milk
Americannoun
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an opaque white or bluish-white liquid secreted by the mammary glands of female mammals, serving for the nourishment of their young.
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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.
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a glass, carton, etc., of cow's milk.
We ordered two milks for the children.
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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.
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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)
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to press or draw milk from the udder or breast of.
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to get something from, especially in a way that exploits or defrauds.
The swindler milked her of all her savings.
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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.
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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)
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to yield milk, as a cow.
We called the vet when two of our Holsteins suddenly stopped milking.
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to milk a cow or other mammal.
idioms
noun
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a whitish nutritious fluid produced and secreted by the mammary glands of mature female mammals and used for feeding their young until weaned
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the milk of cows, goats, or other animals used by man as a food or in the production of butter, cheese, etc
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any similar fluid in plants, such as the juice of a coconut
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any of various milklike pharmaceutical preparations, such as milk of magnesia
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to lament something that cannot be altered
verb
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to draw milk from the udder of (a cow, goat, or other animal)
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(intr) (of cows, goats, or other animals) to yield milk
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(tr) to draw off or tap in small quantities
to milk the petty cash
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(tr) to extract as much money, help, etc, as possible from
to milk a situation of its news value
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(tr) to extract venom, sap, etc, from
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of milk
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”
Explanation
Milk is the white liquid that female mammals produce for feeding their babies. Nursing human mothers feed their infants milk, and so do mother goats, cows, dogs, and cats. If you love to drink milk, you're probably a fan of the kind that comes from cows on farms and is sold in grocery stores. However, if you're allergic to this kind of milk, you might drink one of the beverages also known as milk that are made from soaking beans, nuts, rice, or even coconut in water until it becomes rich, white, and milky. To milk is to extract or draw milk from a plant or animal.
Vocabulary lists containing milk
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In 2024, El Daña received the Harvey Milk Community Leader Award for bringing visibility to the LGBTQ+ community of the Central Valley.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 30, 2026
Appeared in the April 8, 2026, print edition as 'Brands Milk Catalog Model’s Starring Role'.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 7, 2026
After previous lead actor Oscars for "Mystic River" and "Milk," the best supporting actor win makes Penn just the eighth performer in Academy Awards history to pick up a trio of golden statuettes.
From Barron's • Mar. 16, 2026
Months after I stopped breastfeeding my last child, though, a random Google search led me to discover a term I had never heard of before: D-MER, short for Dysphoric Milk Ejection Reflex.
From Slate • Mar. 15, 2026
I found an article about a documentary movie about Harvey Milk.
From "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky
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.
