milk run

American  

noun

Slang.

1. a routine trip or undertaking, especially one presenting little danger or difficulty.

   The flight from New York to Chicago was a milk run for the experienced pilot and crew.

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milk run British  

noun

1. informal aeronautics a routine and uneventful flight, esp on a dangerous mission

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Etymology

Origin of milk run

First recorded in 1940–45

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

milk run

The milk run flight was delayed, then held on the tarmac with passengers on board for nearly an hour.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 9, 2021

Cause of death: Collapsed at the grocery store during a morning milk run.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 2, 2017

John Adriaanse, 73, said a milk run to the local shop ended in a fall when he "misjudged the depth of a pothole".

From BBC ● May 19, 2017

But restarting scheduled airline service after 55 years has been anything but a milk run for U.S. airlines.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2016

Eighteen planes had let down through a beaming white cloud off the coast of Elba one afternoon on the way back from the weekly milk run to Parma; seventeen came out.

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller