en.wiktionary.org
- The verb and noun ultimately share the Proto-Indo-European root *h₂melǵ-. uvm.edu
- German melken is an etymologically related verb. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin mulgeō is related to English milk and means 'I milk'. en.wiktionary.org