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

Example Sentences

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

I knew it was Daisy, our milk cow.

From "Where the Red Fern Grows" by Wilson Rawls