milk cow

American  

noun

1. a cow that is raised for its milk rather than for beef.

2. Informal. a source of easily gained income; profitable venture.

   The new subsidiary turns out to be a real milk cow.

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Etymology

Origin of milk cow

late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

milk cow

The latter film is one of Keaton’s lesser-known but still brilliantly limned stone-faced satires, in this case involving cowpokes and its star’s tender feelings for a milk cow.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 17, 2025

Only the milk cow, Star, who had come into our family as my brother’s 4-H project, was ever named.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2021

In May, Joe and Elizabeth went to Île-aux-Moines, a coastal island in Brittany, where there was a small American colony, fresh sea air, and a milk cow for the baby.

From The New Yorker ● Nov. 10, 2018

You know I read the thing you put up your nose web page seek milk cow bucolic sculpin and I have to say it’s wontons.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 18, 2018

Across the river at the Mose Hobb’s farm, an old milk cow was mooing and an old hound was baying in his deep voice.

From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls

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